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Two NL East foes are set to do battle in Washington D.C. on Opening Day.
The Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals have watched their windows of contention become basically inverses of one another for a while. The Phillies were one of the best teams in baseball from 2007-11 while the Nationals were terrible enough to land some of the most talented draft picks. From 2012-19, the Nationals were a contender every year, making the playoffs four times and winning a World Series. Since then, the Nats have been rebuilding while the Phillies are now on a run of three straight playoff seasons, including one pennant and an NL East title.
Can they both contend in the same season?
MLB Opening Day games are streaming locally on fubo (Try for free). Here’s how to watch.
Phillies vs. Nationals
Date: Thursday, March 27 | Time: 4:05 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park (Washington D.C.)
Live stream: fubo (try for free), MLB.TV | TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia+, MASN
Probable pitchers: RHP Zack Wheeler vs. LHP MacKenzie Gore
Odds: PHI -170; WAS +143; over/under: 7.0 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Storylines
Phillies: This group of Phillies doesn’t have much to check off its list now other than the big one. They’ve won the NL pennant and played in back-to-back NLCS in front of the rowdy Citizens Bank Park crowds. They won 95 games and the NL East last season, but fell in the NLDS. The World Series trophy remains on the table for a very talented group. It’s a long road back, of course, but they’ve gotta start somewhere and Opening Day Wheeler is a good place to begin the journey. He’s got an argument as the best pitcher in baseball and he certainly has the best career resume among pitchers who have never won a Cy Young.
The offense is again powerful and, interestingly, includes three former Nationals in Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner.
Nationals: After bottoming out with 107 losses in 2022, the Nats have gone 71-91 in two straight seasons. There’s a good amount of young talent on this team, including the Opening Day starter, Gore. The big names are the very young outfielders, James Wood and Dylan Crews.
Look, we all know the Nats are a bit outmanned in the NL East by a trio of World Series hopefuls in the Braves, Mets and this Phillies team they play on Opening Day. They still internally need to start making progress back toward relevance, though. What better way than to start with a win over Wheeler and the Phillies and then taking a series to start the season?
