After back to back series wins on the road, the Nats set up one of their most important matchups in years. They come home to square off against a Diamondbacks team that currently holds the third Wild Card spot. The Snakes are two games ahead of the Nats, which makes this series a massive one.
For new President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni, this series will probably be the one where he decides his direction for the trade deadline. If the Nats drop this series, selling the likes of Foster Griffin
and Luis Garcia Jr. will become inevitable. It could even pave the way for a CJ Abrams trade if the right offer comes.
However, if the Nats win the series, it could be time to buy. Our guy Paul Cubbage put together a good list of candidates if the Nats were to buy. Controllable pitching will be what the Nats would likely go after. The likes of Jose Soriano, Reid Detmers and Joe Ryan could be on the table.
They still need to go out and perform in this series though. The pitching matchups this weekend point to some potentially high scoring games. Today, Carson Palmquist will open for Zack Littell. Foster Griffin pitches Saturday, which is good for the Nats. However, Miles Mikolas will get the ball on Sunday.
On the other side of things, the D-Backs are calling upon three lefties. The experienced Eduardo Rodriguez will take the ball tonight. He is having a great season with a 2.62 ERA, but is outperforming his underlying numbers by a lot. On Saturday and Sunday, the D-Backs have the rookie duo of Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake on the mound.
Those guys have made a combined 4 MLB starts in their careers. On paper, this should be a good matchup for the Nats high powered offense. One player we will see a lot of this weekend is Andres Chaparro, who is flying high after a massive road trip. The burly first baseman hit three homers including a 467 foot blast in Sacramento.
Chaparro staying productive this weekend will be a major key in this series. Other lefty mashers like Curtis Mead and Dylan Crews will also be important players to watch. The Nats have a well rested bullpen that performed well on the road trip, but as we all know, they remain a massive question mark.
The clubhouse knows how important this series will be. Blake Butera talked about the importance of this stretch in a presser the other day. He knows that these players are aware of what the standings look like and that the trade deadline is looming. Now these guys have a chance to force the front office into buying.
There have been a lot of times this season where the vibes are very high after a successful road trip. However, a lot of times the home stand that follows brings those vibes down. The Nats are going to need to perform at home this weekend, and reverse a season long trend.
They are 20-31 at Nationals Park this year. That is the worst home record in all of baseball. This team will have to change that if they want to go on a real playoff push, and it has to start right now. The Washington Nationals are starting their most important series of the 2020’s, and I am fired up!
