The Washington Nationals are riding high going into their next series with the Kansas City. Their season hasn’t been what they were hoping for, but they can play spoiler for teams with playoff hopes.
The Nationals are on a six-game road trip that started in San Francisco as they faced the Giants at Oracle Park. After being shut out in the first game of the three-game series, they went on to win two straight to take the series before heading to Kansas City to face the Royals on Monday.
While the Nats are 15.5 games out of the final National League Wild Card spot and would need a miracle to reach the postseason, the Royals still have a fighting chance as they find themselves four games back from the last wild card spot in the American League. The Nationals can do some damage to the Royals’ hopes if they win the series.
Washington is below .500 both at home and on the road But the Nationals actually have more wins when they get away from Nationals Park, with 25 wins on the road and 22 games at home. Oddly, the Royals have the same struggle, with 30 wins on the road against 28 wins at home.
Outfielder James Wood has been as consistent at the plate as a coach can ask for, with solid splits at home and on the road. But, surprisingly their shortstop, C.J. Abrams, is better when he is away from Nationals Park. Abrams posts a better slash line, has more home runs, more RBI, etc. when he is playing on the road.
The pitching staff has struggled whether at home or on the road. With the Nationals trading a few pitchers at the deadline, that only makes it more difficult. The Nats won’t have MacKenzie Gore to lean on in this series as he pitched on Sunday in San Francisco. This series should be more about the offense for the Nationals if they hope to come away with another series win this road trip.
The Royals have more to lose than the Nationals as they are trying to find a way into the postseason. Kansas City is looking for any chance to make up ground on a struggling New York Yankees squad who hold the final wild card spot in the American League.
Luckily for the Nationals pitching staff, the Kansas City offense does not perform well at Kauffman Stadium. There are two teams in baseball with fewer than 200 RBI at home — the Giants and the Royals. The Royals have more than 20 less RBI than the Giants. It’s strange that the Nationals end up playing them back to back.
At home the Royals struggle in other key categories in Major League Baseball. Total home runs? Last. On-base percentage? Last. Walks? Last. Runs? Last. OPS? Second to last,
Offense has not a strength for the Royals at home this season and that could works in the favor of Washington’s pitching staff as it now has a new starter and a new closer with the trades of Michael Soroka and Kyle Finnegan, respectively.
This will be a high stakes series for the Royals and Washington has a chance to return home with back to back series wins on the road.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
