MLB TRANSACTION UPDATE: St. Louis Cardinals are formally ahead of the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros in obtaining the remarkable Starting pitcher from the Atlanta Braves for a $185.7 million contract. This information comes from MLB Insider.

“Lefties” is the word for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Washington Nationals

The St. Louis Cardinals have an upcoming series against the Washington Nationals for four games going from Friday to Monday. This is just an aside here, but I feel like I never used to see that and this season this is at least the second time the Cardinals have played in a Friday through Monday four-game series. Just an observation from your friendly, neighborhood.. I don’t know, observer? Is that what I am?

Well I have a few more observations for you all and they pertain to the Cardinals opponent in this four game set, that opponent being the afore-mentioned Nationals. The Nationals are 41-46 and are currently in fourth place in the National League East. The Philadelphia Phillies lead the East and I think all of baseball with a 57-30 record, putting the Nats 16 games behind the pace. The Cardinals are in second place in the National League Central, six games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, but more importantly, are just 0.5 games back of the second Wild Card with the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres holding to the Wild Card spots ahead of them. It is July and the Cardinals have something to play for.

Of course the Nationals won’t make it easy with a pitching staff ranked seventh in league in FIP at 3.76. Of the starters the Cardinals will face, Patrick Corbin has had the weakest season thus far. He is a lefty that primarily throws a sinker (36.7%), slider (31.4%), cutter (16.2%), four Seamer (10.0%), and a changeup (5.7%). His best pitch had once been his slider, but in recent years it at has amassed a negative run value for him, per Baseball Savant. This year. while it isn’t back to form it has a least been a positive pitch for him while his sinker has really… sunked. It is not hard to see why — the pitch has been all over the place. This inconsistency has led to it getting hit a lot and hit hard. It has a .325 batting average against it and has been hit out of the yard eight times so far this season.

Of course, following Corbin has been the Nationals best starter, MacKenzie Gore. This lefty is in his third season and throws a four seamer (54.7%), curveball (20.6%), slider (14.3%), and a changeup (9.6%). His best pitch has been is four seamer that he throws at the top of zone around 96.5 mph. In just over 90 innings has a 27.2 K% with a 2.99 FIP.

On Sunday the Cardinals will face DJ Hertz. Hertz is another lefty and has only pitched 27 innings this season to start his career. The Nationals’ number 12 prospect throws a four seamer (55.2%), changeup (25.6%), cutter (12.9%), and a slider (6.3%). There is not much data to look at yet, but he is striking nearly 31% of batters while only walking 5.8%.

The series wraps up on Monday, as I have so noted already, with yet another lefty, Mitchell Parker. Also in his first season, Parker has thrown over 84 innings with a 3.61 ERA and 3.91 FIP. He primarily throws a four seamer (48.6%), curveball (25.8%), split finger (18.0%), and a slider (7.7%).

The reason why the Nationals have not been more competitive is probably largely due to their offense, which ranks 24th in team wRC+ with 90. CJ Abrams has been their top everyday hitter with a 135 wRC+, but the 6’7” James Woods has recently gotten off to a quick start after his recent call up. He has a 142 wRC+ while walking 23.5% of the time in… oh, just 17 plate appearances. But it looked really impressive there for a second, didn’t it?