Freddie Freeman is hitting .250 against the Nationals this season — low by his standards of D.C. destruction — but with an .871 OPS. Center fielder and leadoff man Ender Inciarte is hitting .306. The Nationals enter this weekend 48-59 all time at Turner Field.

AD

AD

BEST IN THE NL EAST

The Nationals’ magic number is seven heading into this weekend, meaning that even if the Mets lose three to the Minnesota Twins — and that is somewhat unlikely given the Twins’ struggles this season — the Nationals could not scratch more than six games off that number. They head straight to Miami to begin a series with the Marlins on Monday evening, at which time the Mets begin play with the Braves. In other words, the Mets seem unlikely to swoon — at least not this week.

If, somehow, the Nationals wrap up their series in Miami with their magic number down to one, an interesting possibility arises: The Mets play the Phillies on Thursday. The Nationals do not play anyone Thursday. If the magic number is one entering their day off, they could clinch the division on an off day. Otherwise, they will have to try to do it in Pittsburgh next weekend.

PATCHING THE PITCHING

AD

AD

The Nationals enter this weekend’s series with Max Scherzer, Gio Gonzalez, and TBA listed as their starters in Atlanta. As there is no one in the Nationals organization with those initials, we can only assume a typo and speculate wildly on who will actually pitch the series finale.

Because of Thursday’s off day, the Nationals gave Scherzer and Gonzalez each an extra day of rest. They will enter their starts with six days’ rest. A.J. Cole, who allowed three runs in five laborious innings in his last outing, would be on regular rest Sunday. If he were to pitch the series finale, Tanner Roark would be on regular rest Monday, leaving the Nationals in need of a starter for Tuesday’s game to bridge to Wednesday, at which point Scherzer would be fully rested again.