Fresh off celebrating America’s 250th birthday with a walk-off home run against the best team in the AL followed by a series win, the Houston Astros march on to the nation’s capital to face the Nationals.
The Nationals offense has a wRC+ of 106, which ranks 6th in the majors, one slot below the Rays who have a 107 wRC+. They do it in a very different way. The Rays coming into yesterday had hit just 84 home runs, 26th in the majors, and ranked 29th in the ISO. But the Rays led the AL in OBP and pace the majors in sacrifices. The Nationals mash the ball. Their 123 home runs and .181 ISO, are second in MLB behind only the Yankees, and they lead MLB in total extra base hits.
At the center of the Nationals’ offense is third-year outfielder James Wood, one of the many pieces the Nationals received from San Diego in the blockbuster 2022 Juan Soto trade. Wood, who bats leadoff for the Nationals, is someone the Astros will want to circle on their lineups. Wood has made his 2nd career All-Star Game, and ranks top 5 in the NL in many offensive categories:
| James Wood 2026 | Value | NL Rank |
|---|---|---|
| OBP | .393 | 5 |
| SLG | .538 | 5 |
| OPS | .930 | 3 |
| ISO | .269 | 4 |
| Runs | 77 | 1 |
| HR | 23 | 3 |
| BB | 68 | 1 |
| xwOBA | .425 | 1 |
| wRC+ | 152 | 3 |
Wood would certainly have more RBI if he batted lower in the order, but his 56 RBI still ranks top 10 in the NL, and impressive amount for a leadoff hitter.
Wood’s OBP is sky high thanks to an NL leading 68 walks. He strikes out a lot though too, with the 7th highest K% in the NL. As a result, he’s one of the higher Three-True-Outcome players in the game today. 46.1% of all his plate appearances end in a home run, walk or strikeout, trailing only Nick Kurtz (50.4%) and Kyle Schwarber (48.8%) in MLB.
He’s no Joey Gallo though; he’s still hitting his fair share of hits with balls in play as well, with a .267 AVG and a .350 BABIP that ranks 16th in MLB. He’s adept on the basepaths too, with 13 steals on the season.
Astros pitchers already have a lot of problems facing lefty hitters; Wood is one of the best.
Retrieved 7/5/26
Facing the Nationals on the mound for the Astros will be Mike Burrows, who throws primarily 4-seam fastballs and changeups to left-handed hitters. Hopefully he can mix in the changeup more, as Wood destroys 4-seamers, and Burrows has one of the worst 4-seamers in the business this year.
Here’s Wood demolishing a center-cut fastball on Independence Day in the nation’s capital:
Last month, Mike Burrows was skipped in the rotation. The Astros that might reset him and his next start, that seemed like it might be the case. He went 6 innings with just 1 run allowed against the Jays. The next start, he went back to allowing nearly a run an inning with a 5 inning, 4 earned run outing, striking out just 3 batters and walking 2.
Burrows season ERA sits at 5.58 with a 1.51 WHIP, 7.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. He is 4-8 over 16 starts and 1 relief appearance.
Burrows, whose struggles against lefty hitters are even more pronounced than the rest of the Astros staff will have his work cut out for him. The Nationals routinely roll out a lineup with 5 lefties and 2 switch hitters against right handed pitching.
37 year-old veteran right-handed pitcher Miles Mikolas starts for the Nationals. In his first year with the Nationals, he’s pitched in 18 games: 7 games as a starter, 11 games as a de factor starter, who entered the game to pitch the bulk of innings after an opener.
He carries a 5.44 ERA on the season as is 2-7 in his 18 games. He has a 1.29 WHIP, 5.0 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. 2026 Mikolas is not the All-Star he once was in his Cardinals days, but the Astros still need to swing the bat to beat him. His ability to limit walks remains as good as ever, even if he’s become more hittable.
Astros @ Nationals Game Information and Gamethread Details
The game will be broadcast at 6:45 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.
This post will be updated with starting lineup as they are made available.
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Mike Burrows vs one of the best offenses in the game led by lefties. Umm…
Meanwhile, Nationals fans are thinking: Miles Mikolas against a pretty good Astros offense led by Yordan Alvarez.
Something about this matchup tells me we won’t see a pitcher’s duel (which of course means we will).
This sounds like an ugly match up for Burrows. I wish I had a good idea for improving his performance against Lefthanders–Astros probably have thought of all of them though. Maybe he should pitch them like they are Righthanders. I know it doesn’t make sense, but what do they have to lose? Yeah, I am partly kidding, but if Burrows faced only RHBs, he would be fine (4.00 FIP vs. 6.76 FIP vs. LHB). A silver lining from Burrows’ splits–he is quite a bit better on the road with a much lower BABIP on the road. But if there are too many LHBs in a road game, it’s not pretty (Road vs. RHB 3.19 FIP, Road vs. LHB 6.94 FIP).
Good news, its just 6 lefties instead of the 7 they could have deployed.