The Washington Nationals spent much of the season leaning on an offense that stayed near the top of most major categories, even after the trade deadline move that sent Luis Garcia Jr. away while he was leading the NL in slugging. The lineup kept producing, and James Wood was a huge reason why.
Wood finished top three in every major offensive category for Washington this season, set career highs in WAR and OBP, and earned his second All-Star selection. On the surface, it looks like a breakthrough year. But the deeper you look, the more the second-half split jumps out.
For the second straight season, Wood’s production tailed off after the All-Star break. Last year, he had the kind of first half that makes people dream, then followed it with a stretch that barely resembled the same hitter. He hit .223/.301/.388 with seven home runs and 105 strikeouts in the second half, and he nearly chased down the single-season strikeout record, finishing with 221.
This year, the picture is different in one way and familiar in another. Wood suffered a left oblique strain on August 4 and missed about a month, which limited him to 38 games in the second half.
Even so, there hasn’t been much to hang your hat on in the games he did play. The best way to describe it is simple: power disappeared.
Wood has hit only two home runs since the All-Star break, and both came on July 26. His slugging percentage since the start of the second half sits at .326, a steep drop from the .575 he posted in the first half. That kind of falloff makes the split hard to ignore.
The trend becomes even more obvious when you line up the first halves of the 2025 and 2026 seasons against the second halves. Across those two seasons, Wood has 52 total home runs in the first half and only nine in the second.
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A strong finish to 2026 did not erase how uneven the Washington Nationals season felt for long stretches, but it did give the front office something to build on as the calendar turns. After a difficult run, the club closed by taking a series from the New York Mets, a reminder that the roster can still flash upside when things click. Now the focus shifts to the offseason, where president of baseball operations Paul Toboni and manager Blake Butera are set to sort through the pieces and decide what the next version of this team should look like.
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Nationals Are Sending A Clear Message With These Farm System Changes
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Among the departures are Triple-A pitching coach Fernando Nieve, Double-A manager Delino DeShields and Double-A pitching coach Rigo Beltran, with additional staff turnover also touching senior advisor Dave Jauss, outfield and baserunning coordinator Chris Prieto, infield coordinator Jason Wood and Single-A strength and conditioning coach Jordan Chen. For a club trying to turn prospect depth into big-league help, these kinds of staffing decisions matter as much as any roster move, because they can hint at where the front office thinks the system needs a new voice, a new approach, or both. [Read more 🡒]