Who were those guys in Nationals uniforms Friday night, and why haven’t we seen more of them during this final month of the season? It’s too late for them to rewrite the past, but maybe that 9-1 thumping of the Phillies bodes well for the rest of the weekend.
Then again, for the Nats to keep the good times rolling, they’re going to have to do it against Zack Wheeler, the perennial Cy Young candidate who enters his final tune-up before the postseason with a 16-7 record and 2.56 ERA, with two of those wins coming against Washington. This is remarkably Wheeler’s 35th career start vs. the Nationals, and though his overall numbers (14-15, 4.50 ERA) aren’t great, he’s been much better since leaving the Mets and joining the Phillies in 2020.
MacKenzie Gore makes his final start of an up-and-down season, hoping to finish strong. The lefty enters with 10 wins and a 4.04 ERA. In order to end up with an ERA in the 3.00s, he either needs to give up one run in at least 4 2/3 innings or two runs in at least 6 1/3 innings. That will be a challenge against this lineup, but we’ll see if he can pull it off.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field
NATIONALS
Lineup TBA
LHP MacKenzie Gore
PHILLIES
Lineup TBA
RHP Zack Wheeler