Nats vs Braves: Hot Offense, Questionable Pitchers | Washington Nationals News

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On August 1st, all right, let's talk baseball. The Washington Nationals are in Atlanta facing the Braves, and they've dropped the first two games of this weekend series. Now, the Braves are on a three-game win streak, but here's where it gets interesting. The Nats are actually hitting really well, especially lately, leading the league in on-base plus slugging and home runs. The Braves are favored, but their starting pitcher, Reynaldo Lopez, has been shaky. His advanced stats don't look great, and he's been giving up a lot of long balls. This is a problem when you're facing a Nationals offense that's been absolutely on fire, posting some impressive numbers in July and the second half of the season. Now, Lopez himself has had some injury issues that seem to be affecting his velocity and spin on his pitches, making him more hittable. On the flip side, the Nationals are expected to get Luis Garcia Jr. back, who was having a fantastic July. However, the Nats' own starting pitcher, Miles Mikolas, has struggled mightily this season. His earned run average is high and his advanced metric suggests it's not just bad luck.
The Braves have been scoring plenty of runs and they'll likely need to keep that going against Mikolas. Considering both offenses are hot and both starting pitchers have question marks, the smart money might be on a higher scoring game.
The weather in Atlanta is also looking humid, which can sometimes help the ball carry. Team coverage powered by AI.
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