The Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves meet in an NL East division matchup in MLB action from Truist Park on Monday night.

The Washington Nationals will look to build on their 4-2 win over the New York Mets last time out. Nelson Cruz led the way, going 2 for 4 with a home run and three total RBIs while Lucius Fox had an RBI as well. Maikel Franco, Yadiel Hernandez and Josh Bell each had a base hit to cap off Washington’s offense as the Nationals had just five hits as a team in the winning effort. Erick Fedde gave up two runs on five hits while striking out five over five innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Kyle Finnegan got the win in relief to improve to 1-0 while Tanner Rainey got the save by closing out the 9^th. Anibal Sanchez is currently tabbed to start here and was 4-5 with a 6.62 ERA for Washington back in 2020.

The Atlanta Braves will look to rebound from a 6-3 loss to the Reds in Sunday’s series finale, setting for a series split. Matt Olson went 3 for 4 with a solo home run while Travis d’Arnaud had a solo homer of his own. Marcell Ozuna had an RBI to round out the scoring for the Braves in the loss while Austin Riley had a double and Adam Duvall and Dansby Swanson each had a base knock of their own to cap off the Braves’ offense as a team in the defeat. Ian Anderson gave up five runs on three hits over just 2.2 innings of work. Huascar Ynoa will start here and was 4-6 with a 4.05 ERA last season.

I get why you’d look Washington’s way after the Nationals salvaged a win against the Mets on Sunday while the Braves faltered and settled for a split with Cincinnati. However, the Nationals winning won’t be a common occurrence for much of the year, and you have to wonder how much a star like Juan Soto will put up with before wanting to leave or if he’ll be in it for the long haul and the pay day that comes with it. Atlanta’s the far better team here and while I’m not a Huascar Ynoa fan, I trust him a lot more than Anibal Sanchez, who hasn’t pitched since 2021 to begin with, so give me the Braves here.