Game 160 lineups: Nats at Mets

NEW YORK – You’ll never guess what the weather’s going to be like the next three days here at Citi Field! It’s like somebody purposely decided to have a massive storm follow the Nationals up the East Coast, because just as soon as things cleared up in D.C., the remnants of Hurricane Ian have made their way to New York, where tonight the Nats and Mets are supposed to open the final series of the season.

For now, these games matter. But they may not matter nearly as much as we thought they would after the Braves swept the Mets in Atlanta over the weekend, reducing their magic number to clinch the National League East to one. In other words, all it will take is one Braves win over the Marlins or one Nationals win over the Mets to end the division race and leave New York as the top wild card participant instead.

New York used up its big three starters in Atlanta, so it’s Carlos Carrasco here tonight. The Nats hit him around pretty good last month, knocking him out in the third inning after scoring five runs (only one earned) on six hits. They had far less success in three previous games against Carrasco earlier in the season.

Cory Abbott is tonight’s starter for the Nationals, getting one last chance to leave a positive impression heading into the winter. It’s been a struggle for the right-hander, who has completed more than five innings only once in eight starts. The good news: He has yet to surrender a run to the Mets in seven total innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 55 degrees, wind 17 mph in from center field

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

RHP Cory Abbott

METS
CF Brandon Nimmo
SS Francisco Lindor
2B Jeff McNeil
1B Pete Alonso
3B Eduardo Escobar
DH Daniel Vogelbach
LF Mark Canha
RF Tyler Naquin
C Tomás Nido

RHP Carlos Carrasco