The Nationals looked to even the series with the Braves yesterday afternoon at Nationals Park, and were in position to possibly steal the win going into the 7th inning tied 2-2. Unfortunately, the bullpen let them down once again, as Cionel Perez was tagged for 3 runs after getting just one out, bringing his ERA on the season to 8.25.
The Braves brought 2 more across, one against Gus Varland and one against Julian Fernandez, but they wouldn’t need them, as the bats were silent outside of solo shots
from James Wood and CJ Abrams, as the Nats lost 7-2 and dropped 3 out of 4 in the series against the first-place Braves.
For the first time practically all season, the Nationals will now get to face a subpar roster playing subpar baseball in the Chicago White Sox. While they certainly aren’t a disgrace of a club by any means, and have actually won 5 of their last 10 games, the White Sox are probably the first team the Nationals have played who have limited expectations in 2026, and mostly aren’t surpassing them so far on the year. This is an opportunity for the Nats to finally let their muscles flex a little and come away with two or three wins, which will inch them back closer to .500.
The White Sox bats are led by the scorching hot rookie from Japan, Munetaka Murakami, who has homered in his past 5 games and has an impressive 170 wRC+ on the season. They’ve also received strong starts from their other young bats, as the 24-year-old Colson Montgomery has a 135 wRC+ and the 26-year-old Miguel Vargas has a 116 wRC+. Similar to the Nats, the bottom of their lineup isn’t anything to be afraid of, but the heart of their order has some thump to it for a club without many expectations of winning this season.
The White Sox pitching staff hasn’t been great in 2026, with a club ERA just under 5, but they do have some bright spots, such as their 24-year-old closer Grant Taylor with a 1.15 FIP, or their 22-year-old top prospect left-hander Noah Schultz, who has looked sharp in his first 2 big league starts, and the Nats will get a chance against this weekend.
Game One – 7:40 PM EST
WSH: LHP PJ Poulin (2-0, 4.97 ERA)
CHW: LHP Bryan Hudson (0-0, 1.69 ERA)
In a rare occurrence, we have a double-opener to begin the series tonight in Chicago, as PJ Poulin will start the game for the Nats before handing off the bulk work to Miles Mikolas, and Bryan Hudson will start for the White Sox before former National Erick Fedde is expected to take it from there.
Game Two – 4:10 PM EST
WSH: RHP Jake Irvin (1-3, 6.00 ERA)
CHW: LHP Noah Schultz (1-1, 3.86 ERA)
Irvin’s last start was an improvement over his previous ones, as although he gave up 3 runs over 5 innings of work, he didn’t allow a single free pass, as compared to the 8 combined walks he had issued in his last 2 starts. Schultz looked impressive in his 2nd career start last time out vs the Athletics, striking out 6 and giving up just 1 run across 5 innings of work.
Game Three – Sunday 2:10 PM EST
WSH: LHP Foster Griffin (3-0, 3.38 ERA)
CHW: RHP Sean Burke (1-2, 4.10 ERA)
Griffin further solidified his case as the most effective arm in the Nationals’ rotation last time out, going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs against the Braves, a quality start. Burke also looked sharp in his last outing, going 6 innings and giving up 2 runs against the Diamondbacks.
Can Nats Arms Neutralize Hot White Sox Bats?
The top of the White Sox order has been doing damage recently, and now they get to face one of the weaker pitching staffs in baseball in the Nats. Can Blake Butera get creative in his deployment of the bullpen, which now includes new callup Riley Cornelio, to work around his weak starters this weekend, or will the Sox bats feast once more?
