Washington Nationals (3-7) vs. Los Angeles Angels (5-4)
The 2023 MLB season goes on Tuesday, April 11, with the Washington Nationals taking on the Los Angeles Angels in the interleague showdown at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, and the first pitch is set for 9:38 PM ET.
The Angels will start Shohei Ohtani and are listed as heavy -275 home favorites. They continue a three-game series versus the Nationals, and Monday night’s opener has been excluded from the analysis.
The Washington Nationals entered the 2023 season as massive underdogs and were considered one of the worst teams in the majors. After dropping six of their first seven contests of the season, the Nats had won two straight over the Colorado Rockies before losing the closing contest of a four-game set at Coors Field in Denver.
Washington ranks 24th in the majors in runs scored per game (4.00) and 25th in runs allowed per game (5.70). The Nationals are slashing .265/.336/.363 with just five home runs (tied-28th in the MLB) and a couple of stolen bases (tied-25th).
ELIJAH GREEN WALK-OFF#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/tK134UPKop
— Nationals Player Development (@Nats_PlayerDev) April 9, 2023
Josiah Gray will get the starting call Tuesday, and the 25-year-old right-hander is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, and 10/3 K/BB ratio in 2023. In his first start of the season, Gray was trounced by the Atlanta Braves, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and two walks across five innings of work. He allowed just one run on eight hits last Thursday in Colorado, but the Nationals failed to put a single run on the scoreboard.
Last year, Gray went 7-10 with a pedestrian 5.02 ERA, 5.86 FIP, 1.36 WHIP, and a 154/66 K/BB ratio. He led the majors in home runs allowed with 38 while pacing the National League in walks. Gray met the Angels once in 2022 and earned a win while yielding three earned runs on five hits (two homers) through 5.1 innings of work.