The postseason is barely underway, and already a handful of former Washington Nationals are making their presence felt.
Washington missed the playoffs for the 7th straight season, but there’s still plenty of familiar orange and blue to track in October. Some of the names are long gone from D.C., while others were still on the 2026 roster. Either way, the Nationals’ fingerprints are all over these games.
Luis Garcia Jr. was the first one to really break through. In his first career playoff start, he gave the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the 4th with a towering solo shot to right field off a Sonny Gray sweeper.
Garcia knew he had it as soon as he connected. It’s not hard to picture him having a big October.
The postseason usually means more velocity and nastier stuff, but Garcia has never seemed bothered by that. He handles heat, and he’s got a knack for the moment.
There’s a real chance he becomes a Yankees cult hero this month, even if part of you wishes that stage had come in Washington instead.
Garcia’s homer also helped knock the Red Sox out, which means Curtis Mead won’t get a chance to play in October. Mead was added to the roster yesterday after Roman Anthony’s injury, but he didn’t appear in the game.
After a monster year with the Nats, Mead got hurt in his first game with the Red Sox. The Mead for Early trade is still one of the more fascinating deals to keep an eye on going forward, and next season will tell us a lot more about what it can become.
Another 2026 National still in the mix is Foster Griffin, though Cleveland’s bye has kept him on the sidelines for now. The Guardians are waiting on the ALDS, and Griffin’s role is worth watching once they get rolling.
He wasn’t as sharp after the trade, but he still feels like a candidate to factor in. I’d think game 3 starter behind Parker Messick and Gavin Williams is a real possibility.
Cleveland now knows its opponent, too. The White Sox knocked off the Astros with two convincing wins, and there’s a Nationals tie there as well.
Erick Fedde, a first-round pick by Washington in 2014, was on the mound for the last out of Chicago’s first playoff series win since 2005. He was fired up in his playoff debut, which carries a little extra weight because he never actually pitched in the postseason during his time with the 2019 Nats.
Fedde’s career has had its rough stretches. For most of it, he’s struggled.
But in a White Sox uniform, he seems to find another gear. After a year in Korea, he came back to Chicago and put together a phenomenal first half.
He was part of a three-team trade at the 2024 deadline that helped the White Sox land Miguel Vargas, who has become one of their best players. Fedde wasn’t nearly as effective after going to the Cardinals, then got released in 2025 and pitched for three different teams.
He returned to Chicago this offseason and logged a solid 3.83 ERA across 141 innings.
Then there’s the Phillies, where the former Nationals are impossible to miss. Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper have formed the top of that lineup for years, and all three spent time in Washington. Given Harper’s departure from D.C. and the division rivalry, it’s safe to say plenty of Nationals fans aren’t exactly pulling for that group.
For a moment, it looked like the hate-watch would go Washington’s way. After dropping Game 1, the Phillies were staring at elimination yesterday, and Bryce Harper’s outfield misplay helped the Braves grab the lead.
That probably brought a few smiles in Nats country. But Harper does what Harper does.
In the top of the 8th, he tied the game after going back to back with Kyle Schwarber, turning it into one of those postseason swings that sticks with you.
That kind of moment is exactly why October baseball in Washington feels so far away right now. Nationals Park in the playoffs is an atmosphere that’s hard to top, and the hope has to be that it comes back sooner rather than later.
With Paul Toboni building things the way he is, there’s reason to believe the Nationals can get there. The goal now is simple: next time this story gets written, it should be about current Nationals making October noise, not the former ones doing it somewhere else.
In Other News...
Nationals Catching Battle Just Got More Complicated This Offseason
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Now Adams is on the market after being outrighted off the 40-man roster, leaving Washington to sort through a position that is clearly in flux. If he does not come back, the opening could push Maxwell Romero Jr. farther up the depth chart, making the next few weeks especially important for how the Nationals map out their catching plans. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Giving One Sleeper Prospect A Big Chance To Rebound
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Mota is the kind of sleeper prospect the Fall League can be especially useful for, since Washington wants to keep building his reps after a season that was interrupted by injuries. The organization also shifted him to center field this year to tap into his athleticism, so the AFL should offer another important look at how that transition is coming along. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Learned One Clear Lesson From Baseballs New Challenge System
The Nationals spent the first year of baseballs ABS challenge system learning who could make the best use of it, and the results gave them a pretty clear roadmap for the future. Keibert Ruiz emerged as one of the clubs better hitters in that area, while the overall picture suggested a team that was figuring out when to push back and when to let a call stand.
There were encouraging individual signs, too, with CJ Abrams proving especially sharp in his own opportunities and other players showing enough success to suggest the system can become another small edge for Washington. The bigger concern is that not everyone handled it equally well, and the Nationals will have to sort out which voices to trust most if they want to turn a decent first pass into a real advantage. [Read more 🡒]