ARCHIVE April 23, 2026
April 23, 2026 · NL East

Atlanta Braves vs Washington Nationals

April 23, 2026Nationals ParkPartly Cloudy 78°F · 4 mph, In From LF
AWAY
Atlanta Braves
18-8
7
vs
HOME
Washington Nationals
11-15
2

Starting pitchers

AWAY · ATL
JR Ritchie
JR Ritchie
IP 7
HOME · WSH
Cade Cavalli
Cade Cavalli
IP 5

Lineups

AWAY · ATL
  1. 1 Ronald Acuña 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 CF
  7. 7 Dominic Smith DH
  8. 8 Mauricio Dubón SS
  9. 9 Mike Yastrzemski LF
HOME · WSH
  1. 1 James Wood RF
  2. 2 Luis García 1B
  3. 3 José Tena DH
  4. 4 CJ Abrams SS
  5. 5 Jacob Young CF
  6. 6 Daylen Lile LF
  7. 7 Nasim Nuñez 2B
  8. 8 Jorbit Vivas 3B
  9. 9 Keibert Ruiz C

Box score

  123456789 R
ATL 000200401 7
WSH 100100000 2

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 −0.01 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.82 vs actual lineup 3.83
  • Player execution +3.17 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.83 projection by 3.17 (scored 7)
  • Game variance +3.18 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Smith 2-for-3 from the 7-hole

HOME · Washington Nationals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.01 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 2.77 vs actual lineup 2.76
  • Player execution −0.76 R/G Players fell 0.76 short of the lineup's 2.76 projection (scored 2)
  • Game variance −0.77 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Tena 0-for-4 batting 3rd

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.8 – 2.8 — actual was 7 – 2.

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.