After the Dodgers (5-2) first series loss of the year against the Cleveland Guardians (5-3), they bounced back in a big way to open their road trip with the offense exploding against Miles Mikolas and the Nationals (3-4). After struggling a bit to open the season, each of the top four hit a home run yesterday, the first of the year for Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker. Andy Pages added his second of the year amidst a three-hit game, upping his batting average to .480. Teoscar Hernández added three hits (even though two were infield singles they still count), while even Alex Freeland reached twice via walk despite going 0-for-3. The OPS of the top five is certainly coming around now, and they’ll look to keep things going against a tougher matchup, a new and improved Jake Irvin. Tyler Glasnow is on the mound for the Dodgers, looking to wrap up a series win to start their road trip and build on his solid season debut against Arizona (3-5).
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| 1:05 P.M. | Washington D.C. | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | RF | Wood (L) |
| RF | Tucker (L) | DH | García Jr. (L) |
| SS | Betts | 3B | House |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | LF | Lile (L) |
| C | Smith | SS | Abrams (L) |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | 1B | Mead |
| CF | Pages | 2B | Vivas (L) |
| 2B | Freeland (S) | C | Millas (S) |
| LF | Call | CF | Young |
| P | Glasnow (R) | P | Irvin (R) |
The Dodgers keep things pretty standard with just one minor change, as Alex Call gets his first start of the season while Teoscar has the day off. Pages and Freeland both slide up a spot in the order for Call who will bat ninth.
Nasim Nuñez is out of the lineup today with the infielders swapping around a bit to get Curtis Mead into the game at first base, while Drew Millas will start behind the plate. Despite the game never being all that close after the Dodgers began their scoring in the third inning, the Nationals had a decent day at the plate despite the final box score. They had eleven hits and five walks with just five strikeouts, a performance that would put them in a good position to win if they employed a starting pitcher better than Miles Mikolas. Seriously, there were a plethora of mid-tier options to go for this offseason that admittedly would’ve cost more than Mikolas, but put the Nats in a much better position every fifth day while being potential trade bait at the deadline. Adrian Houser got 2/22, Chris Bassitt 1/18, Steven Matz 2/15, Tyler Mahle and Zach Eflin both at 1/10.
Anyway, that’s on the Nats for not being serious about winning games. CJ Abrams continues to be a menace against the Dodgers, Brady House reached three times, and every player in their lineup logged at least one hit.
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Here’s how Glasnow and Irvin fared last season.
These two starters had very different 2025 campaigns, as Glasnow was very effective when he was on the mound but finished with just 90.1 innings, whereas Irvin logged a ton of innings, but had the highest ERA of any qualified starter.
Yesterday’s starter Mikolas had a very similar season to Irvin last year, both eating innings but with poor results. Irvin had the fifth lowest strikeout rate while Mikolas had the second lowest. Mikolas’ K-BB% of 9.4% was the seventh lowest, whereas Irvin’s 7.9% was the third lowest. The strangest thing is that the Nationals just got rid of the ultimate bad inning eater in Patrick Corbin who had a 5.71 ERA over his final four seasons in Washington, and then seemingly recreated a right-handed version in Irvin and added another in Mikolas for the love of the game.
However, Irvin had a great Spring Training with a 1.35 ERA over four starts (13.1 IP) with 15 strikeouts, and his stuff appeared significantly better in his 2026 season debut. He’s 6’6″ and is in the 94th percentile in extension, has added a tick on the fastball bumping it up to 93.6 from 92.4, and lowered his vertical release point by nearly half a foot while maintaining the same movement, skyrocketing the Stuff+ on the pitch from 92 to 119. He has an entirely different slider now, with the Stuff+ improving from 96 to 120.
Granted it was just one outing, but he looked like a completely different pitcher and has the durability to take a massive step forward if this performance continues.
Here’s what I had to say about Glasnow prior to his season debut against the Diamondbacks:
Glasnow was good last season in just 90.1 innings, but most importantly for the Dodgers, he was healthy when it mattered most. He posted a 1.69 ERA over 21.1 innings in the playoffs, showcasing his same swing-and-miss and dominance that we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the summer, but this time in October. He was pivotal in the World Series as well, recording his only professional save in Game 6, and then logging 2.1 innings in Game 7. His regular season was solid, but his postseason performance was the clear highlight of his 2025 campaign, and something that both he and the team will hope he can replicate this coming year.
If Spring Training is any indication, Glasnow looks poised for a huge 2026 season. He’s been dominant in each of his four appearances this Spring, with 26 strikeouts to just three walks in 15.2 innings pitched. Both his stuff and command look better than last season, two slight question marks heading into 2026.
Glasnow was pretty sharp against Arizona, but they have a good offense and managed to squeeze a couple runs across against him early. He went six innings while allowing just two runs on four hits and one walk but left the game with the Dodgers trailing, resulting in a no-decision. He’ll look to earn his first win of the season against a weaker Nationals’ offense.
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Makes sense, it’s a long season.
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First pitch is at 1:05 PT on SNLA.