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World Series: Washington Nationals head home for Game 3 with all the momentum

By Jake Mastroianni

HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 23: Juan Soto #22 and Asdrubal Cabrera #13 of the Washington Nationals celebrate their 12-3 win over the Houston Astros in Game Two of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 23: Juan Soto #22 and Asdrubal Cabrera #13 of the Washington Nationals celebrate their 12-3 win over the Houston Astros in Game Two of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 23: Jose  Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros reacts against the Washington Nationals during the ninth inning in Game Two of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 23: Jose  Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros reacts against the Washington Nationals during the ninth inning in Game Two of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

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.

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