Game 7: Dodgers at Nats

It's finally time for the home opener at Nationals Park, with the star-studded Dodgers in town

At long last, it’s time for the home opener. It’s never as much fun to begin the season on the road as it is to play Opening Day in your own ballpark, but perhaps the Nationals’ surprising 3-3 trip to Chicago and Philadelphia helped generate a little more buzz for today’s game than there might have been a week ago.

Not that the home opener needed anything extra, but the presence of the two-time defending World Series champions certainly adds some extra flavor to this occasion. The Dodgers are stacked, but on the bright side, the Nats will only have to face Shohei Ohtani as a hitter, and they won’t have to face Yoshinobu Yamamoto at all this weekend.

Instead, L.A. sends No. 5 starter Emmet Sheehan to the mound today, and the 26-year-old right-hander gave up four runs in only 3 1/3 innings against the Diamondbacks in his season debut. The Nationals have only faced him once before, way back in Sept. 2023, with Keibert Ruiz and CJ Abrams each homering off him.

There had been some thought Blake Butera might use an opener again to combat all the left-handed power at the top of the Dodgers lineup, but the Nationals have now announced Miles Mikolas as today’s start (and Jake Irvin as Saturday’s starter). That doesn’t mean, though, we won’t still see them use some combination of Cionel Pérez, PJ Poulin and Ken Waldichuk out of the bullpen along the way.

It’s a special day in the nation’s capital. If you’ve got tickets, make sure you arrive early: Gates open at 11 a.m., and the pregame ceremony starts around 12:15 p.m. If you’re watching from afar, Nationals TV will be on the air at noon for a full hour-long pregame show.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Mostly sunny, 72 degrees, wind 12 mph out to center

DODGERS
DH Shohei Ohtani
RF Kyle Tucker
SS Mookie Betts
1B Freddie Freeman
C Will Smith
3B Max Muncy
LF Teoscar Hernândez
CF Andy Pages
2B Alex Freeland

RHP Emmet Sheehan

NATIONALS
RF James Wood
1B Luis García Jr.
LF Daylen Lile
DH Brady House
SS CJ Abrams
2B Nasim Nuñez
3B Jorbit Vivas
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Jacob Young

RHP Miles Mikolas