The Nationals kick off a brutal stretch of games to close the season with a four-game set against the Braves.

The Nationals enter the series with a 68-85 record and last in the NL East while the Braves are fighting for the best record in the league coming in at 97-55.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Jake Irvin (3-6, 4.34 ERA) v Max Fried (7.1, 2.64 ERA)

• This is Irvin’s first career start against the Braves
• Fried has gone at least five innings and given up three or less runs in six straight starts

Game 2: Patrick Corbin (10-13, 5.00 ERA) v Charlie Morton (14-12, 3.66 ERA)

• In games where Corbin gives up less than three runs the Nationals are 10-7 this season
• In the month of August, Morton started five games three of which were shutouts

Game 3: Joan Adon (2-3, 6.28 ERA) v Kyle Wright (0-3, 7.71 ERA)

• Adon has struck out at least three batters in every start this season
• Wright has given up at least four runs in his last three starts

Game 4: TBD v Spencer Strider (18-5, 3.73 ERA)

• Strider has started 30 games this season and is leading the league in both strikeouts and wins.

Major Players:

Braves:

• Ronald Acuna Jr.

Acuna is having a historic season, being the first player to steal 60 bases and hit 30 home runs and might be the first to reach the 70-40 mark only being one homer and three steals away.  All this has catapulted him to a battle with the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts for the NL MVP award

• Matt Olson

Not only is Olson leading the league in homers (52) by a wide margin this year, but he has set a new Braves team record for homers in a single season passing Andruw Jones’ 51 in 2005.  On a team with the career leader in home runs in Hank Aaron, it’s Matt Olson with the single-season crown.

Nationals:

• CJ Abrams

Since the All-Star break, Abrams has been on fire, doubling his stolen base total from before the break in 20 fewer games, and almost tripling his home run count in the same amount of time.

• Lane Thomas

Thomas is coming off a game where he hit a Grand Slam, the fourth of the season for the Nationals.

Breakdown:

This is going to be a tough series for the Nationals as the Braves are still fighting for that number one seed in the NL.  If the Nationals can steal one game in this series it will be a success.

The pitching matchups seem to be the most favorable in game three for the Nationals but none of these games are easy.

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