who meet the Miami Marlins in Game 2 of their series Tuesday n

WASHINGTON — With their fate as a team sealed J. D. Martinez Jersey , there are still a number of individual goals in play for the Washington Nationals, ight at Nationals Park.Nationals’ right-hander Max Scherzer (17-7, 2.57 ERA), for example, opposes right-hander Jeff Brigham (0-3, 5.84) with Scherzer gunning for his third consecutive National League Cy Young award.Scherzer leads the National League in strikeouts (290) and in batting average against (.188) and is tied for the lead in wins. He’s third in ERA (2.57) behind front-runner Jacob deGrom (1.77) and Aaron Nola (2.45).Article continues below ...In his last five starts Scherzer has struggled a bit — for him — giving up three earned runs four times and six the other as his ERA has climbed from 2.13. Last time out he allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings in a no-decision against the Mets. He struck out 13, moving him closer to becoming the third pitcher in the past 16 seasons to reach 300, joining Chris Sale in 2017 and Clayton Kershaw in 2015.“You’re aware of it, but that’s not why you go out there and pitch,” Scherzer told mlb.com. “You go out there and pitch to win. I wanted to come in today and win a ballgame, and unfortunately, we lost. You’re always thinking about all those things you weren’t able to do to help your team win.”Outfielder Juan Soto has five more games to impress voters for the NL Rookie of the Year award, which appears to be a two-man race with Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna, Jr.Soto leads NL rookies with 66 RBIs and 74 walks and is near the top in batting average, home runs and on-base percentage.Outfielder Bryce Harper achieved a personal milestone in Monday’s 7-3 win when he drove in his 100th run of the season, the first time in his career he’s done so.“For me it’s just going out there and trying to score runs and doing the things I can. If I can get 100 runs, 100 walks and 100 RBIs it’s pretty cool Paul Goldschmidt Jersey ,” said Harper, who has 126 walks and 99 runs scored. “I’ll take that any day of the week.”Harper’s previous high was 99 RBIs in 2015, the year he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award.Since their elimination from post-season contention Saturday, Nationals manager Dave Martinez has continued to use his regulars.“I’d like to win the rest of these games,” he said. “I really would, and I think the players want to do the same.”The Marlins stranded 10 baserunners Monday night, including five in the first two innings against Stephen Strasburg, who left after four innings.“Yeah we had a lot of chances,” manager Don Mattingly said. He threw close to forty (pitches) in the first and (we) had guys out there. Even after they score we still got guys out there, have a chance to get right back in it there and are not able to do anything.”Sandy Alcantara (2-2) gave up six runs on seven hits and five walks in four innings.“When he’s not aggressive that’s what you kind of get,” Mattingly said. “He’s walking all the lefties. He walked six last game all lefties, five today all lefties. Not sure what the issue is but obviously we can work on that.”Brigham (0-3, 5.84) makes his fourth major league start Tuesday and first against the Nationals. Last time out he allowed two runs on three hits with four walks and six strikeouts over five innings of a loss to the Reds. The Senior Circuit doesn't have Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor or J.D. Martinez among its position players. That's helped three ace pitchers acob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola aintain a consistent presence atop the league's wins above replacement leaderboards at Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.The NL MVP voters should arguably gravitate toward one of those three pitchers. But while WAR is a helpful guideline in awards races http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , it hasn't and shouldn't determine who ultimately wins. That's too easy and, frankly, lazy.Indeed, the traditional measures of an MVP work fine. These aren't explicitly stated anywhere, but they generally require that an MVP be:1.A great player2. An important player on a contenderThrough the first five years of his major league career, Yelich was a great player on bad Miami Marlins teams. But with the Brewers in 2018, he's now checking both boxes with ease.Among NL position players, the 26-year-old ranks first in WAR at FanGraphs (6.7) and second in WAR at Baseball Reference (6.6). Brewers teammate Lorenzo Cain is the only position player ahead of him for the latter, mostly because of a huge gap(19 to 1) in defensive runs saved. Their defensive difference is less hugeinultimate zone rating(7.1 to 0.2) andStatcast's outs above average(16 to 3)metric.What can be taken at face value, meanwhile, are Yelich's offensive numbers.They include NL-best marks in batting average (.321), slugging percentage (.583), OPS (.973) and OPS+ (157). Factor in his 33 home runs, 21 stolen bases, 110 runs scored and 104 runs batted in, and there isn't a more well-rounded offensive player in the National League.This is curiously good stuff for a guy who had previously peaked with an .859 OPS and 21 homers back in 2016. But it's also befitting of a natural-born hitter with low-key explosive power. To wit, Yelich hit fly balls and line drives at the same average speed (95.4 mph) between 2015 and 2017 as Yoenis Cespedes.At long last http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , Yelich's power has been unleashed in 2018.Some of that is due to him swapping Marlins Park for Miller Park, resulting in a career-best.627 home slugging percentage. Otherwise, it has to do with him pushing his ground-ball rate closer to the MLB average.Rather than fold under pressure, Yelich is only getting hotter as October approaches. He has an MLB-best 1.168 OPS and 22 homers since the All-Star break, and a 1.242 OPS and eight homers since August 29.That's the day after the Brewers found themselves in dire need of a spark upon sinking to a season-worst six games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central race. Yelich has provided it while mostly hitting in pressure spots (see his 1.13 average leverage index). In so doing, he's helped cut the Brewers' NL Central deficit to 0.5 games while also elevating them into the NL's top wild-card spot."He's doing special things," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. "This is what guys in [the MVP] conversation do."What might matter most is how all of this compares to fellow MVP candidate Javier Baez. He deserves credit for how he's carried the Cubs amid down years by Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, but he only has Yelich beat in homers (34) and RBI (110). With an .897 second-half OPS and an .850 OPS since August 29, he also hasn't dominated the stretch run like Yelich has.By way of a 1.046second-half OPS, Atlanta Braves wunderkind Ronald Acuna Jr. comes the closest to being Yelich's peer in stretch-run hitting. He nonetheless hasn't been quite as good. And like Baez, his overall numbers don't measure up to Yelich's.If the season were to end today, Yelich could offer everything that MVP voters typically look for. Because the seasonends in only a few days, it's safe to conclude he'll keep it that way.So, what the football dude said: Christian Yelich for NL MVP. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.