Washington Nationals: Storylines to watch this weekend in Queens

Can the Nats finally figure out deGrom?

This year, the Nats have been able to take care of business against the Mets, but there’s one pitcher that they can’t seem to beat. Out of the five losses that they have against New York, three of them have come against deGrom. In four starts against the Nats, he’s 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA and has 38 strikeouts in 28.1 innings.

In a year filled with many injuries for the Mets pitching staff, deGrom has stayed healthy. His start was scratched from tonight to Sunday night because of a stomach ailment

If you go to Baseball Reference, deGrom is one of only two pitchers in the National League that won’t make the playoffs that have a top ten WAR (4.5 – seventh in the NL). The only other non-playoff contending pitcher on that list is Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (4.3 – ninth).

Over the last month, deGrom has had a couple of bad starts against the Phillies and Marlins, but he has been consistent for most of the season. If you look at his last ten starts, he has given up two runs or fewer in five of them and has three double-digit strikeout games.

In those five matchups with the Nats, only four players have driven in a run against deGrom. Adrian Sanchez and Trea Turner each have a RBI, but the two players that have three RBI’s against him are Zimmerman and Matt Wieters (each have a home run).

Since deGrom will now go up against Scherzer in the finale of this series, expect a great pitcher’s duel between two of the best pitchers in the National League. Scherzer is 4-2 at Citi Field and has given up seven runs in six starts since joining the Washington Nationals.

 For the Nats, this could be one of their last tests against a top pitcher before the postseason.