Post by Commissioner Erick on Apr 25, 2020 19:45:14 GMT -5
Washington Nationals (73-45) @ St. Louis Cardinals (73-45)
WAS: Eric Pena (9-7, 3.17)
STL: Alex Reyes (7-6, 3.41)
While the team hasn't gotten a ton of media attention, the Washington Nationals have been fantastic this season. They're on pace for 100 wins, and should easily crack 90 wins for the fifth consecutive season. Currently tied with the Philadelphia Phillies, they're competing for the right to play in the NLDS instead of facing a do-or-die situation against the NL Central runner up.
The St. Louis Cardinals have an equal record to the Nationals and are also stuck in a tooth-and-nail battle for their division lead. They're looking to fend off the Chicago Cubs to play in the NLCS, instead of having to win a do-or-die game against the NL East runner up.
The Nationals and Cardinals play each other in the Game of the Week in what could be a potential playoff preview. However, it would be a disappointment to each team if the playoff preview would be of the Wild Card Game.
The Nationals have followed a well-worn path to their success. They still get excellent starting pitching with this year's club perhaps their deepest version. Furthermore, despite Raul Mondesi Jr. and Trea Turner moving on, they still lead the league in stolen bases. Finally, despite Mike Trout turning in a terrible season for his standards, the Nationals still rely on star hitting to fuel their success—specifically Bryce Harper's star power.
Harper is having the worst season of his career so far, partly due to a league-wide reduction in offense. Despite that, Harper is currently third in batting average, third in slugging, third in OPS, third in WAR, fourth in home runs, second in RBIs, third in walks, and second in runs scored. He continues to be sensational, and providing value despite an outrageous 10-year, $307 million extension signed prior to the 2018 season. Assuming a win is worth $7 million dollars on the free agent market, and assuming Washington picks up Harper's $32 million player option in 2027 to give him his full contract, Bryce could retire right now, provide no more value for the final 4.5 seasons of his contract, and still be a fair return on investment based on what he's provided just from 2018-2023.
Throw on the fact that Harper has been third or fourth in merchandise revenue every year since 2019, and has been at least fourth in season ticket revenue since 2019, and the number of fans wearing Harper jerseys to the Nationals games makes him even more of an icon. He's a superstar Alex Reyes will have to figure out.
They'll take on a Cardinals team that's trying to rebound from a bit of a rough July. The club had a losing record that month and was middling in August before coming up with a pair of clutch wins against the Royals over the weekend.
On Saturday, down 2-1 in the seventh, Joc Pederson hit a game-tying home run off Brent Honeywell to tie the game. Jose Adolis Garcia took Tyler Lyons deep for a two-run shot later that inning, Pablo Santana and Luis Contreras worked 3.1 scoreless innings, and the Cardinals won. On Sunday, the team was tied 2-2 in the eighth with Nick Pratto facing Mark Melancon with two in scoring position and one out. Pratto's excellent bat was able to guide the ball deep enough to left field for Carson Kelly to tag and score the eventual winning run. Santana and Contreras worked a perfect eighth and ninth and the Cardinals had themselves a winning streak.
If the Cardinals can avoid the wrath of Harper, get their two power groundballers the baseball in a close game, and get Pratto at bats against the Washington pen, they'll have a shot at making it three in a row.
Questions for the GMs:
For Jake Pennel, Eric Pena was pretty erratic last year and early this year, but he did flash great stuff. After a 0.84 ERA in 32.1 July innings, he looks like he's pitching up to his spectacular expectations. Do you feel like your development of him has been a success?
Mike Trout is hitting ahead of a Rule-V guy with one home run this year. Could that be a reason for his struggles?
Juan Soto was awful last year, and didn't play much earlier this year. What caused you to insert him into the lineup?
For Steve Bennett, you've turned to a four-man rotation. What caused you to want to go that route?
How do you ideally plan on going after Harper today?
Austin Meadows hasn't homered for you yet, but he's provided his trademarked doubles and triples game to St. Louis. What caused you to want to trade for him?
TRIVIA: Outside of Austin Meadows, who is the only player in the Top 10 all time in both doubles and triples?
WAS: Eric Pena (9-7, 3.17)
STL: Alex Reyes (7-6, 3.41)
While the team hasn't gotten a ton of media attention, the Washington Nationals have been fantastic this season. They're on pace for 100 wins, and should easily crack 90 wins for the fifth consecutive season. Currently tied with the Philadelphia Phillies, they're competing for the right to play in the NLDS instead of facing a do-or-die situation against the NL Central runner up.
The St. Louis Cardinals have an equal record to the Nationals and are also stuck in a tooth-and-nail battle for their division lead. They're looking to fend off the Chicago Cubs to play in the NLCS, instead of having to win a do-or-die game against the NL East runner up.
The Nationals and Cardinals play each other in the Game of the Week in what could be a potential playoff preview. However, it would be a disappointment to each team if the playoff preview would be of the Wild Card Game.
The Nationals have followed a well-worn path to their success. They still get excellent starting pitching with this year's club perhaps their deepest version. Furthermore, despite Raul Mondesi Jr. and Trea Turner moving on, they still lead the league in stolen bases. Finally, despite Mike Trout turning in a terrible season for his standards, the Nationals still rely on star hitting to fuel their success—specifically Bryce Harper's star power.
Harper is having the worst season of his career so far, partly due to a league-wide reduction in offense. Despite that, Harper is currently third in batting average, third in slugging, third in OPS, third in WAR, fourth in home runs, second in RBIs, third in walks, and second in runs scored. He continues to be sensational, and providing value despite an outrageous 10-year, $307 million extension signed prior to the 2018 season. Assuming a win is worth $7 million dollars on the free agent market, and assuming Washington picks up Harper's $32 million player option in 2027 to give him his full contract, Bryce could retire right now, provide no more value for the final 4.5 seasons of his contract, and still be a fair return on investment based on what he's provided just from 2018-2023.
Throw on the fact that Harper has been third or fourth in merchandise revenue every year since 2019, and has been at least fourth in season ticket revenue since 2019, and the number of fans wearing Harper jerseys to the Nationals games makes him even more of an icon. He's a superstar Alex Reyes will have to figure out.
They'll take on a Cardinals team that's trying to rebound from a bit of a rough July. The club had a losing record that month and was middling in August before coming up with a pair of clutch wins against the Royals over the weekend.
On Saturday, down 2-1 in the seventh, Joc Pederson hit a game-tying home run off Brent Honeywell to tie the game. Jose Adolis Garcia took Tyler Lyons deep for a two-run shot later that inning, Pablo Santana and Luis Contreras worked 3.1 scoreless innings, and the Cardinals won. On Sunday, the team was tied 2-2 in the eighth with Nick Pratto facing Mark Melancon with two in scoring position and one out. Pratto's excellent bat was able to guide the ball deep enough to left field for Carson Kelly to tag and score the eventual winning run. Santana and Contreras worked a perfect eighth and ninth and the Cardinals had themselves a winning streak.
If the Cardinals can avoid the wrath of Harper, get their two power groundballers the baseball in a close game, and get Pratto at bats against the Washington pen, they'll have a shot at making it three in a row.
Questions for the GMs:
For Jake Pennel, Eric Pena was pretty erratic last year and early this year, but he did flash great stuff. After a 0.84 ERA in 32.1 July innings, he looks like he's pitching up to his spectacular expectations. Do you feel like your development of him has been a success?
Mike Trout is hitting ahead of a Rule-V guy with one home run this year. Could that be a reason for his struggles?
Juan Soto was awful last year, and didn't play much earlier this year. What caused you to insert him into the lineup?
For Steve Bennett, you've turned to a four-man rotation. What caused you to want to go that route?
How do you ideally plan on going after Harper today?
Austin Meadows hasn't homered for you yet, but he's provided his trademarked doubles and triples game to St. Louis. What caused you to want to trade for him?
TRIVIA: Outside of Austin Meadows, who is the only player in the Top 10 all time in both doubles and triples?
