Washington Nationals vs New York Yankees Odds, Spread, and Totals

The Washington Nationals will kick off a three-game set against the New York Yankees tonight. This series is drastically more important for the Yankees, who just managed to score a huge win against the Boston Red Sox, a win that helped keep them in the thick of the AL East race. The Nationals have already been eliminated from postseason contention, but they have a nice opportunity to play spoiler on the road here.

Leading Washington's charge is starter Brad Lord. The righty has more often come out of the bullpen for the Nationals, but his work as a starter has bordered on exceptional. He has consistently been able to deal out five or six innings of two-run ball, achieving a consistency that has largely been missing from the Washington rotation. The Yankees present one of the toughest starts for Lord all year, making this an intriguing matchup to watch.

New York manager Aaron Boone has gone through a number of options in the starting rotation, with tonight's starter, Cam Schlittler, being one of them. The youngster has only made seven starts this year, but he has been efficient, posting a 3.22 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. His last outing was one of his best of the season, as he managed to work through 6.2 innings of scoreless ball before heading to the dugout against the Tampa Bay Rays. A matchup with an unintimidating Nationals lineup opens the door for Schlittler to keep building on the progress he has already made this year.

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*The above data was collected on Aug. 25, and may have changed since writing.

Washington Nationals

New York Yankees

Viktor Allenson of Winners and Whiners writes, "The Yankees have only scored four runs through the first three games of the Red Sox series. Despite this ugly stretch, the Yanks have recorded a strong .845 OPS, .239 ISO, and 136 wRC+ against the right-handed pitchers in the last 10 days and 249 plate appearances. The Nats have done a good job against the righties, too, posting a .804 OPS, .189 ISO, and 122 wRC+ in the past 10 days and 202 plate appearances.

However, I expect the Yankees to bounce back from the Red Sox series and get to Brad Lord early. Lord is showing signs of slowing down. He's already thrown 96.1 innings in his rookie season, and the Mets hit him hard last Wednesday. On the other side, Cam Schlittler has only allowed one earned run on three hits and four walks over his previous two starts and 11.2 innings of work. Prediction: New York Yankees."