The Washington Nationals’ latest loss felt less like a bad night and more like a hard stop.
They were crushed 13-1 by the 52-81 Colorado Rockies, and the biggest issue wasn’t just the score. It was how lifeless the game looked from the start. Blake Butera said the team “did not play all that hard” last night, and that about summed up a night where Washington never looked ready to match Colorado’s energy.
The Rockies were taking the extra base and playing with purpose. The Nationals were dragging.
One of the clearest snapshots came when a ball dropped in the twilight and Andres Chaparro couldn’t score because he was jogging around the bases, while Jose Tena nearly got thrown out at second after ball watching. It was that kind of game.
Since the trade deadline, the shine has worn off this new regime fast. The Nationals’ first-half identity - a team that was exciting to watch and played a hard-charging brand of baseball - has faded, and the post-deadline version has been a different group entirely. The sell-off may have made sense on paper, but the on-field results have made the questions louder.
The most jarring part is how the losses have piled up around Cade Cavalli starts and almost nowhere else. Washington has been winning when he takes the mound, but that’s where the good news ends.
The last time the Nationals won a non-Cavalli start was August 9th. If you remove Cavalli’s starts, the team has lost 12 straight games.
That split has turned Cavalli into the lone bright spot in a month that has otherwise gone sideways. Every other night feels heavier, more resigned. There’s a visible frustration in the lineup, especially with CJ Abrams, who is in the middle of a career year but also dealing with a tough stretch after being asked to change positions while the roster around him collapsed and James Wood was out.
Abrams isn’t being excused for the way he’s played, but the situation around him is clearly grinding on him. He is at his best when he feels good and has something meaningful to chase, and right now that doesn’t seem to be there. The overall mood has seeped into the offense, and the Nationals don’t appear to have much of that spark for most of their games.
That’s why this slide feels bigger than one ugly box score. Since the Curtis Mead trade, the Nationals are 9-21.
Since the deadline and the James Wood injury, they are 7-15. Losing that much offense was always going to hurt, but this collapse has gone well beyond simply missing talent.
There’s also a leadership problem hanging over the clubhouse. Since Mead, Garcia and Griffin left, nobody has really replaced what they brought, either on the field or in the room, other than Andres Chaparro. The charisma Garcia provided and the baseball knowledge Mead and Griffin carried are both missed right now.
What makes all of this sting is that the season once looked like it was headed somewhere. That sense of direction has vanished, and the Nationals are back to trying to piece together an identity as the final month begins.
A month ago, they had a core and a style. Now they’re trying to rebuild both.
The long-term plan is still the point of all these moves, and Paul Toboni is going to be judged on whether they pay off down the line. For now, though, the results are brutal. The honeymoon period is over, and the Nationals have a weary fanbase waiting for proof that this was all worth it.
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Rockies Rout Just Pushed A Slumping Team To A Public Breaking Point
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Blake Buteras postgame comments made clear how much the loss stood out even against that backdrop. The manager publicly questioned the teams effort and performance, a sharp acknowledgment from a club that has spent much of the month searching for something sturdier than flashes and frustration. With the skid continuing, the bigger concern is no longer just the score from one game but how quickly this group can stop the slide from becoming its identity. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Top Infield Prospect Suddenly Faces A Real Red Flag
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The issue now is less about pedigree than adjustment. His performance has dipped since the promotion, with the contact quality and power not carrying over the way they did before, and some evaluators have already started to wonder whether his swing path and overall approach need to be reworked. Fitz-Gerald is still highly regarded, which is why this development matters, but the next stretch in Harrisburg will say a lot about how quickly he can answer the red flag now hanging over his season. [Read more 🡒]