On Monday, Aug. 24, the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals met in a series that said as much about survival as it did about standings. Between them, the two teams arrived with a combined 10-game losing streak, which is not exactly the sort of form either club wants carrying into a new series.
For the Rockies, the timing was especially awkward. They had just been swept by the Dodgers and Guardians on a six-game homestand, and the last impression they left was a rough one. For the Nationals, the trip to Coors Field came after they were swept in Miami, following a loss in Texas, so both teams entered this matchup trying to stop the slide before it became a more serious problem.
Why the pitching matchup mattered
The probable starters only sharpened the contrast. Ryan Feltner was lined up for Colorado after his last outing against the Dodgers at Coors Field went badly, with seven runs allowed in five innings. That is not the kind of recent form that makes a strikeout prop look inviting, especially with Feltner having gone under 3.5 strikeouts in four straight starts.
Cade Cavalli, by contrast, brought a much cleaner recent line for Washington. He had not allowed a run in his last two starts before Monday, and that gave the Nationals at least one obvious edge entering the opener. When a team is trying to climb out of a slump, starting pitching can either stabilize the mood or keep the pressure rising. In this case, the Nationals had more reason to feel settled than the Rockies did.
The previous meeting between these teams also leaned Washington’s way. Just over a month earlier, the Nationals took two of three from the Rockies at Coors Field, which matters because it gives this matchup a recent reference point: Washington had already shown it could handle Colorado in this setting.
That does not make the Nationals a safe bet by itself. Losing streaks tend to flatten the edges of a series preview, and both teams were carrying enough recent disappointment to make caution sensible. But the numbers around Feltner and Cavalli, along with the results from the first meeting, suggested the Nationals entered with the cleaner pitching profile and the more encouraging recent trajectory.
If nothing else, Rockies vs Nationals was a reminder that not every series arrives with playoff drama. Sometimes the story is simpler: two teams, both sliding, both looking for a reason to believe the next game can change the direction of the week.
