The bottom two teams in the NL East will end a three-game series on Sunday when the Miami Marlins (62-89) host the Washington Nationals (52-98). The Marlins won the opening game of the series 5-2 on Friday, and Saturday's game was not complete at the time of this preview. Miami has dominated this series, winning 14 of the 17 head-to-head games meeting this year.
The Nationals look like a team that's ready for the offseason and not well equipped to compete as they are in the early stages of reconstruction. Following Friday's loss, the Nationals are just 3-9 in their last 12 games and have failed to score more than three runs in any of their last five games. With Nelson Cruz currently out of the lineup since Sept. 13 dealing with an eye injury, only two Nationals players expected to play Sunday have double-digit homers (Lane Thomas 17 HR in 134 games and Joey Meneses 10 HR in 44 games).
Lane Thomas hit a 1st inning home run, and that means @BetMGM is blasting out $10 Free Bets from 10 AM to 10 PM tomorrow!
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— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 23, 2022
The Nationals' pitching staff will need to get younger in 2023, but as for now the 38-year-old Anibal Sanchez is listed to start on Sunday. In 12 starts this season, Sanchez is 2-6 with a 4.40 ERA. As a unit, the Nationals pitching 29th with a 4.99 ERA and dead last with only 29 quality starts.