lineups - Blog

Game 152 lineups: Nats at Marlins

September 20, 2019, 11:36am

MIAMI - When you think playoff race, you think Marlins Park. Right? Well, whether it fits the mold or not, this giant airport hangar of a ballpark is going to host three very important games this weekend. Important, of course, for the Nationals. Not the home team, which is trying to avoid 100 losses tonight. The Nationals absolutely must take care of business. They've gone 13-3 against the Marlins this season. Two of those losses came here in late April. It's never easy to sweep anybody, no...

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Game 151 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

September 18, 2019, 7:02am

Nationals

ST. LOUIS - Funny how much a team's outlook can change in 12 hours. The Nationals had reason to be nervous when they carried a slim, 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, the possibility of falling out of the No. 1 wild card slot very much real. But then they finished off the Cardinals 6-2 and saw the Cubs lose to the Reds. Now they report to the ballpark for today's matinee with Max Scherzer on the mound and a chance to take two of three from St. Louis. I...

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Game 150 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

September 17, 2019, 12:14pm

Nationals

ST. LOUIS - There's going to be a lot of scoreboard watching tonight - and pretty much every night over the next 12 days - as four teams (the Nationals, Cardinals, Cubs and Brewers) go down to the wire to secure the three remaining postseason berths available in the National League. There's one thing the Nationals can do, however, to make life easier on everyone: Win tonight's game. Every day the Nats win a game from here on out is a day they get closer to locking up a wild card berth....

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Game 149 lineups: Nats at Cardinals (Martinez stays in D.C.)

September 16, 2019, 12:09pm

Nationals

Game 149 lineups: Nats at Cardinals (Martinez stays in D.C.)

ST. LOUIS - The Nationals have just announced that Davey Martinez remains in Washington for precautionary medical testing. Bench coach Chip Hale revealed after Sunday's game that the manager had gone to the hospital because he wasn't feeling well, but that he was expected to be with the team in St. Louis for tonight's series opener. Instead, Hale will manage the club in Martinez's absence tonight. The Nationals face another stiff challenge in the Central-leading Cardinals, who suffered a...

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Game 147 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

September 14, 2019, 8:25am

Nationals

Though their hopes of a fifth division title in eight years have all but been quashed, the Nationals still need to win as many games as they can as they attempt to lock up at least a wild card berth and preferably home field advantage for that winner-take-all game. Which means they need to win some games against the Braves. That's not something they've done much during the second half of this season. They're 4-8 versus Atlanta since the All-Star break, 7-10 overall for the season, with two...

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Game 145 lineups: Nats at Twins

September 12, 2019, 12:08pm

Nationals

MINNEAPOLIS - It's another gloomy, gray day here in the Twin Cities, and the rain is supposed to continue into the evening hours. It is, however, supposed to stop at some point. Which means the Nationals and Twins may have no choice but to sit around and wait so they can get tonight's series finale in as scheduled. Each team only has one remaining off-day, and they're not the same. So if they somehow can't play tonight, the only option for a makeup game would be Sept. 30, the day in between...

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Game 144 lineups: Nats at Twins

September 11, 2019, 12:09pm

Nationals

MINNEAPOLIS - The Nationals really need a win tonight. Which means they need to score runs. Preferably early in the game. For what it's worth, this appears to be a favorable matchup against Twins left-hander MartÃn PÃ©rez. The Nats tend to hit lefties well (aside from last weekend's struggles against Max Fried and Dallas Keuchel). PÃ©rez has a 4.75 ERA and 1.463 WHIP. And a few Nats who have faced him before have good numbers, including Brian Dozier (5-for-12, two homers) and Adam...

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Game 143 lineups: Nats at Twins

September 10, 2019, 12:06pm

Nationals

MINNEAPOLIS - For the first time since 2008, the Nationals are playing a game in Minnesota. And for the first time ever, they're playing a game at Target Field. This is the only currently active ballpark in the majors that has never hosted the Nats before, so they're about to be 30-for-30. (By the way, can you name the only two Nationals pitchers ever to win games in the state of Minnesota? Why, it's Jason Simontacchi and Levale Speigner, of course!) This is a big series for both clubs. The...

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Game 141 lineups: Nats at Braves

September 07, 2019, 9:49am

Nationals

ATLANTA - The Nationals turn to Austin Voth to help get them on the board in their crucial four-game series against the Braves. The right-hander will be making his fifth start of the season tonight at SunTrust Park, and first since July 16. In that win over the Orioles, Voth allowed one run on four hits over six innings. Voth had looked at video prior to that start in attempt to get better command and velocity on his fastball glove side. It worked. "I (couldn't) throw away to righties and in...

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Game 138 lineups: Nats vs. Mets

September 04, 2019, 5:53am

Nationals

So, who's ready for another ballgame? Last night sure was fun, but the Nationals don't have any time to revel in their record-setting comeback win, because they've got a series finale with the Mets to play this afternoon. It's now the rubber game of the series, and it's an important one for the Nats, who can't afford to lose any ground to the Braves before heading down to Atlanta for this weekend's four-game series that could represent their last best chance at making the National League...

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Game 136 lineups: Nats vs. Mets

September 02, 2019, 5:58am

Nationals

The soft portion of the Nationals' schedule is now finished. They just went 4-1 against the Orioles and Marlins. Now, they've got 27 remaining games on the regular season schedule, 24 of which come against teams with winning records. It begins today with the opener of a three-game series against the Mets, who are kind of hanging on for dear life at this point, only two games over .500. Of course, we saw only a few weeks ago what they're capable of doing against the Nats, especially late in...

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Game 135 lineups: Nats vs. Marlins

September 01, 2019, 6:26am

Nationals

It's Sept. 1, and what a long strange trip it's been for the Nationals to get to this point. Who would've thought on May 1, or even July 1, that they would enter September with not only a 3 1/2-game lead for home field advantage in the wild card game but a seven-game lead for appearing in that wild card game at all? The Nats will look to continue their meteoric rise this afternoon with a series sweep of a Marlins team they've already beaten in 12 of 15 matchups this season. They'll have...

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Orioles and Nationals lineups

August 28, 2019, 11:26am

Orioles

WASHINGTON - The Orioles are coming off their fifth shutout of the season and trying to piece together their first four-game winning streak since March 30-April 2. Jonathan Villar is leading off and playing shortstop and Rio Ruiz is playing third base. Hanser Alberto is on the bench. Anthony Santander is in center field, DJ Stewart is in left and Trey Mancini is in right. Chris Davis is playing first base. Jace Peterson is batting fifth and playing second base. Asher Wojciechowski has made...

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Game 132 lineups: Nats vs. Orioles

August 28, 2019, 11:17am

Nationals Orioles

You wouldn't have expected the Nationals to find themselves in this position, but here they are, needing to win tonight to salvage a four-game season split with the Orioles in their annual interleague rivalry. For a team that's been red-hot against so many other opponents, the Nats haven't been able to take care of business against Baltimore the way you would have thought they would. The good news is that the Nationals have Max Scherzer on the mound. Even if he's still not 100 percent Max...

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Game 131 lineups: Nats vs. Orioles

August 27, 2019, 11:22am

Nationals Orioles

This year's Battle of the Beltways doesn't have the same juice as some previous versions did. Some of that is due to the two participants' very different records. Some of that is due to the odd scheduling, with two weeknight games in each city, one month apart from each other. Whatever the case, the Nationals and Orioles renew acquaintances tonight. And from the Nats' perspective, these are must-win games. They split the two games at Camden Yards in July. That won't cut it this time, not...

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Game 130 lineups: Nats at Cubs

August 25, 2019, 7:31am

Nationals

CHICAGO - The Cubs have been lights-out at home this season. They entered the weekend a staggering 14-1-4 in home series, the lone loss coming in late May when they dropped two of three to the Reds. And then the Nationals came to town and blew that narrative out of the water. With back-to-back lopsided wins the last two days, the Nats already have won this series. Now they have a chance to pull off an impressive three-game sweep with another win this afternoon. The Nationals have Stephen...

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Orioles and Rays lineups

August 24, 2019, 10:53am

Orioles

Trey Mancini is getting a rest tonight as the Orioles continue their series against the Rays. Chris Davis is playing first base and DJ Stewart is in right field. Jace Peterson is in left field. Jonathan Villar is batting second and playing shortstop. Rio Ruiz is playing third base. Left-hander John Means has made three appearances (two starts) against the Rays and allowed eight earned runs (nine total) and 14 hits with one walk and 13 strikeouts in 15 innings. Mike Brosseau homered...

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Game 129 lineups: Nats at Cubs

August 24, 2019, 7:32am

Nationals

CHICAGO - It's another beautiful day at Wrigley Field, where the Nationals look not only to beat the Cubs again but continue a pretty remarkable run over a longer stretch of time. They've now played .667 ball (52-26) since May 24. Thanks to the Dodgers' loss last night, that's now the best record in baseball during that prolonged stretch. And they've won 13 of their last 17, with all four losses coming after they blew a lead in the eighth or ninth inning. So they've led in the eighth...

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Game 128 lineups: Nats at Cubs

August 23, 2019, 7:18am

Nationals

CHICAGO - The Nationals won't face a tougher turnaround this season than last night's game in Pittsburgh to this afternoon's game at Wrigley Field. We'll see how they look when they take the field in a few hours, but for what it's worth the entire lineup (sans pitcher) is the same as it was last night. Including Kurt Suzuki, who caught Max Scherzer last night and will catch AnÃbal SÃ¡nchez today. This is an interesting stretch of games, because the Nationals will be facing four...

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Game 127 lineups: Nats at Pirates

August 22, 2019, 12:03pm

Nationals

PITTSBURGH - OK, here's the deal: The Nationals are scheduled to start their series finale against the Pirates at 7:05 p.m. They are then scheduled to fly to Chicago, where they are scheduled to start their series opener against the Cubs at 2:20 p.m. EDT Friday. That's a tough turnaround, a really tough turnaround. And it's even tougher when there's rain in the forecast all evening. Which is exactly what's in the forecast here this evening. (It already poured for about 45 minutes a little...