The Washington Nationals wrapped up its first home series victory Sunday afternoon since May 19-21 against Detroit. After struggling at home for much of the season (their 15-32 mark at home is better than only Kansas City and Oakland), the Nats enter the All-Star break with some welcome success on the field.
They also begin the hiatus knowing how their future will be shaped. With the second overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, the Nationals selected LSU center fielder Dylan Crews. He’s the third Golden Spikes Award winner (joining Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper) to be taken in the first round by Washington.
Other recent winners of the award have contributed to championship teams, from Kris Bryant with the Chicago Cubs to Andrew Benintendi with the Boston Red Sox. Crews hit .426 with 70 RBI while helping the Tigers win the College World Series. He can’t get to Nationals Park soon enough.
Digesting the Division: Atlanta (60-29) has won 30 games on the road and at home as they reach the break winning eight of their last 10 games. That will yield an 8.5 game lead over overachieving Miami (53-39 despite a minus-5 run differential) while Philadelphia (48-41), despite its issues, has just one fewer win than they did at last year’s All-Star break.
The New York Mets (42-48) are ahead of schedule in a different way. They didn’t have 48 losses last season until Aug. 30.
Washington (36-54) is back on pace to lose 67 games (which isn’t awesome but it’s under 100).
Break up the Birds: After dropping two straight to being their series at the New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles (54-35) put together five wins to enter the break with a bang. One weekend after dropping two of three to Minnesota, Baltimore outscored the Twins 24-5 to post a sweep on the road (their 28 road wins is the most in the American League).
Camden Yards is the place to be this summer as the O’s are closer to AL East-leading Tampa Bay (two games) than they are to the rest of the Wild Card contenders (a five-game cushion). Let’s hope the Home Run Derby doesn’t mess up Adley Rutschman’s swing.
Last Week’s Heroes: Alex Call made the most of his return to the majors by batting .385 with two homers, three RBI and four runs scored. Joey Meneses hit three homers while CJ Abrams scored four runs and drove in three. Amos Willingham posted three scoreless innings over three appearances while Jake Irvin pitched through Saturday’s rain delay to help end the team’s five game slide. Patrick Corbin followed up Irvin’s outing by scattering five hits over seven innings of one-run ball to secure his sixth win of the season.
Last Week’s Humbled: Corbin allowed six runs over five innings on July 4 as fireworks and sparklers weren’t the only ones getting lit up on the holiday while Joe La Sorsa surrendered four runs over 2.2 frames. Stone Garrett hit .133 while Luis Garcia batted .158 and Dominic Smith posted a .190 average.
Game to Watch: The regular season resumes Friday in St. Louis with the Nats facing another last place team that enters the break with two straight wins. The Cardinals are the classic good hitting squad (ranking eighth in on base and slugging percentage) but bad at pitching (25th in team ERA and 29th in opponent’s batting average).
With Josiah Gray participating in the All Star festivities, do the Nats pitch MacKenzie Gore (1.1 innings tossed last week due to the rainout against the Reds) or Patrick Corbin on what would be his normal rest?
Game to Miss: They wrap up their series Sunday in St. Louis while many eyes (myself included) will be all-in on the All-England Club for Wimbledon’s Gentlemen’s Singles Championships. Will Novak Djokovic make it a fifth straight win in that tournament and move within one title of a calendar slam? Break out the strawberries and cream for the morning start. I’ll take my nap in the afternoon.
