Series Preview: Guardians at Nationals
Let's see if they can make this a winning road trip
The Guardians and Nationals will tangle in D.C., weather-permitting, these next three days.
Looks like tonight MAY be a rainout which will likely make tomorrow a double-header. But, I'm no meteorologist, so let's analyze the baseball, shall we?
The Guardians are 20-14 with a -24 run differential, 19th in wRC+ at 96, 23rd in baserunning runs above average at -1.2, 8th in Defense at -0.1, 27th in starting pitcher SIERA at 4.60, and 8th in relief pitching SIERA at 3.36.
The Nationals are 16-19 with a -28 run differential, 20th in wRC+ at 95, 14th in baserunning runs above average at -0.3, 29th in Defense at -14.8, 16th in starting pitcher SIERA at 4.03, and 26th in relief pitching SIERA at 4.09.
Bottom line: get into the bullpen as early as you can and put the ball in play as much as possible.
Matchups:
Game one, Monday, 6:45PM EDT: Luis Ortiz, RHP 3.93 SIERA vs. Jake Irvin, RHP, 4.11 SIERA
Game two, Tuesday, 6:45PM EDT: Ben Lively, RHP 4.80 SIERA vs. Brad Lord, RHP, 4.63 SIERA
Game three, Wednesday, 12:05PM EDT: TBD (should be Logan Allen, LHP 5.09 SIERA) vs. TBD (should be LHP Mitchell Parker, 5.62 SIERA)
Analysis:
The Nationals are not a good baseball team. They are, though, spunky. Feisty. Frisky, if you will. James Wood 157 wRC+, Alex Call 149 wRC+, CJ Abrams 135 wRC+, Nathaniel Lowe 118 wRC+ and Keibert Ruiz 109 wRC+ are the names to worry about when Washington is at the plate. Meanwhike, the Nationals’ pitching staff will look to control Daniel Schneemann 155 wRC+, Steven Kwan 147 wRC+, Kyle Manzardo 129 wRC+, Gabriel Arias 116 wRC+, Angel Martinez 110 wRC+, Jose Ramirez 109 wRC+ and Bo Naylor 98 wRC+ (Hedges has officially dropped below 100 wRC+, folks).
I remember last time the Guardians went to D.C. the series being a fight, even though they ended up winning it. I suspect the same will be the case here. In any case, it should be some fun baseball to watch and hopefully we will see some Guardians hitters continue to make strides and Luis Ortiz have two good starts in a row for the first time!