Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals preview: Aaron Harang vs. Stephen Strasburg

The season could be slipping away for the Atlanta Braves, and as the series finale approaches against the Washington Nationals, the pressure is mounting. Atlanta dropped their second straight decision to the Nats on Tuesday evening, and now, the pitching battle favors Washington significantly on Wednesday afternoon. Let’s take a look at the match-up.

The Pitching Match-up:

For the season, Aaron Harang has a very reasonable 3.87 ERA over more than 175 innings, but sadly, his positive fortune has begun to run out in recent days. The 36-year-old Harang posted a 4.42 ERA in August, and in his lone start in September, Harang allowed six earned runs in less than four innings during a blowout loss to the Miami Marlins. In addition, the Washington lineup is far better than your “average” NL group, and that doesn’t exactly bode well for Harang’s bounce-back attempt on Wednesday.

On the opposite side, Nats right-hander Stephen Strasburg has been one of the best pitchers in the National League this season, putting together a 3.43 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 215 strikeouts in only 189 innings. The Braves, however, have had Strasburg’s number all season, blasting him to the tune of an 8.22 ERA over three starts, and that provides a glimmer of hope in a pitching battle that looks quite lopsided on paper.

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The Particulars:

Date: September 10, 2014

Start Time: 4:05 pm ET

TV Channel: SportSouth (Local), MLB Network

Radio: 680 AM/106.7 FM (Local in Atlanta), Full list of Local Affiliates

Live Stream: MLB.tv (Click Here, $)

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The Predictions:

Before we offer our predictions for today, here’s a look at our records to this point:

• Carlos: 17-10
• Brad: 11-16

Carlos gained yet another game in the standings last night by backing “the dark side”, but in the finale, we are switching sides. Strasburg is likely too strong to pick against, and instead of favoring my heart, I will side with my head in picking the Nats against Carlos and the Braves. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Please feel free to sound off in the comments with your predictions for the game and feel free to rub it in our faces when you beat us on twitter (@ATLBeatBlog).