The Nationals are still chasing that next win, and the calendar has made the drought feel even longer. Washington’s last victory came exactly a week ago, a late one against the Braves to open September. Since then, the losses have piled up, and game No. 147 arrives with the Nats looking for a Curly W.
They’ll try to snap the skid in a scheduled bullpen game, with Riley Cornelio opening. How long he stays out there, and how effective he can be, will go a long way toward shaping the night.
Across from him is Casey Mize, whom the Padres acquired at the trade deadline from the Tigers. Since the move, Mize has had a rough stretch, posting a 6.67 ERA over six starts with San Diego.
The bigger picture around Washington remains pretty stark. Since the World Series season in 2019, the Nationals have not won more than 71 games in a year.
Reaching 72 would require five more wins with 16 games left in the 2026 season. And if the goal is to stay away from a 90-loss finish, the Nats need six more wins to get to 73.
Yesterday’s 3-2 loss had its share of defensive frustration. James Wood had a ball hit off his glove at the wall for a double, and Jorbit Vivas’ casual underhand toss was initially ruled an out before being overturned to safe, opening the door to two more runs. Those two plays added more than 20 pitches to Jake Irvin’s workload, even though it may have been his best start since May 23.
❝I am happy with the way we are playing defensively compared to the beginning of the year when we were terrible to put it pretty bluntly. There are things we need to get better at.
… The mistakes magnify. … That’s why we have to play clean baseball.
Some of the best teams in baseball, in my opinion, pitch well and play good defense. That combination attributes to winning baseball.❞
- said manager Blake Butera
Offensively, Washington has actually done a lot of damage. The Nats rank second in MLB with 750 runs scored this season, an average of 5.14 per game.
The problem is on the other side of the ledger: their pitching staff is allowing 4.72 earned runs per game, and the gap is being widened by unearned runs that keep showing up after errors. Even with all of that, Washington sits at a plus-8 run differential.
Manager Blake Butera’s bullpen chart is set, and the numbers are starting to tell a fuller story now that the sample has grown. FanGraphs WAR is large enough to start pointing toward a full-season read, and OAA is beginning to show what the Nationals have - and what they still don’t.
Washington Nationals vs. San Diego Padres
In Other News...
Nationals Bullpen Collapse Is Becoming This Teams Defining Problem
The Nationals keep finding reminders of how thin the margin has become in the late innings, and the latest one came in a loss to the Padres that pushed an already frustrating season into franchise-record territory. Washington had built a lead and looked positioned to close it out, only to watch the game slip away in the kind of bullpen unraveling that has become far too familiar around this club.
Jared Simpsons stint on the mound added to the strain, and the sequence that followed left the Nationals with another missed opportunity in a season full of them. For a team trying to stabilize one of its biggest problem areas, the concern is no longer just about one bad night or one shaky reliever. It is about how long this can keep happening before the bullpen stops being a weakness and becomes the story of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Fans Should Notice Which Harrisburg Prospects Just Took Over
Harrisburg rolled past New Hampshire 11-1 behind another sharp outing from its rotation and a productive night at the plate from a pair of key bats. Kevin Bazzell and Nick Mitchell both turned in multi-hit, multi-RBI efforts as the Senators kept control from the start, giving Washington followers another reminder that the Double-A roster is starting to look more and more like a group worth tracking closely.
The one score that stands out even more for Nationals fans is Josh Randalls latest step forward, with the right-hander working deep into the game and keeping New Hampshire off the board while picking up his fifth win. Fredericksburg had a tougher night in a 4-2 loss to Fayetteville, though Noah Millikan gave the club a solid four-inning effort before Tony Neubeck took the loss, a contrast that only sharpens the focus on which arms and bats are separating themselves in the system. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Road Trip Raised New Questions About Who Still Looks Legit
A rough West Coast trip only sharpened the focus on what the Nationals can actually take forward from this stretch. The losses piled up, the pitching staff was tagged for 35 runs across the series, and manager Blake Butera even got tossed in San Diego as the frustration spilled over. Yet not everything looked equally bleak. Dylan Crews continued to show signs of being part of the answer, and Cade Cavalli gave the rotation a much-needed lift with a strong start against the Dodgers.
The harder question is which parts of the lineup and staff are still believable over the long haul. CJ Abrams went through a rough spell at the plate, and the broader slump left Washington sorting through more uncertainty than reassurance. Crews has started to separate himself as one of the few bright spots, while Cavallis outing offered a reminder that there is at least some starting pitching to build around. For a club still trying to find traction, the road trip made it clear that the search for dependable pieces is far from over. [Read more 🡒]