The Braves know how important their games against the Nationals are, even if the first meeting didn’t exemplify it.
Washington came to SunTrust Park and beat up the home team 8-1 on Monday. 2015 MVP Bryce Harper, serenaded by a booing crowd the entire evening, homered and walked four times.
The Nationals are the team to beat in the National League East. No one expects the Braves to dethrone them this season, but for an organization hopeful that 2018 is a bridge year to contention, at least putting up a fight would give reason for hope.
“It’s always big when you play these guys,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “They’re the reigning (NL East) champions and have been. They’re a really, really good team again this year. Anytime you play in your division they’re big games.”
The Braves were a successful home-plate slide away from sweeping the Phillies in a chaotic opening series. The Nationals arrived Monday and put on a show that reminded all why there’s such a perceived discrepancy between them and the rest of the East.
“They’re talented, there’s no question,” Braves catcher Chris Stewart said. “The rotation, you’ve got five guys who can go win a ballgame any night. And the lineup is a tough lineup to manage.
“But sometimes they can make outs, you know? Even the good ones get out two-thirds of the time. So we’re going to go out there trying to exploit their weaknesses, execute pitches. That’s what it all comes down to, executing and playing defense.”
Exploiting the Nationals’ weaknesses in the regular season has proved difficult, though the Braves were 9-10 against them a season ago.
That could be considered an acceptable head-to-head result, considering the Braves finished 25 games behind the Nationals.
Braves utilityman Charlie Culberson was part of the 2016 Dodgers that eliminated the Nationals in a hard-fought, five-game NL divisional series. He said outside last year’s World Series, it was the most intense series in which he’s participated.
“They’re a great ballclub,” Culberson said. “A lot of good players obviously, some great arms, great bats. They’re just a good all-around team. But if we can do the little things right, getting bunts down, there’s things we have to do to win ballgames, too. If we can continue just to be prepared and be ready every single pitch, we can make things happen.”
The Braves may not win the present series. They may not win the set in Washington next week. But if they want to be taken seriously, setting the tone against the Nationals – along with the rest of a relatively weak East – would be a start.
And that means more than a 9-10 showing. It means preventing the Nationals from strolling into the playoffs as they have recently.
The Nationals have won three of the past four NL East titles, with each coming by at least eight games over the second-place team.
“We’re starting off with two teams in our division. It’s important to start off hot, especially against Washington,” said Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, who’ll oppose defending Cy Young winner Max Scherzer in Wednesday’s series finale. “They always jump out to a huge start every year. So it’s almost impossible to catch up to them at the end of the year.
“These games are huge. If we can just take one, hopefully all of them, that’d be huge. Get a couple wins under our belt so we can move on to our road trip. … They’re one of the best teams in baseball.”
