Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (37-22) at Wasington Natinals (28-31)

In Series Previews by berselius33 Comments

Nats park has been around for a good 17 years now, but I still have to stop and catch myself and remember that they don’t still play at RFK. It is/was a weird, ugly mound of concrete but oddly I’ve had the best hot dogs that I’ve ever eaten at a ballpark there. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

The Nats finally seem to be on the upswing after their post-World Series teardown and rebuild. They have lost 90+ games in each of their post covid seasons, but are currently pushing .500-ish following a couple of 4-5 game winning streaks over the past few weeks. But, there’s no particular unit that stands out – their offense is well below average, and their pitching is merely okay, and they have the worst defense in the league per Fangraphs numbers. Hopefully the Cubs can take care of business on the road ahead of a surprising-in-hindsight tough matchup with the league leading Tigers.

Team Leaders

Cubs

  • OBP: Still Carson Kelly (.396), Tucker is 2 points behind
  • ISO: Seiya (.292)
  • HR: PCA (15)
  • R+RBI: PCA (97)
  • wRC+: Kelly (166)
  • BSR: PCA (4.4)
  • Defense: PCA (8.5)
  • Position player fWAR: PCA (3.4)
  • SP K/9: Brown (11.28)
  • SP BB/9: Taillon (1.69)
  • SP FIP: Brown (3.11)
  • RP K/9: Pomeranz (9.88)
  • RP BB/9: Pomeran (1.98)
  • RP FIP: Keller (2.16)
  • Pitcher fWAR: Brown (1.3)

Nats

  • OBP: James Wood (.385)
  • ISO: Wood (.281)
  • HR: Wood (16)
  • R+RBI: Wood (82)
  • wRC+: Wood (163)
  • BSR: CF Abrams (2.5)
  • Defense: Paul DeJong (3.1)
  • SP K/9: MacKenzie Gore (13.30)
  • SP BB/9: Michael Soroka (1.74)
  • SP FIP: Gore (2.65)
  • RP K/9: Andrew Chafin (13.00)
  • RP BB/9: Jose Ferrer (2.40)
  • RP FIP: Kyle Finnegan (2.64)
  • Pitcher fWAR: Gore (2.1)

I guess that James Wood guy is good huh.

Who isn’t available

Old nemesis Paul DeJong is out indefinitely following his taking a Mitch Keller pitch to the face back in April, breaking his nose (and maybe other things). Former Cubs draftee DJ Herz, who the Cubs shipped off in the Candelario trade in 2023, is done for the year with TJS. CF Jacob Young is recovering from a sprained shoulder suffered by crashing into a wall in Camden Yards a week or so ago.

For the Cubs the biggest concern is Kyle Tucker, who jammed his ring finger on his first caught stealing in nearly two years. X-Rays came back negative, and it sounds like he won’t need an IL stint. Shota Imanaga threw a second bullpen session on Saturday, and is likely moving to AZ for the next step of his rehab. Hopefully he’ll be back later this month. Tyson Miller continues his endless rehab, and has made four more appearances at Iowa after being shut down for a week or so earlier in May. Porter Hodge’s oblique is apparently feeling better, but now he’s working on the underlying hip injury that may have led him to overcompensate into the oblique injury. He might be back in a few weeks. Miguel Amaya is shut down with an oblique injury of his own, but the Cubs are hoping he gets back by the All Star break.

Pitching Matchups

K/9, BB/9, ERA, FIP listed for all

Tuesday: Cade Horton, RHP (7.08, 1.77, 3.98, 4.95) vs Trevor Williams, RHP (6.99, 2.44, 5.69, 4.09), 5:45 PM CT

Wednesday: Matthew Boyd, LHP (9.39, 2.20, 3.08, 3.45) vs MacKenzie Gore, LHP (13.30, 2.77, 3.16, 2.65), 5:45 PM CT

Thursday: Colin Rea?, RHP (7.39, 2.75, 3.96, 4.34) vs Jake Irvin, RHP (5.77, 2.45, 3.93, 4.43), 5:45 PM CT

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Comments

  5. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    LF Happ
    RF Suzuki
    CF PCA
    C Kelly
    1B Busch
    SS Swanson
    2B Hoerner
    DH Turner
    3B Shaw

    SP Horton

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  12. andcounting

    I don’t know if it’s just me getting old, but I went into the bathroom after the top of 5th and by the time I was done peeing the bottom of the 5th was over.

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  14. andcounting

    This ump is calling the old-school AL strike zone: an extra few inches at the top and bottom but narrow af.

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  27. BVS

    Caught up on the pod yesterday while nursing my own bad cold, which I’ve had since Sunday.

    Well done AC as the bench intro voice. You’re officially better than whoever is filling in for Boog these days.

    Larry Bird refs aren’t going to market the pod to our Gen Z reader though. But at least you weren’t comparing our catching corps to Barry Foote or calling for Domingo Ramos to replace Justin Turner.

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  32. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron versing south paw MacKenzie Gore

    LF Happ
    RF Suzuki
    C Kelly
    CF PCA
    SS Swanson
    2B Hoerner
    1B Busch
    DH Turner
    3B Shaw

    SP Boyd

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