The Nationals’ 2026 season is down to one last game, and it will start a little earlier than planned.
Washington announced that Sunday’s finale against the New York Mets has been pushed up from 3:05 p.m. ET to 1:05 p.m.
ET because of expected inclement weather. It’s the same kind of move the club made on Saturday, when first pitch shifted from 4:05 p.m.
ET to 12:35 p.m. ET.
That adjustment paid off, too, with the Nationals getting the game in without a delay before the rain could become a bigger problem.
The hope now is simple: get both teams through the regular-season finish line and move on without weather getting in the way.
For Washington, there’s a lot to look back on before the offseason even begins. This year wasn’t spotless - far from it - and the bullpen’s struggles stood out, especially the brutal relief work that led to the most blown saves of all time. But the overall picture looks a lot better than what was expected heading into the season.
The Nationals already have 76 wins, which gives them their best record since 2019. That alone marks a real step forward after a stretch that included four straight last-place finishes from 2020-23, followed by a fourth-place finish in 2024, then a 66-96 season and another last-place ending last year. In 2026, they finished fourth again, but for only the second time since winning the World Series in 2019.
The bigger story now is what comes next. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni heads into a huge winter, one that will be about building on this season’s momentum and improving the roster.
Some contracts are coming off the books, and the club’s farm system has made a major leap as one of the biggest year-over-year risers in Major League Baseball. There’s even the possibility that fans could see some spending from ownership.
For a franchise that has spent years stuck at the wrong end of the standings, that’s a notable shift. With young talent already in place and more on the way, Washington enters the offseason looking like a team with a real path forward.
In Other News...
Mets Fans Have A New Francisco Alvarez Disaster To Argue Over
The Mets opened their final series of the season with a 7-6 loss to the Nationals, and for a team already spending a lot of time reflecting on what went wrong, the middle innings supplied another frustrating snapshot. New York went with a bullpen game, and the third inning quickly became the kind of mess that tends to linger in memory, especially when it comes with Francisco Alvarez behind the plate and three wild pitches piling up around him.
There was some history mixed in on the other side of the ledger, too, as Bo Bichette launched a milestone home run and became the first Mets rookie to reach the 20/20 club. But the larger conversation for Mets fans is likely to stay centered on Alvarez and the latest ugly moment attached to his catching, because in a season full of uneven stretches, this one arrived at exactly the wrong time and only deepened the questions around him. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Have A Strange Catcher Brag Few Fans Would Guess
A catcher is usually judged in New York by the usual things: whether he can handle the staff, control the running game and keep the game moving. The Mets, though, have quietly built a strange little piece of team history in that department. Over the years, several of their catchers have finished a season leading the league in caught stealing percentage, from Chris Cannizzaro in the early years of the franchise to Alex Trevino, Charlie OBrien, Vance Wilson and, most recently, Luis Torrens.
It is not the kind of banner anyone hangs from the outfield rafters, but it says something about how often the Mets have had catchers who could erase would-be base stealers. The numbers attached to those seasons have landed in a fairly tight band, and the list spans different eras of the franchise, which makes the whole thing even more unusual. For a club that has had plenty of memorable catcher debates, this is one stat line that has somehow turned into a recurring specialty. [Read more 🡒]
Bo Bichettes Mets Future Suddenly Feels More Complicated
Bo Bichettes next move has become a little easier to frame, and a lot harder to predict, after the Mets made Andy Green their full-time manager. Bichette said Greens presence matters as he weighs whether to opt out of his contract this winter, and he made clear just how much he values the skipper he has long called his favorite manager. For a player with a major decision ahead, the Mets move on the bench did more than fill a vacancy, it added another important layer to the conversation.
Green, for his part, is trying not to crowd the process. He said he respects Bichettes choice and is giving him room to determine what is best for him and his family, which leaves the Mets waiting along with everyone else. The relationship between player and manager is now part of the calculus, and while that does not settle Bichettes future, it does make the winter feel like it could turn in a few different directions. [Read more 🡒]