MLB playoff contenders square off in trio of weekend series

Jun 12, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence (8) dives back to first base against Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche (25) during the third inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco Giants (67-59) v Washington Nationals (73-53)

Why the series is important to San Francisco: The Giants currently own a slim one-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for the NL’s second Wild Card. And they’re not out of the race for the NL West either, sitting 3.5 games behind the LA Dodgers.

Bad news is they head into DC to face baseball’s hottest team. They can ill afford to be swept. A series win seems like a stretch, but as they say, you never know and that’s why they play the games.

Why the series is important to Washington: The Nats currently hold the NL’s overall top seed. Considering they own more home wins that any other NL team (41) could make Nationals Park an undesirable place for postseason opponents.

But the Giants do fare decently on the road, chalking up the NL’s third most roads wins (35-27).

Pitching matchups:

Fri: Tim Hudson (8-9, 3.03, 1.179) v Doug Fister (12-3, 2.20, 1.053)
Sat: Tim Lincecum (10-8, 4.48, 1.367) v Jordan Zimmermann (8-5, 2.97, 1.147)
Sun: Ryan Vogelsong (7-8, 3.73, 1.251) v Stephen Strasburg (10-10, 3.41, 1.173)

Fister might be the best pitcher you rarely hear mentioned. Barring a collapse, he will definitely receive some Cy Young mention.

We know the Nats are hot, but they will cool down at some point. The Giants are hoping it’s this weekend.

Note: For last week’s weekend series look, I egregiously omitted any mention of the Giants and their placement in the postseason picture. I flat-out overlooked them. Their opponents for the remainder of 2014 better not follow my lead.

2014 results-to-date: The Nationals took three of four on their visit to San Francisco.