Washington Nationals: 5 storylines to watch post NL East clincher

The Washington Nationals continue their long homestand with a three game series against the Braves. Here are 5 storylines to keep an eye on

With 19 games to go, the Washington Nationals (88-55) already have the NL East locked up. They clinched their fourth division title in six years on Sunday thanks to winning three out of four games against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Marlins losing three out of four to the Braves.

There were many fun things to watch over the weekend, but the two best performers were Stephen Strasburg and Michael Taylor. Taylor had an inside-the-park grand slam on Friday and Strasburg kept his scoreless inning streak with eight dominant innings on Sunday.

Now, the only thing the Nats have left to play for in the regular season is maybe the number one seed as they are surprisingly close to catching the Dodgers. Before the Dodgers, the Nats will play a three game series against Atlanta at Nats Park.

This season, the Washington Nationals are 7-6 against the Atlanta Braves, but the Braves have outscored them 77-68. However, this is the first series between the two teams since the All-Star break. Since that last series, Atlanta is 22-33, but they are 5-5 in their last ten games.

Of course, when you talk about the Braves, Freddie Freeman’s name is going to come up. Atlanta’s first baseman is hitting .297 with nine home runs and 32 RBI’s over his last 55 games. His four home runs over the last month are tied with Matt Adams and Matt Kemp for the most on the team.

Atlanta has a decent offense, but their starting pitching still has a lot of room for improvement. Their 4.94 ERA is the third highest in the National League and they have only one pitcher on the staff with a winning percentage of .500 or better (R.A. Dickey – 9-9). They are hoping young pitchers like Sean Newcomb and Luiz Gohara could lead the rotation in the future.

As for the bullpen, Atlanta’s relievers have the highest ERA in the NL (4.70) and are tied for the fourth fewest strikeouts (437). Right now, Arodys Vizcaino is the closer and he’s converted eight straight saves, but the rest of the bullpen has been bad. Check out this stat from three days ago courtesy of Mark Bowman of MLB.com

Now, let’s take a look at the three pitching matchups for this series

Tonight: Julio Teheran (10-11, 4.77 ERA) vs. Gio Gonzalez (14-6, 2.50) – 7:05 p.m ET, broadcast on MASN

Tomorrow: Luiz Gohara (0-1, 13.50) vs. Max Scherzer (14-5, 2.32) – 7:05 p.m, MASN

Thursday: Mike Foltynewicz (10-12, 4.74) vs. Tanner Roark (12-9. 4.48) – 7:05 p.m, MASN2

Without further ado, here are five storylines to keep an eye on starting with the youth movement down in Atlanta

Michael Taylor enhancing strength of the lineup

It is clear that Taylor is finally healthy and in a good rhythm at the plate again. Over the weekend, he had two home runs, including an inside-the-park grand slam and eight RBI’s.

September is a small sample size but it shows how much Taylor is locked in at the plate right now. In nine games, he’s hitting .344 with four home runs and ten RBI’s. He is one of only five players in the National League that have ten or more RBI’s this month.

When Taylor is hitting the ball well at the bottom of the order, it only adds to the lineup because it makes it tougher for the pitcher to navigate. Plus, he continues to play great defense in center field and would probably be a Gold Glove candidate if he hadn’t missed over a month due to an oblique injury.

This season, Taylor has played in nine of the 13 games against the Braves, but his numbers aren’t bad. He’s 9-for-28 (.321) at the plate with a couple of RBI’s and four doubles. However, he’s a combined 0-for-5 in his career against Teheran and Foltynewicz.

As the season continues, it has become more and more clearer that Taylor can be the center fielder of the future for this team. He has taken advantage of his last chance and has improved his production and his approach at the plate to go with his great defense.

Suzuki hurting his former team

When you think of opposing hitters that have hurt the Washington Nationals, names like Freddie Freeman and Giancarlo Stanton are names that come to mind. However, maybe Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki should be put into that category.

Suzuki isn’t one of the best players in the league, but he has had a good season against Nats pitching. The 33-year-old veteran is 10-for-30 (.333) with three home runs and ten RBI’s against Washington this year. To put that in perspective, he only has 5+ hits against two other teams this year (Phillies and Marlins)

The Washington Nationals are familiar with Suzuki since he played in D.C. in 2012 and 2013 before being traded to the Oakland A’s. He is not the primary catcher in Atlanta as Tyler Flowers has caught 20 more games (89 to 69). With that being said, he is close to a two win player in terms of WAR for the fifth time in his career.

Out of Suzuki’s ten hits against the Washington Nationals this year, six of them have against starting pitchers (three off of Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez). Plus, he has a home run against Gonzalez and Roark.

Now, Suzuki isn’t the catcher of the future in Atlanta by any means, but he does bring a veteran presence to those young pitchers and the Braves have to like that he is putting up good production against a divisional opponent.

Pitching matchup of the week

Whenever I do these five storylines before each series, I like to give you a look at my favorite pitching matchup of the week. For me, it’s the finale of this series between Foltynewicz and Roark because both pitchers are going in opposite directions.

Over his last seven starts going back to August 1, Foltynewicz is just 1-6 and has given up 27 runs in 32.1 innings. The surprising stat out of those bad numbers is that he’s only given up two home runs. However, the Braves are looking for a lot more production from him.

According to Brooks Baseball, the sinker has been the pitch that opposing hitters have crushed in the second half. Against that pitch, teams are hitting .378 and have a slugging percentage of .533. True, 24 of the 34 hits have been singles, but that pitch isn’t fooling anyone.

While Foltynewicz is 1-1 against the Nats this year, his ERA in those four starts in 6.61 and he’s given up four home runs in 16.1 innings. Three of those home runs are from Brian Goodwin and Bryce Harper and they aren’t playing this week. However, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman each have three hits against him.

As for Roark, he is back to being the definition of consistency. Since August 1, he has given up three runs or fewer in each of his last seven starts spanning a stretch of 44 innings. Since the All-Star break, teams are hitting .206 against the right-hander in his last ten starts.

If there’s one thing to nitpick at about Roark’s performances in the second half, he has given up nine home runs. Most of the time you might see him hang a curveball or one of his offspeed pitches because he will go to that pitch often. Despite the home runs, he has had a quality start in six of his last seven games.

Roark has not been good against the Braves this year when you consider he has an ERA of 9 in two games (one start). However, in 12 appearances before this year (dating back to 2014), he was 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA, so which Roark will show up Thursday? Nick Markakis is back for the Braves and the outfielder is 6-for-19 with three home runs in his career against Roark.

How much do veterans play?

With 19 games left and the NL East already locked up, the Washington Nationals will finish no worse than the second seed for the postseason. However, thanks to the Dodgers’ tailspin, they are just 3.5 games behind Los Angeles for the number one seed.

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This is going to be the tough part for Dusty Baker in that he is going to try to get his players enough rest to stay fresh for October as well as trying to win as many games as he can to catch the Dodgers.

Now, Los Angeles comes to Nats Park this weekend, so you would figure that the regulars are going to play in all three games of that series since it’s the last series with postseason atmosphere until the actual playoffs. But, how does he manage this series?

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some starters get a game or two off. Due to the day off on Monday, some of the starters should be in the lineup tonight. One name in particular to keep an eye on is Jayson Werth, who missed the Phillies series due to a shoulder injury.

Once Werth comes back, the Washington Nationals are pretty much at full strength until Bryce Harper makes his return to the lineup, whenever that may be. Harper’s health is critical to this team’s playoff chances, but so is Werth’s. The reason for that is he’s one of the leaders on the team and there isn’t much outfield depth if both Harper and Werth are out in October.

Next: How the NL East was won

Who are your players to watch or what storylines do you think we should watch for in this Braves-Nationals series? Let us know in the comment section below.