The Washington Nationals are taking on the greatest juggernaut in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers
It will be a David vs Goliath style matchup this week as the Washington Nationals take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers have taken the baseball world by storm with their unprecedented spending spree the last two off-seasons. They owe 8 players over $1 billion in deferred payments. Meanwhile the Nationals biggest free agent pickup of the off-season was Michael Soroka.
However, it is not just the money with the Dodgers. They have been a great team long before the likes of Ohtani, Mookie, and Freddie came over. The Dodgers are a well oiled machine that also happens to have an endless supply of cash. I actually wrote about how the Dodgers are changing the game this off-season.
Back to the series, what can the Nationals possibly do to halt this winning machine? Well, tonight the Nats have their ace MacKenzie Gore taking the ball. He will have to be at the top of his game like he was on Opening Day against the Phillies. If we see that version of Gore, he can slow down the best of lineups. However, he gave up a lot of hard contact in a shaky outing against the Blue Jays last time out. We need to see the best of MacKenzie Gore tonight, especially because the bullpen is taxed. Given the weather, there is a chance this game gets rained out.
On Tuesday, there is still a lot of fog of war surrounding the game. Due to injuries neither team has announced their starter. This would have been Gore’s turn, but he was pushed up due to the Soroka injury and the day off which made it normal rest for him. We will probably see some combination of Brad Lord and Jackson Rutledge though.
The Dodgers also saw a starter go down. Their big money signing Blake Snell hit the IL with a shoulder injury. They will also probably lean on their bullpen pretty heavily on Tuesday. The Dodgers are also missing Freddie Freeman, a player that has terrorized the Nats his whole career. Freddie is one of the best hitters I have ever seen, so it will be nice not to see him. However, Nats pitchers still have to deal with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and more.
On Wednesday, the Nats have Jake Irvin lined up. Irvin has not looked at his first half of 2024 best to start the season. He will need to find some of that magic to have success against this Dodgers lineup. Irvin’s velocity is down a tick from last season and hitters have just been punishing his fastball so far. With this Dodgers lineup coming up, I fear for Irvin.
This matchup is truly a David vs Goliath type situation. The Dodgers are filled with veteran stars, while the Nats have a lot of youngsters. LA’s payroll dwarfs the Nats lowly payroll. It is not long ago that these two teams were both at the top of the National League. However, ever since the Nats won their 2019 NLDS matchup en route to a World Series, the two organizations have gone in opposite directions.
The Dodgers have won two World Series and are the talk of the baseball world. On the other end of the spectrum, the Nats had to go into a full rebuild and are struggling to climb back to the top of the NL. The Dodgers are all in all the time, while I sometimes question how committed Nationals ownership is.
The Dodgers are going to go on to bigger and better things than the Nats in 2025. However, it would be sweet if the underdog Nats can take a series against the kings of baseball.