ARCHIVE April 20, 2026
April 20, 2026 · NL East

Atlanta Braves vs Washington Nationals

April 20, 2026Nationals ParkPartly Cloudy 53°F · 13 mph, In From LF
AWAY
Atlanta Braves
16-7
9
vs
HOME
Washington Nationals
10-13
4

Starting pitchers

AWAY · ATL
Bryce Elder
Bryce Elder
IP 6.2
HOME · WSH
Jake Irvin
Jake Irvin
IP 5

Lineups

AWAY · ATL
  1. 1 Ronald Acuña Jr. RF
  2. 2 Drake Baldwin C
  3. 3 Matt Olson 1B
  4. 4 Austin Riley 3B
  5. 5 Ozzie Albies 2B
  6. 6 Michael Harris II CF
  7. 7 Dominic Smith DH
  8. 8 Jorge Mateo SS
  9. 9 Mike Yastrzemski LF
HOME · WSH
  1. 1 James Wood RF
  2. 2 Luis García Jr. 1B
  3. 3 Brady House 3B
  4. 4 CJ Abrams SS
  5. 5 Daylen Lile LF
  6. 6 Jacob Young CF
  7. 7 José Tena DH
  8. 8 Drew Millas C
  9. 9 Nasim Nuñez 2B

Box score

  123456789 R
ATL 000205002 9
WSH 200101000 4

Manager comparison

Both managers grade C+ / C entering this matchup.

AWAY · ATL
Walt Weiss
C+ Lineup 1.7 R Bunts 0.0 R IBBs 0.2 R
HOME · WSH
Blake Butera
C Lineup 1.6 R Bunts 1.5 R IBBs 1.4 R

Recent form

AWAY · ATL
7-3 L1 +18 run diff
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HOME · WSH
6-4 W3 +6 run diff
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Season series: 3-1 with ATL listed first across 4 prior meetings.

Tactical analysis

RunsLeft separates manager decisions from player execution from game variance. Each card below is the same three-number framework that drives the share cards on the SPA replay page.

AWAY · Atlanta Braves
  • Manager lineup cost +0.18 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.49 vs actual lineup 4.31
  • Player execution +4.69 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.31 projection by 4.69 (scored 9)
  • Game variance +4.51 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Riley 0-for-4 batting 4th

HOME · Washington Nationals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.04 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 2.44 vs actual lineup 2.39
  • Player execution +1.61 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 2.39 projection by 1.61 (scored 4)
  • Game variance +1.56 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Wood 0-for-4 batting 1st

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.5 – 2.4 — actual was 9 – 4.

Keep reading

How RunsLeft analyzes games

Standard content on this page comes from the MLB Stats API. Tactical analysis comes from a per-game Monte Carlo: 10,000 simulated games against the opposing starter's ERA, both for the actual lineup the manager wrote and for the optimal arrangement of those nine players. The three numbers — manager cost, player execution, game variance — separate which part of the result was the lineup, the players, or the dice.

Read the full methodology.