And it isn’t just that fresh faces with killer breaking balls have replaced older, craftier pitchers: 86 pitchers who threw at least 50 curves in 2017 and 2019 averaged an increase of 1.4 inches ...

Only the curves thrown by Dylan Bundy and Evan Marshall have given up a smaller slugging percentage than Joe Musgrove’s (.067), so it’s a really nice pitch.

The 30-year-old's slider is the best pitch in his arsenal, and one of the best out pitches in baseball, and the sort of pitch that can separate the Nationals in critical matchups like this one.