Colorado Rockies (26-48) vs Washington Nationals (36-38)
Friday, June 21, 2024 at 8:40 pm
Coors Field is a scary place for young pitchers and while DJ Herz is off to a nice start to his young MLB career and was outstanding in his last start, I think this is about as bad a matchup and spot as you could have for the Nationals on Friday. Herz is the #12 prospect for the Nats for a reason and while this is a deep farm system, Herz is still not necessarily a blue-chip player right now. Yes, he has impressed thus far, but now has to face a Rockies team that has hit lefties well in the last 30 days and he has to do it in Coors Field which is the most hitter-friendly park by far in MLB. Hudson is nowhere near my favorite option on the other side but the Nats offense was dreadful vs. Arizona scoring just five runs in three games with two four-hit clunkers thrown in. The Rockies at least had a pulse vs. LAD as they took one of the four, were a 9th inning-meltdown away from splitting the series, and made games 1 and 4 interesting with pushes late. I think the fact that Colorado has already been home for a few series while the Nats have to travel in gives the Rockies an even bigger advantage in this one and the Rockies are in the green profit-wise in this exact situation (Game 1 of Coors series where COL was already home before and the visiting team has to travel in) so far this season. Give me the Rockies ML.