The Nationals are coming off a rough couple of days in which they sat through multiple rain delays with a dramatic comeback only to fall in the 10th inning to the Giants on Thursday then a rare extra-inning win against the Angels on Friday. Last night’s 3-2 win was just the Nats’ fourth in 12 games that have gone to extras, but at least they are no longer tied with the miserable White Sox for last in the majors in such affairs.

Now they turn their attention to tonight’s game. A victory against the Halos on Saturday would give the Nats their second series win in their last three and put them in position for a sweep tomorrow morning. (No, I don’t know why they are keeping tonight’s game as a 6:45 p.m. start before tomorrow’s 11:35 a.m. start nationally on Roku.)

Mitchell Parker was charged with two unearned runs over 6 ⅓ innings last night. A similar outing from Patrick Corbin would be much appreciated tonight, especially with the state of the Nats bullpen up in the air. Yes, Corbin leads the majors with 12 losses this season. And yes, he gave up four early runs in his last outing against the Giants.

But he actually battled back to complete six innings on Monday to give his team a chance. Since the offense only scored one run on the night, Corbin is still left in search of his 100th career win.

The Nats offense would love to get to an early lead against Griffin Canning, who is 4-10 with a 5.10 ERA and 1.414 WHIP in 23 starts this season. With Corbin on the mound and closer Kyle Finnegan likely not available after throwing a combined 57 pitches over the last two nights, the more runs the better off the Angels right-hander.

Everybody in the majors plays roughly the same schedule by season’s end: 81 home games, 81 road games, 52 division games, 64 more intraleague games, 46 interleague games. But the path to get to those eventual totals differs from team to team.

And in the Nationals’ case, there’s been a distinct difference to the 2024 schedule to date: Way more road games than most others.

Wednesday’s series finale in Arizona was the Nats’ 109th game of the season but their 59th road game. No other National League team has played so many games on the road, and only the Yankees (60) have played more in the American League.

The Nationals have been on three separate three-city road trips (San Francisco-Oakland-Los Angeles in April, Boston-Chicago-Philadelphia in May, Colorado-San Diego-Tampa Bay in June). They’ve yet to be rewarded with a homestand of more than two series.

It’s made for an at-times grueling schedule, including the 17-days-in-a-row stretch they had to endure prior to the All-Star break. The good news: It’s finally about to get better.

PHOENIX – Lane Thomas joined the Nationals on the day the organization began to tear down its championship roster and start a massive roster rebuild. Three years later, with the franchise believing its much closer to winning again, he’s heading to another organization right in the thick of a pennant race.

The Nats traded Thomas to the Guardians this afternoon for three prospects, including highly touted 19-year-old left-hander Alex Clemmey, opting to deal one of their coveted regulars who still had another season of club control about 24 hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Along with Clemmey, Cleveland’s 2023 second-round pick and current No. 7 prospect, the Nationals receive 19-year-old infielder Rafael Ramirez Jr. and 23-year-old infielder Jose Tena, who has big league experience and joins the 40-man roster.

It’s a significant haul for the 28-year-old Thomas, who got off to a slow start this season but entered the day batting .253 with eight homers, 40 RBIs, 28 stolen bases and a .738 OPS in 77 games. The outfielder spent the last few days trying to block out trade rumors but wasn’t caught completely off-guard when he was called into manager Davey Martinez’s office at Chase Field about three hours before tonight’s series opener against the Diamondbacks.

“It’s always a little bit of a shock, even when you know they’re looking to do something like that,” Thomas said. “I’ve been in this situation before, so I feel like that makes it a little bit easier. My wife has dealt with it, too. I think we’re ready to go help another team.”