Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays vs Washington Nationals

Over the past two seasons, it has always been one step forward and two steps back for the Tampa Bay Rays and this past series against the Cleveland Gaurdians was just another example of that as the Rays took the first game, were shutout in the second game, and suffered another devestating walk-off loss in the finale on Wednesday.

By losing two in a row, the Rays have fallen back to five games under .500 with a 64-69 record, 7.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners for the 3rd Wild Card spot. The Rays will

now move on to face the Washington Nationals in the District of Columbia.

The Nationals enter play on Friday with a record of 53-80, having dropped five in a row. with another loss, the Nationals will secure their 6th consecutive season finishing with a record of .500 or below; the last time the Nationals had a winning season was in 2019 when they claimed the first World Series title in franchise history.

There are three players on the cusp of greatness on the Nationals roster: James Wood, CJ Abrams, and MacKenzie Gore. All three players are having fantastic seasons and are doing their best to carry the team. Wood is hitting .261/.355/.480 with 26 HR & 15 SB, registering a 130 wRC+ and accruing 3.2 fWAR over 131 games this season while Abrams has a 117 wRC+ and 3.2 fWAR as well. Unfortunately for that dynamic duo, they are the only Nationals positions player with over 0.9 fWAR this season.

Then you have MacKenzie Gore who for the first half of the season looked like he would receive some Cy Young attention. However, over his last 8 starts, Gore has struggled mightily, compiling a 7.54 ERA | 5.82 FIP over his last 8 starts (37 IP); the Rays will miss out on facing Gore this weekend.

Other players to watch for this weekend are Jose A. Ferrer, a solid reliever in the Nationals bullpen. Dylan Crews, one of the top prospects in the game entering the season, has struggled in his brief MLB career thus far but still has some of the best tools in the game. Over the last 30 days, Riley Adams is hitting .297/.384/.422. The Nationals pitching over that same time frame has a 6.60 ERA; the pitching as a whole over that stretch has -1.2 fWAR. The next closest team is Colorado with 0.0 fWAR.

Frivolities

The top players according to Baseball Reference to have played for the Rays and Nationals:

Nelson Cruz
Denard Span
Ken Hill
Asdrubal Cabrera
Yunel Escobar

The Rays best player offensively against the Nationals all-time (min. 25 PA):
- Carlos Pena: .364/.462/.682 with 2 HR over 26 PA
  - The next four are Aubrey Huff, Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, & Evan Longoria
The Rays most previous transacation with the Nationals:
- 2/7/17: Rays acquire Jeffrey Rosa from the Nationals for Enny Romero
The Rays first transaction with the Nationals:
- 12/3/07: Rays acquire Glenn Gibson from the Nationals for Elijah Dukes