The Atlanta Braves are back home after a quick-and-underwhelming trip to to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates. That series didn’t go particularly well for the Braves, which is why there’s probably plenty of motivation to make up for that letdown with a big series at home against a divisional foe.

This’ll be Atlanta’s first time seeing the Nationals this season and apparently this is a good time to see Washington. They’ve lost five in a row heading into this series, having lost two out of three to the Guardians before getting swept by the Cardinals — and all at home, no less. This’ll also be the first four of seven games that the Braves and Nationals are going to play over the course of these next two weeks, so these two divisional rivals are going to be getting very well acquainted with each other over the next fortnight.

The Nationals don’t have the most imposing lineup in the world, as they’re only hitting .240/.310/.381 with a .308 wOBA and a wRC+ of 95 as a team heading into Sunday’s action. That’s not too much better than how the Braves have been faring so far (.237/.311/.381, .308 wOBA, 93 wRC+ heading into yesterday’s play) so it might be safe to assume that we won’t see too many fireworks from either team during this series. With that being said, James Wood certainly appears to be the real deal and could be very dangerous for the Nationals in this series. CJ Abrams appears to be ready to have a bounce-back season following his disappointing 2024 campaign.

Still, outside of those two, the Nats don’t have a lot much else going on. Alex Call has been pretty good at the plate but his defense has been rough. Nathaniel Lowe and Keibert Ruiz have both been average at best at the plate, along with Amed Rosario. That’s about it as far as consistent contributors to this team goes. The Nationals have a lot to be excited about in the future but that’s just it — the future is still the goal for this team.

Washington’s pitching staff isn’t too imposing either and thats definitely the case once you take MacKenzie Gore out of the picture. The good news for Atlanta is that they’ll be avoiding Gore so they won’t have to deal with Washington’s ace this week. The bad news is that that’s still not a guarantor of success for the Braves since we just got done watching this team struggle to consistently drum up offense against Pirates pitchers not named Paul Skenes, so there’s that. I’m saying this to say that Washington’s pitching staff shouldn’t be sneezed at and also that the Braves lineup isn’t exactly consistent enough to be able to shrug off just any given challenger on the mound.

Monday, May 12, 7:15 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports South/Southeast)

RHP Grant Holmes (7 GS, 24.5 K%, 12.3 BB%, 4.58 ERA, 109 ERA-, 5.33 FIP, 134 FIP-, -0.2 fWAR)

At this point, we have veered into “boom-or-bust” territory when it comes to Grant Holmes. He’ll either give you a handful of innings with the opposition staying relatively quiet or he’ll give you a few innings while getting blasted for a few runs. If the pattern holds then this should be a good start for Holmes, since his last outing saw him give up four runs over 5.1 innings against the Reds. We’ll see what happens!

RHP Jake Irvin (8 GS, 16.8 K%, 7.1 BB%, 3.94 ERA, 95 ERA-, 5.12 FIP, 125 FIP-, 0.1 fWAR)

Jake Irvin was basically the personal sleep paralysis demon for the Atlanta Braves last season. Irvin made four starts against the Braves last season and gave up a grand total of three (3) runs over 23.1 innings pitched. The Braves just straight-up could not figure out Jake Irvin last season. Simply put, the Nationals would like Irvin to pick up where he left off against Atlanta last year and if that happens, then it’ll be another long night at the ballpark for the Braves.

Tuesday, May 13, 7:15 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports South/Southeast)

RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (8 GS, 47.1 IP, 22.2 K%, 4.6 BB%, 3.61 ERA, 86 ERA-, 3.37 FIP, 86 FIP-, 0.8 fWAR)

Just when it seemed like Spencer Schwellenbach’s proverbial ship had come crashing back down to earth after a handful of variously difficult starts, Schwellenbach got his ship back in the skies with a strong outing in his last start. Schwellenbach went six innings while only giving up one run and striking out six batters in what turned out to be an exciting win for Atlanta.

The Nationals will be seeing Schwellenbach for the first time since he made his career debut in May of 2024. Schwellenbach finished with five innings pitched and three runs allowed in that one, so he’ll likely be excited to show the Nationals what he’s all about now that he’s certainly gotten better since then.

RHP Michael Soroka (2 GS, 10 IP, 25.6 K%, 7.0 BB%, 7.20 ERA, 174 ERA-, 3.42 FIP, 85 FIP-, 0.2 fWAR)

Hey, look who it is! Michael Soroka is back in town and he’s set to make his first start against the team that drafted him all the way back in 2015. Soroka has made a pair of starts so far and as you can tell from the inflated ERA numbers, they didn’t go particularly well. He gave up four runs over five innings against the Blue Jays on March 31 and then returned on May 7 after recovering from a biceps injury to pitch another five innings while giving up another four runs against the Guardians. He did strike out eight batters, so he was definitely better in his most recent outing.

Wednesday, May 14, 7:15 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports South/Southeast)

RHP Bryce Elder (7 GS, 38.0 IP, 18.8 K%, 7.5 BB%, 4.97 ERA, 119 ERA-, 5.22 FIP, 131 FIP-, -0.2 fWAR)

At this point, it’s pretty clear what you’re going to get from Bryce Elder in any given start. He’ll likely make it through five innings, possibly six innings. He’ll strike out a handful of batters. He might walk a batter or two and he’ll very likely serve up at least one hanging breaking ball that could get hit into the nearest suburb. The only hope is that when he does serve up that big juicy meatball, hopefully he doesn’t also have runners on the basepaths to deal with. Still, I think we all know what to expect and it’s reasonable to hope that he’ll be able to avoid any of the usual pitfalls that he runs into.

LHP Mitchell Parker (8 GS, 45.1 IP, 13.3 K%, 11.2 BB%, 3.97 ERA, 96 ERA-, 3.91 FIP, 96 FIP-, 0.8 fWAR)

Mitchell Parker has had a very interesting season so far. He’s had four starts where he’s gotten deep into games while only giving up one run or fewer and this includes eight shutout innings against the Orioles back on April 22. However, he has four starts where he’s given up at least four runs or more. In his past two starts, he hasn’t even made it through five innings, as his starts have ended after four innings in both of those two starts. Hopefully the Braves will be able to make it three rough starts in a row for Parker.

Thursday, May 15, 12:15 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports South/Southeast, MLB Network)

RHP AJ Smith-Shawver (6 GS, 32.2 IP, 24.6 K%, 10.9 BB%, 2.76 ERA, 66 ERA-, 3.61 FIP, 92 FIP-, 0.5 fWAR)

It appears that AJ Smith-Shawver is starting to figure it out at this level. While he didn’t match his great eight shutout innings against the Reds back on May 5, he did make it into the sixth inning with just one run allowed and seven strikeouts against the Pirates in his last outing. Smith-Shawver has done nothing but improve with each start he’s made lately and it’s pretty clear that he’s gotten onto something good in recent times. Hopefully it’ll continue into this start against the Nationals.

RHP Trevor Williams (8 GS, 41.1 IP, 18.3 K%, 6.5 BB%, 5.88 ERA, 142 ERA-, 3.99 FIP, 98 FIP-, 0.6 fWAR)

It’s been a season of peaks and valleys for Trevor Williams and right now he’s in a valley where he’s given up at least four runs in his past three starts. That came after a peak where he gave up only one run in two starts in a row across April 17 and April 23. One thing that has remained consistent for Williams during this season is that his sweeper has been a pretty reliable “out” pitch for him. He’s also done a decent job of avoiding a ton of walks and getting barreled up. Still, he appears to be plenty vulnerable and hopefully the Braves will continue to keep him stuck in the valley.