With Wood, RD noted he's coming off an 18 PA stretch where he struck out 7 times. It's probably a rest and regroup day.

He’s turned back into Joey Gallo.

Baumann is up  with a profile on Harvey:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/huntering-the-most-dangerous-game/

After discussing his rough first appearance where he was bailed out with a win, Baumann continues:

And perhaps as a token of gratitude, Harvey has been basically untouchable since. In his past nine outings, totaling 10 innings, Harvey has struck out 17 batters, walked none, and allowed just a solitary run. He’s recorded holds in seven of those appearances and a positive WPA in all nine. His FIP in that span is below zero.

Far out.

Or not far out, actually. In his second appearance of 2024, Jeimer Candelario hit a ball to the gap that was within about a foot either way of being a home run or an out; it split the difference and bounced off Lane Thomas’ glove for a double. That’s the longest batted ball Harvey has allowed all year — nothing else has had an estimated distance of more than 303 feet.

That 303' kind of blows me away, as does 17 Ks no BBs. One more paragraph but go read the whole thing. So how is Harvey putting together that 17 Ks and 0 BBs?

To summarize: Harvey is working in the zone more than 98% of pitchers in the league. That goes a long way toward explaining how this guy hasn’t walked anyone in more than three weeks. Again, that usually comes with the tradeoff of getting hit harder, but Harvey is getting away with it because he’s missing more bats in the strike zone than 98% of the pitchers in the league.

So gaming the season out in a Sunshine Squad Scenario:

May:
- Garrett up / Rosario DFA'd
- Gray back, Corbin to the pen (Gray returns to something like a 4.00 ERA pitcher), Parker / Irvin / Gore continue to pitch well. Williams too.
- End of May - team hovering around .500

June:
- Wood / Robles up, Young back to Rochester, Nunes DFA'd. New OF is Wood / Robles / Thomas. Wood holds his own and Robles plays something like he did in late 2023. The rest of the team continues to perform well, team is at or slightly above .500

July before the deadline:
- Robles traded for a prospect, Crews comes up and is the every day CF going forward
- Team stands pat on Senzel
- Rizzo trades some lower level prospects (Armando Cruz? Lispcomb? Lile) for some relief pitching help and maybe an upgrade over Meneses or Gallo depending on how they are doing
- Cavalli returns, sending Williams to the pen or we trade Williams for a prospect

August 1st lineup:
1. Abrams - SS
2. Thomas - RF
3. Winker - DH
4. Gallo / Meneses / Upgrage - 1B
5. Wood - LF
6. Garcia Jr. - 2B
7. Crews - CF
8. Ruiz / Adams - C
9. Senzel - 3B

Rotation: Irvin, Parker, Gray, Gore, Cavalli

Lots of things would have to break right, but other than House, we've got the core of our 2025 team in place and perhaps, just perhaps, we're in WC contention going to the end of the year.

Going back to 2011, the Winnipeg Jets have scored 7 points in a playoff game twice. The New York Jets have done it zero times.

Games line up as follows:
James Paxton v. Patrick Corbin
Landon Knack v. Jake Irvin
Yoshinobu Yamamoto v. Mackenzie Gore

That Thursday 4:05 game is the closest to a battle of aces, while the Wednesday night game is a repeat of a pitchers duel from the Nats visit to LA. But first we must endure a Corbination situation in game 1 against Paxton, who has gotten wins and a low ERA in 3 starts / 16 IP, but who has an astounding 7.88 BB/9, isn't suppressing homers, and has a FIP of 6.21.

Along these lines, which pitcher do you want taking the mound:
A: 14.7 K%, 0.71 K/BB, 1.13 HR/9, WHIP 1.50 16 IP
B: 14.3%, 1.88 K/BB, 1.21 HR/9, WHIP 1.97 22.1 IP

The spoiler hides the IP, which is a giveaway. Corbin's FIP is more than 1.5 runs lower than Paxton so far. BABIP has a role in Paxton's low ERA  and Corbin's high one - .190 vs. .418.

Knack had a pretty good debut against the Nats, giving up just 2 runs over 5 IP. 4Ks, 1 BB, 1 HR among the TTOs. In the minors, his GB rate is only around 35%, but he got the Nats to hit grounders in his first start. Per FG, he's their 23rd ranked prospect with a mid-4s projected ERA.

Knack makes heavy use of a mid-80s cutter/slider that he commands the best of all his pitches. His changeup, relegated to about 13% usage in 2023, is his best bat-misser from a rate standpoint, tailing in at around 82 mph, but Knack’s feel for it is less consistent. The 2024 change in physicality here is interesting and has coincided with a velo bump that has given Knack average velocity again.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/los-angeles-dodgers-top-49-prospects-2024/

After a rough first start in Korea, Yamamoto has been going 5-6 innings his next 4 times out. Throw out his first start, and you see the reasons he's regarded as a star - 4 GS, 21 IP, 33.3 K%, 4.8 BB%, 0.95 WHIP, 2.57 ERA, 2.94 FIP. Tough draw for Gore again, but to tell you how good Gore has been, his FIP is lower than Yamamoto (2.36), and his K% is 31.8%. Got bled to death in one rough inning against Houston, which may be just "stuff happens."

While the Dodgers have something of an awesome top of the order with Betts, Ohtani, Freeman, and Muncy, Smith, and Teoscar Hernandez would all fit in most teams' top 3 but for Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman, 7, 8, and 9 are lot less fearsome. W/r/t the outfield, it's been criticized as underperforming even with Teoscar's good start hitting. A week ago there was this:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-dodgers-outfield-has-been-very-very-bad-to-start-the-season/
James Outman has taken a step back after a good rookie year, and guys like Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez are past prime, and Jayson Heyward is hurt. They've called up Andy Pages (pronounce en espanol) after a hot start mashing in AAA, but so far he's not duplicated it in MLB.

So, does Paxton perform at his peripherals? Does Corbin get normal luck on contact? Will the Nats Get the Knack second time around? Will the dodgers be confused with the two Jakes in CF and at P? Can Mac match a guy with a 12 year, $325 million contract? Proof will be on the field. 

Go Nats!