World Series: Washington Nationals head home for Game 3 with all the momentum
After taking care of business on the road, the Washington Nationals head home with a ton of momentum and a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
The Washington Nationals have shocked the baseball world by taking down the heavily favored Houston Astros in the first two games of the World Series.
While we certainly don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, the momentum in this city for this team is at an all-time high as the Nationals prepare to host Game 3.
Certainly history is on the side of the Washington Nationals after winning the first two games of the series on the road. Twenty-two of 25 teams that have won the first two games on the road in a seven-game series has gone on to win that series.
Chard Thornburg of MLB.com did a great job of looking at the history of teams with 2-0 leads. Overall, only 13 teams have come back from such a deficit in 84 chances.
But still, it’s a possibility, and the Houston Astros have the talent and experience to get it done.
That is why the Washington Nationals can’t let up as they return home on Friday night in Game 3.
The scene at Nationals Park on Friday night is going to be electric, and maybe the biggest challenge for the Washington Nationals is not getting caught up in the hype.
If they can stick with what they’ve done in the first two games and continue to do the little things right, they have a chance to make history at home.
But things don’t get much easier for the Nationals as they have to take on another former Cy Young winner and an 18-game winner in 2019 in Zack Greinke.
Zack Greinke vs. Washington Nationals
One of the biggest moments of the regular season came moments after the July 31 trade deadline when it was announced that the Houston Astros pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire Zack Greinke.
At that point, the Astros instantly became even more of a favorite to win the World Series with one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball.
The 35-year-old Greinke turned in an outstanding season posting a 2.93 ERA with the Astros and Diamondbacks over 208.2 innings pitched with 187 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.98.
Greinke goes about his business a little differently than Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander relying on command and movement within the strike zone.
Basically, he doesn’t throw as hard as the first two.
Having spent the majority of the past nine seasons in the National League, Greinke obviously has a ton of experience against the Nationals.
He actually faced them earlier this season and pitched 7.1 shutout innings only allowing 2 hits. That was in June in a game that the Arizona Diamondbacks won 5-0.
Over the previous three seasons, Greinke has faced the Washington Nationals twice and given up just 1 earned runs on 6 hits over 14.1 innings with 9 strikeouts.
Of the Nationals starters, Asdrubal Cabrera has the most experience against him with 16 hits in 37 at-bats. Howie Kendrick is 5-for-20 against Greinke and Kurt Suzuki is 7-for-24 with a home run.
Surprisingly, Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, and Trea Turner are just a combined 2-for-16 off the righty. Rendon’s one hit against him was a home run, though.
Greinke has been very good on the road this year (2.64 ERA) and he’s just as good against righties (.235) as lefties (.221).
However, Greinke has had a rough time of things in the postseason giving up 10 earned runs on 15 hits and 4 walks over 14 innings. But his strikeout totals are up with 16 in the postseason.
The Astros have only won one of his postseason starts, and he only lasted 4.1 innings in that game so he didn’t even qualify for the win.
Hopefully that trend continues for Greinke and the Nationals in Game 3.
Anibal Sanchez vs. Houston Astros
When the Washington Nationals signed Anibal Sanchez for two years and $19 million this past offseason I don’t believe many thought he’d be starting Game 3 of the World Series.
But with Dave Martinez forced to use Patrick Corbin out of the bullpen in Game 1, it’s Sanchez who gets the ball in Game 3.
And even so, Anibal has earned this start with the way he’s pitched this postseason.
He gave up just 1 earned run on 4 hits and 2 walks over 5 innings with 9 strikeouts in the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And then he had a no-hitter through 7.2 innings in the NLCS against St. Louis.
Overall, he’s given up just 1 run on 5 hits and 3 walks over 12.2 innings with 14 strikeouts this postseason.
And he was very solid for the Washington Nationals in the regular season with a 3.85 ERA and 1.27 WHIP.
Sanchez has been around a while so he’s obviously faced the Houston Astros before, but the last time he face them was in 2016.
Jose Altuve (4-for-11, 1 HR), Michael Brantley (9-for-30), and Josh Reddick (3-for-13, 1 HR) have the most experience against him.
George Springer (3-for-5, 1 HR) and Robinson Chirinos (4-for-7) have had good at-bats against Sanchez in a small sample size.
Sanchez has actually been worse at home this season (4.24 ERA) and has had trouble against lefties (.248). Fortunately, the Astros will likely only have three lefties in their lineup.
Preview and Prediction
There are a couple of factors outside of the game itself that worry me going into Game 3 of the World Series.
The first is the emotions of the game. Washington is coming back home to a jacked up fanbase enjoying a 2-0 lead in their franchises first ever World Series.
While this team has a good mix of veterans that should keep everyone level headed, it’s easy to see how they could get carried away in the atmosphere and possibly lose focus.
But even more than that, this is a must-win game for the Houston Astros. They will play this game in complete desperation mode.
This is a team that everyone picked to win the World Series, and they’ve been humbled in the first two games. You know they are going to come out and want to punch the Nats and their crowd in the mouth (metaphorically, of course).
Whoever strikes first in this game could have a huge advantage the rest of the way. And with how the first innings have gone already in this series, I hate that the Astros are batting first.
All of the regular season numbers point to Greinke and the Astros having a huge advantage in this matchup. But the postseason numbers are quite different for these pitchers.
Going into this series I thought the Nationals would win games two and four. I still think that’s going to be the case, but I do think the Astros show some fight and win Game 3.
I expect Greinke to pitch much better than he has this postseason, maybe 2 or 3 runs over 6 innings. And I expect Sanchez to have a bit of a setback — 3 or 4 runs over 5 innings.
This also has the feeling of a game that could be high scoring and decided by the bullpens. As good as the Nationals bullpen has been at times in the postseason, I’m still not sure that I trust them to keep us in a tight game over four innings.
And again, the Astros will be in desperation mode, so they are going to use their best bullets out of the bullpen to try and stay in the game and win.
I expect this to be an 8-6 type of game.
Winner: Astros
Next. Nats hitters have had perfect approach in WS. dark
The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros will play Game 3 of the World Series at 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday on FOX.