The Nationals and Rangers are tied for the second best record in baseball at 39-24, which is well behind the Cubs at 43-18. Scherzer and Gonzalez would like some revenge against the Cubs and they're playing some good baseball right now. So are the Cubs. This should be a fun series. Team Leaders Cubs (100 PA) OBP: Ben Zobrist (.431) …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (13-21) at Washington Nationals (19-15)
The Nats have had a bit of a streaky season so far. They've swept the Mets, White Sox, and Tigers and have been swept by the Braves and Cardinals. They're currently riding a four game winning streak. Inconsistent offense has plagued the team this year (sounds familiar). I'm wishing I was back home this weekend, as just about everyone I …
2013 MLB Draft: Could the Cubs Force the Astros to Pass on Appel?
Kiley McDaniel has posted his first mock for the 2013 MLB Draft and passes along some potentially interesting machinations from behind the scenes. Dmick has previously addressed the possibility that the Astros could once again pass on Mark Appel, but McDaniel doesn’t think it will happen: Last year, there was a large top group of talent with varying price tags that allowed …
HP on Stephen Strasburg
Unless you read every word, you probably didn't see that defacto OV owner Harry Pavlidis has expanded his internet empire to the Washington Post, where he will write about pitch f/x-y things for the Nationals. Luckily for HP, they have this Stephen Strasburg guy. Here's his first of what will be many great articles.
The Top 20 Cubs performances in a 2012 game
I was curious which players had the best games in 2012 for this shitty team we follow. I used Win Probability Added (WPA) from Baseball Reference to compile the list. There's no reason to write more of an introduction than that so here they are. 20. Travis Wood, .395 WPA Despite Wood's up and down season, he ended up having …
NDLS Series Preview: St. Louis Cardinals (88-74) vs Washington Nationals (98-64)
The Nats lost 102 and 103 games in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and improved to 69-93 in 2010. Last year they finished the year with a 80-81 record, which was a marked improvement. Still, it's tough to read too much into a team whose leader in rWAR was a relief pitcher (Tyler Clippard). There was no doubt about it this …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (51-82) at Washington Nationals (81-52)
Team Overviews Cubs Nats wRC+ 78 (16th) 98 (4th) BSR -0.7 (9th) -15.5 (16th) UZR 19.1 (3rd) 19.5 (2nd) DRS -5 (9th) -3 (7th) SP FIP- 104 (11th) 86 (1st) RP FIP- 113 (16th) 95 (6th) The Nats are definitely a deserving first place team. Pitching Matchups Monday: Jeff Samardzija, RHP (4.03, 3.69, 3.42, 3.88) vs Ross Detweiler, LHP …
One foot on the Samardzija bandwagon
Jeff Samardzija transformed. We heard about it all spring. We were to believe the transformation began in the second half of last season in which he threw about 40 or so innings. We had to put all our faith in those numbers that were as a reliever and a scout or two, which was a little silly to me as …
Nationals at Cubs Chat
The games threads this year, for as long as we do them anyway, are going to be abbreviated compared to the past. Stephen Strasburg gets the ball for the Nationals and Ryan Dempster gets his 2nd consecutive opening day start. Let's hope it goes better than the last one. Opening Day hasn't gone well for Cubs starters since 2005. They've …
Series Preview: Washington Nationals (0-0) at Chicago Cubs (0-0)
Welcome back to another year of Obstructed View series previews! And I guess Cubs baseball too. The Washington Nationals have come a long way since their "Natinals" days. The team has made great strides and could be a playoff contender if it weren't stuck in the NL East. Even then I wouldn't be too surprised if they manage to nab …