It hasn’t been a pleasant experience for the Nationals to face the Braves this season. (Not that it’s been much more pleasant to face anybody else in the NL East this season.) Tonight, they get one final shot at beating the defending World Series champions and perhaps dealing them a blow in their attempt to surpass the Mets to win the division this year.

It’s Josiah Gray back on the mound for what again could be his final start of 2022, though there still remains a need for somebody to pitch next week’s final series in New York, so don’t just assume this is the end of the road. Regardless, the 24-year-old right-hander would love to wrap things up on a positive note, because it’s been a difficult September for him (18 earned runs, 25 hits, 11 walks, five homers in 19 1/3 innings).

Gray has actually faced the Braves only once this season, way back on April 13 at Truist Park. He tossed five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit. A lot, of course, has changed since then.

Jake Odorizzi starts for Atlanta. The Nats saw him this spring when he was with the Astros, but this is the first time they’ve faced him since he was acquired by the Braves. Davey Martinez goes with a lineup that again includes CJ Abrams as No. 2 hitter, with Luis García returning to play second base after sitting out Tuesday’s game and Riley Adams back behind the plate.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 66 degrees, wins 9 mph left field to right field

BOSTON – Ramón Urías has returned to the Orioles lineup tonight as the third baseman, with rookie Gunnar Henderson moving to shortstop.

Urías is receiving treatment for spasms between his neck and right shoulder.

Rookie Terrin Vavra remains on the bench, but his left hamstring is much better and he’s available to play. Vavra felt it grab Sunday while running the bases and came out of the game.

Anthony Santander is the left fielder, and Austin Hays is in right. Rookie Kyle Stowers goes from left field last night to the designated hitter role tonight.

Kyle Bradish is making the 22^nd start of his rookie season. He tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings with two hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts Thursday night against the Astros and will try to bring the same stuff to Fenway Park.

The disparity between the Nationals and Braves has been on display all year long when these two teams face each other. The Nats are 4-13 against Atlanta in 2022, and while there are multiple reasons for that, it’s hard to ignore this fact: They’ve been out-homered by the staggering total of 38 to 14. That disparity only increased Monday night, when the Braves hit three more home runs during an 8-0 shutout victory in which both teams finished with six hits.

This is all to make the point that the Nationals might want to try to break out the power bats tonight against Kyle Muller, called up by the Braves from Triple-A Gwinnett to start this game. The Nats faced the lefty once last season, scoring three runs in 4 2/3 innings off him. He’s made only two big league starts this season, producing a 10.57 ERA.

If the Nationals can score some runs, perhaps Paolo Espino can deliver five solid innings, keep Atlanta in the ballpark and put himself in position to finally earn his first win of the year. This is Espino’s fourth start (fifth overall appearance) against the Braves this season, and he’s allowed 11 runs (nine earned) on 20 hits in 16 1/3 innings.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 67 degrees, wins 9 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
SS CJ Abrams
1B Joey Meneses
DH Luke Voit
LF Alex Call
2B César Hernández
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Victor Robles
C Tres Barrera

The last full week of the regular season is here, and with 10 games against division rivals playing for postseason positions remaining on the schedule, the Nationals can have an effect on the October playoff picture.

Tonight begins a three-game set against the Braves, who beat the Nats two out of three last week in Atlanta. The Braves have already secured their spot in the postseason but are looking to gain ground on the Mets, who have a 1 ½ game lead in the National League East and are idle today before starting a home series against the Marlins tomorrow. Having struggled against divisional foes all season long, the Nats are just 4-12 against the Braves this year and 1-6 against them at Nationals Park. 

Cory Abbott will make his eighth start of the season tonight while still searching for his first major league win. He’s 0-3 with a 4.85 ERA over his 14 appearances on the season with a 5.70 ERA as a starter. His lone outing against the Braves came in his last start a week ago, when he allowed four runs with six hits and two walks over four innings at Truist Park.

Likewise, rookie right-hander Bryce Elder will make his second consecutive start against the Nats. He held them to just one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 5 ⅔ innings on Wednesday, a game in which the Nats rallied to win. Elder is 1-3 with a 3.38 ERA over his eight appearances, seven of which were starts.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (outside of D.C. and Atlanta markets only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 70 degrees, wind 7 mph left field to right field 

MIAMI – Though it’s been inevitable for a while now, the Nationals’ march to 100 losses nevertheless isn’t something anyone wanted to be a part of. Alas, the time has arrived to reach that unceremonious milestone, perhaps as soon as today if they can’t salvage one win this weekend against a Marlins team that has absolutely dominated them all season.

If they’re going to delay the inevitable for at least one more day, the Nats simply are going to need to score more runs than they have against this Miami pitching staff. How bad has it been? In 18 head-to-head games, they’ve scored an average of 2.55 runs, posting a .205/.279/.312 slash line. Is it any wonder they’ve gone 3-15 in those games?

Today’s Marlins starter looking to continue the trend is Edward Cabrera, who of course dominated the Nationals in his one previous outing against them this year: one run, two hits in six innings during a 12-2 win here on June 7.

Aníbal Sánchez starts for the Nats, and while that thought may have sent shivers down everyone’s spines earlier this summer, remarkably the veteran right-hander has become their most consistently effective starter down the stretch. Over his last six starts, Sánchez is 2-1 with a 1.53 ERA, having allowed a grand total of five runs on 14 hits over 29 1/3 innings. How about that?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

MIAMI – It was only six days ago the Nationals faced Sandy Alcantara. The Marlins ace went the distance that afternoon at Nationals Park, tossing a complete game on only 103 pitches. The good news: The Nats managed seven hits off the right-hander. The bad news: They scored only one run. And because they were so aggressive, often putting the first or second pitch of an at-bat in play, they allowed him to keep his pitch count so low, he was able to cruise through nine innings.

So, what’s the strategy tonight at loanDepot Park? Continue to be aggressive and hope more of those hits produce runs? Or try to make Alcantara work and perhaps get him out of the game sooner and force the Marlins to go to their bullpen? There’s no right answer, of course. The Nats just have to hope they can find a way to beat the Cy Young Award favorite and avoid their 99th loss of the season.

Erick Fedde makes his 25th start of the year for the Nationals, his fourth against the Marlins. Historically, the right-hander has been successful against them, but he labored last weekend in D.C., allowing three runs on seven hits while throwing 87 pitches in only four innings before getting hooked. Fedde has got to find a way to be more efficient tonight to give his team a chance against Alcantara and Co.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
1B Joey Meneses
DH Luke Voit
LF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Victor Robles
C Riley Adams 

MIAMI – Fresh off what I’m sure was a relaxing day off here in Miami, the Nationals open a three-game weekend series with the Marlins, their last chance to face a team that isn’t in the pennant race before the season ends.

The Nats took two of three from Miami last weekend in D.C. in one of their better performances during an improved September stretch. Their only loss came to Sandy Alcantara, and unfortunately they’ll have to face the presumptive National League Cy Young Award winner again Saturday. So that perhaps puts some added pressure to win tonight’s opener.

That means Josiah Gray needs to put together a solid outing, something he hasn’t done in a while. In three September starts so far, the right-hander has a 9.45 ERA, with 10 walks and five home runs allowed over only 13 1/3 innings. He hasn’t earned a win in any of his last 15 starts.

You would hope the spacious outfield here at loanDepot Park would help Gray keep the ball in the yard. So the key to success, then, may well be his ability to limit the walks that have so often plagued him this year.

The Nationals go up against Braxton Garrett, the rookie left-hander who enters with a 3.68 ERA in 14 big league starts. He faced them once before, on July 4 in D.C., where he allowed only one run on four hits over 7 1/3 impressive innings.

Gunnar Henderson stays at third base tonight as the Orioles try to win their third game in a row.

Manager Brandon Hyde is starting Ramón Urías at second base and using Jesús Aguilar as his designated hitter, with Kyle Stowers and Terrin Vavra on the bench – moves motivated by Astros right-hander José Urquidy being a reverse splits guy.

Austin Hays is in left field after entering last night’s game as a defensive replacement.

Anthony Santander is in right field and batting cleanup.

For the Orioles
Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman C
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Anthony Santander RF
Gunnar Henderson 3B
Jesús Aguilar DH
Ramón Urías 2B
Austin Hays LF
Jorge Mateo SS

ATLANTA - Last night’s injury to Patrick Corbin shined an even brighter light on the Nationals’ missing pitching depth.

But it doesn’t get to the heart of the team’s central issue right now: lack of run production. 

The Nationals have scored just five total runs over their last three games, including two in each of the first two games of their series against the Braves. They haven’t left the yard since a four-homer game against the Marlins on Sept. 17.

After Joey Meneses’ four-hit day in the series opener Monday, no Nat collected more than one hit in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss. Washington went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. 

Atlanta, meanwhile, clinched a postseason berth with last night’s win and the Brewers’ loss to the Mets. 

ATLANTA - It’s been an awfully long time since the Nationals have put together a complete offensive game. The Nats haven’t scored more than five runs in a game since a Sept. 8 blowout win in St. Louis. 

A day after Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara tossed a one-run complete game in Washington, the Nats' bats sputtered again in Atlanta last night, plating just two runs on nine hits in a 5-2 loss.

Optimism comes in the form of the opposing pitcher, veteran Charlie Morton, who has been prone to surrendering the longball this season. The 38-year-old has allowed 24 homers in 28 starts, tied for sixth-most in the National League.

Nats starter Patrick Corbin is two spots ahead of Morton on that list, lobbing 27 dingers in his 29 starts. 

Last night’s loss dropped the Nats to 3-11 against the Braves this season and 13-48 against the NL East as a whole.

ATLANTA - The Nationals' penultimate road trip of the season begins in Atlanta, with serious National League East implications at play, at least for the home team.

Cory Abbott, hours before his 27th birthday, takes the mound for the Nats as they open a three-game series against the Braves, who sit just one game behind the Mets in the division. Serving a variety of roles for Washington this season, Abbott is looking to improve upon a quietly impressive September, during which the righty has posted a 3.48 ERA in 10 1/3 innings. 

Abbott will face an Atlanta lineup that lacks star second baseman Ozzie Albies, who fractured his right pinkie in Sunday's win over the Phillies. The 25-year-old will be sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. He'll be replaced by rookie Vaughn Grissom, who bats ninth in the series opener tonight.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 7:25 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 86 degrees, wind 6 mph out of the north

NATIONALS

The Nationals haven’t found themselves in this position very much this season, but here they are today: After back-to-back wins over the Marlins the last two nights, they have a chance to sweep a series for the first time in 2022.

To do that, though, they’ll have to either outpitch Sandy Alcantara or score some runs off him. Neither is an easy task. Alcantara remains the favorite to win his first career Cy Young Award this fall, entering today’s start with a 2.43 ERA across an MLB-high 203 2/3 innings. He is the very definition of a modern ace, and the Nationals have had all kinds of trouble against him.

This is Alcantara’s fourth start against the Nats this season. He’s 2-0 with an 0.78 ERA, having allowed only two runs and 19 batters to reach base across 23 innings. He pitched a six-hit, zero-walk shutout the last time he faced them, June 8 here in D.C.

So, if the Nationals aren’t going to outslug the Marlins today, they’re going to have to outpitch them. Aníbal Sánchez, the long-ago Marlins right-hander, faces that task this afternoon. He has pitched quite well recently, with only three runs allowed over his last five starts, spanning 23 1/3 innings. His last outing lasted only two innings, though, because of that long rain delay in Philadelphia one week ago. So he’s plenty rested for this one.

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 8 mph out to center field

The Nationals did the unthinkable and actually beat the Marlins on Friday night. Now they’ll see if they can somehow do it two days in a row and really reverse their season-long struggles against their sub-.500 division foes.

As was the case Friday, the Nats are facing a Miami left-hander. They’ll need to be better against Trevor Rogers than they were against Jesús Luzardo, who didn’t give up a run until Joey Meneses’ inside-the-park homer in the bottom of the seventh. Rogers has not had a good season (4-11, 5.35 ERA) but he’s been quite good against the Nationals (3-0, 2.25 ERA).

On the bright side, Erick Fedde has always been good against the Marlins (4-1, 1.86 ERA in nine career starts) and he held them to two runs on three hits over six innings in his last outing against them on July 3.

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
LF Alex Call
1B Joey Meneses
DH Luke Voit
3B Ildemaro Vargas
2B Luis García
C Riley Adams
CF Victor Robles
SS CJ Abrams

The Orioles must rebound quickly from last night’s 6-3 loss in Toronto, which kept them 4 ½ games behind the Rays for the last wild card, but six behind the Blue Jays.

Gunnar Henderson, who hit a home run last night with two outs in the ninth inning, is starting at shortstop. Terrin Vavra is in left field, his first appearance in the lineup since Sept. 1.

Kyle Stowers is the designated hitter, and Anthony Santander is in right field.

Adley Rutschman is catching again. Rutschman hit his first home run last night from the right side of the plate. He was hitting .158 with a .513 OPS against lefties.

Rutschman and Henderson are the youngest pair of Orioles teammates to homer in the same game since Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop on May 8, 2016 versus Oakland.

Gunnar Henderson is the Orioles designated hitter tonight for the opener of an important three-game series in Toronto.

Henderson has reached base in 13 of his first 14 career games and has recorded a hit in 11 of 13 starts. He’s among five players in Orioles history with at least seven extra-base hits in his first 14 games, joining Trey Mancini, Manny Machado, Curt Blefary and Cedric Mullins.

Second baseman Rougned Odor has returned to the lineup after a two-game absence. Ramón Urías is the third baseman.

Anthony Santander is in right field, and Austin Hays is in left and batting eighth.

The bullpen has tossed 11 consecutive scoreless innings.

The Nationals have been dreadful within the NL East this season, going an inconceivable 11-46 against division opponents to date. But would you have guessed their biggest struggles have come not against the division’s three playoff contenders but the only other sub-.500 team? Somehow, the Nats have gone 1-12 against the Marlins, a shocking head-to-head record when you think about it.

Which brings us to the season’s remaining schedule: 19 games, all against NL East foes, including six against Miami. That’s still a significant 25 percent of their overall intradivision games to go, which could either makes a miserable season even worse or perhaps offer a tiny sliver of good vibes heading into the winter.

Josiah Gray gets the start for tonight’s series opener, his first appearance in eight days. These are important outings for the young right-hander, who has run up a higher innings count than he ever has in his professional career and is in danger of being shut down if he doesn’t show some encouraging signs here soon. Tonight would be a good time to begin that process.

The Nationals go up against Jesús Luzardo, their former prospect who was dealt to the Athletics way back in 2017 for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson and has experienced some ups and downs since then. The 24-year-old lefty is 12-18 with a 4.87 ERA overall in 57 career big league games, 3-7 with a 3.81 ERA in 14 starts this season. Luzardo is facing the Nats for the first time this year, but he went up against them three times in 2021 and gave up 14 runs in 13 innings.

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 76 degrees, wind 4 mph out to left field

The Battle of the Beltways was split last year, with the Nationals and Orioles sweeping three-game series on their respective home fields. A Nationals win tonight would ensure a season split for the second year in a row.

The two rivals split two games in June at Camden Yards. The Orioles won the first game of this two-game set in D.C. last night. The Nationals hope Patrick Corbin and a resurgent offense can earn the split tonight. 

Corbin was charged with three runs and seven hits with six strikeouts over four innings in a rain-shortened loss to the Orioles on June 22. He also gave up home runs to Austin Hays (who ended up hitting for the cycle in a game that was called after just six innings) and Anthony Santander. In his career, Corbin is 1-4 with a 5.50 ERA in seven appearances (six starts) against Baltimore.

Tyler Wells makes his 22nd start of the season tonight, but just his second since coming off the injured list last week with a left oblique strain. The right-hander completed only two innings on 34 pitches against the Blue Jays in his return. In that June 22 matchup against Corbin, Wells tossed five scoreless innings with four walks and four strikeouts.

While Wells continues to stretch out, old friend Austin Voth is expected to back him up as a long reliever out of the bullpen. The Nats designated Voth for assignment on May 31 and the Orioles selected him off waivers on June 7. In 19 relief appearances with the Nats, Voth had a 10.13 ERA and 2.143 WHIP. In 18 games (14 starts) with the Orioles, Voth has a 2.82 ERA and 1.209 WHIP.

And we’re back at Nationals Park for the first time in 12 days. The Nats return to town following a long, three-city road trip that included series wins at New York and St. Louis but then a sweep in Philadelphia, which left a sour taste in everyone’s mouths. Now they begin a five-game homestand against the Orioles and Marlins as the final 21-game stretch of the season arrives.

The two interleague rivals split their two-game series at Camden Yards in June, one of those a rain-shorted loss. At that point, the Orioles were just starting to push their way into the American League postseason picture. They remain in the mix now, but they’ve taken a few steps back in the last week and enter this week 5 1/2 games behind the Rays for the final wild card berth.

Cory Abbott makes the start tonight as the Nationals give Josiah Gray and Paolo Espino extra rest before their next starts. The right-hander has done a solid-if-unspectacular job as a swingman, bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen. We’ll see how he does tonight against an emerging Baltimore lineup.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 76 degrees, wind 7 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
CF Lane Thomas
RF Joey Meneses
1B Luke Voit
2B Luis García
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
C Israel Pineda
3B Ildemaro Vargas

PHILADELPHIA – The forecast here is not good. It’s supposed to rain all day. The forecast tomorrow is somewhat better, though not guaranteed to be dry. That’s the only remaining common off-day for the Nationals and Phillies. In other words, this has the potential to be a mess, and we could be here for a while, then possibly coming back tomorrow.

Whenever they play, the Nationals will be trying to avoid a series sweep that would put a real damper on what had been shaping up to be their best road trip of the season. A win would at least allow them to head home with a 5-5 record.

To do that, Aníbal Sánchez is going to have to keep up his surprising resurgence (0.84 ERA, 0.797 WHIP over his last four starts) by keeping the ball in the yard. The Phillies have out-homered the Nats a staggering 32-9 in 14 head-to-head games this year.

The Nationals will be going up against Aaron Nola for the fourth time this season. The right-hander has a sparkling 1.66 ERA in the previous three starts, though his record is only 1-1.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Steady rain, 73 degrees, wind 5 mph right field to left field

PHILADELPHIA – After coming up short in Friday night’s series opener, the Nationals try to rediscover their winning ways tonight at Citizens Bank Park. They’ll need a better start from Erick Fedde than they got from Patrick Corbin, who despite a ridiculously low pitch count still gave up five runs on 12 hits in 6 1/3 innings during a 5-3 loss to the Phillies.

Fedde is coming off a strong outing Sunday in New York, where he held the Mets to one run over six innings to beat them for the first time in 11 career head-to-head starts. The right-hander actually is facing the Phillies for the first time this season, an odd rotation scheduling quirk, and he’ll be going up against his old high school buddy Bryce Harper, who is merely 9-for-18 with five homers in his career against Fedde.

With left-hander Ranger Suárez starting for Philadelphia, Davey Martinez is going with a right-handed-heavy lineup. That includes Nelson Cruz batting cleanup again after hitting sixth on Thursday and then sitting Friday. It includes the suddenly potent Alex Call in the No. 5 spot, with César Hernández behind him and playing second base.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 81 degrees, wind 8 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
CF Lane Thomas
RF Joey Meneses
1B Luke Voit
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Alex Call
2B César Hernández
3B Ildemaro Vargas
C Riley Adams
SS CJ Abrams