The Washington Nationals who are now 3-6 following a weekend series victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, will welcome an intimidating foe to the Nation's Capital beginning today, when Shohei Ohtani and the reigning World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers come to town for a 3-game series.
For Monday's game, the Nationals dropped a new-look lineup with some pretty interesting moving parts to take note of, mostly due to a few key absences. Shortstop CJ Abrams, the team's usual leadoff hitter, is going to get his first day off of the 2025 season, as it seemed like he was a little bit gimpy at the end of yesterday's game due to right thigh tightness. Paul DeJong will slide over to his natural position of shortstop, while José Tena will get the start in his place at the hot corner.
Maybe the most notable change to the lineup is the move of left fielder James Wood to the leadoff spot in place of Abrams. The team needs a good eye with some speed and pop at the top of the lineup, and Wood provides exactly that. Hopefully for Wood, he will be able to create some positive momentum at the plate as he has gotten off to a little bit of a slow start. He's not struggling, but he just hasn't lit the world on fire like some expected him to, but still nothing to worry about.
The other significant piece from this lineup is another start for Alex Call in right field, who is bumped up to the #2 spot in the order in place of Jacob Young, which allows Dylan Crews to slide from right field to center field. This is interesting because Davey Martinez had said ahead of yesterday's game that he expected Young to be back in the lineup today, but it appears as if he has changed his mind. I wrote this morning about how Call is pushing to get more playing time, and he has seemingly earned that in Davey's mind as well.
TEN. pic.twitter.com/I4QAaQnNWy
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 7, 2025
As for the pitching side, Nationals ace MacKenzie Gore will make his 3rd start of the year, going up against Dodgers righty Dustin May. The rest of the series is still to be determined, but these are the probable pitching matchups for both teams:
Monday: RHP May (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.80 WHIP) @ LHP Gore (0-1, 2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP)
Tuesday: RHP Knack @ RHP Lord (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 2.50 WHIP)
Wednesday: TBD @ RHP Irvin (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 1.70 WHIP)
The Dodgers' rotation is very much in flux right now with Blake Snell hitting the IL yesterday, and it appears as if the team is trying to get through the series in DC without using their big-name starters. It appears as if righty Landon Knack will be recalled to make a spot start on Tuesday in place of Snell's usual spot in the rotation, and that they will go to a bullpen game on Wednesday before facing the Cubs back in Los Angeles next weekend.
For the Nationals, it appears as if Brad Lord is set to make his 1st career MLB start on Tuesday in place of Michael Soroka. While Jackson Rutledge was recalled from AAA a few days ago, it appears as if he is going to be used as a reliever, with Lord getting the chance to go back to being a starter. Jake Irvin will get the start on Wednesday, hoping to have his first dominant start of the season.
What do you think of the Nationals' new-look lineup? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.