Washington Nationals: Opening Day finally arrives

The day we waited for all winter is here as the Washington Nationals play for real. Catch up on what you missed from us in the Daily Washingtonian.

Good morning Washington Nationals fans!

Today is Good Friday, March 30, 2018. It truly is OPENING DAY!

The Nats are in Cincinnati to face the Reds with the first pitch scheduled for around 4:10 PM. Because the Baltimore Orioles are off, the game is on MASN not MASN2. Max Scherzer takes the hill for Washington while Homer Bailey starts for the Reds.

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Think Bryce Harper wallops a couple out of Great American Ballpark today? Does Scherzer whiff double-digits? We hope so.

Wonder how Dave Martinez slept last night. He has to be excited to make his debut as manager. His colleague Aaron Boone did fine for the New York Yankees while Alex Cora‘s Boston opener did not.

Normally, this is where we would say a few words about how everyone is undefeated and in first lace, but the bad weather Thursday changed all that. Instead, the Nats sit a half game behind the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves with 162 games to go.

If you are driving to Cincy this weekend, and some of you are, bring warm clothes. Temperatures over Easter weekend will be in the low-40s.  Not great baseball weather, but the games count from here on out.

We will have livetweets for every regular season game. Always a good time.

Usually we share stories from other sites. But, today we want you to take a look at stories we have done this week to preview the season:

Projecting the Starting Pitching production

Drew Douglas looked at the starting five and wrote about their projected numbers from FanGraphs. The computers love Scherzer. A.J. Cole is tolerated by the projections. Worth a read if you are interested in how fantasy projections come about.

Five goals for 2018

I–can’t talk about myself in the third person–wrote for Tuesday on the goals the Nats can achieve this year. If they do accomplish what is on the list, they go into 2019 in great shape for the future.

Five must watch players in 2018

Brian Foley on Wednesday broke down the five most exciting players to watch on the Nats. He did an excellent job choosing both superstars and players who make you grab the antacid bottle. Worth the read.

Fearless Staff Predictions

Thursday, the staff at District on Deck  shared our predictions for the season ahead and what awards might come. Something about October in Houston came up often.

Next: Rusty Staub passes away

Enjoy the magic of today, everybody!