The Nationals have put themselves in position to do something they couldn’t have imagined a week ago: sweep the Cardinals and keep pushing their way through the final stretch of the season.
Washington enters the game with seven left to play and a 2.0-game edge over the Mets, while also having gained another game on the Marlins, who sit 3.0 games ahead of them for third place in the NL East. The Nats are 6-1 over their last seven, and after winning their 73rd game last night, they’ve already cleared last season’s 66-win total by more than 11 percent. Every win from here is another step forward, both for the standings and for what this group might look like going into next year.
Andrew Alvarez’s night on the mound was a big part of that momentum. He has now logged 142.0 innings this season between MLB and Triple-A, with 108.0 of those coming in the majors and 34.0 in Triple-A.
Last year, he threw 146 innings. In his partial MLB season, Alvarez has posted a 3.17 ERA and +2.6 WAR, which puts him 26th in MLB among pitchers with at least 100 innings.
That kind of production usually screams frontline arm. With Cade Cavalli ranked ahead of him, the Nationals suddenly have a real-looking one-two punch, and the idea gets even more interesting if Connelly Early develops into another starter at the top of the rotation or the club adds a quality free-agent arm.
Jake Irvin gets the start in this one, and he’s another arm worth watching closely. He’s arbitration-eligible and could come in around $5 million, plus or minus, for next season. That makes him part of the larger evaluation process as the Nationals figure out who fits into the future.
James Wood also made clear where his head is at after last night’s game:
❝I feel like we’re trying to build something here. I plan on being here for a long time, so I feel like I got to be able to set an example for stuff like that.❞
❝I think that’s the privilege of being young.❞
Washington’s offense has been one of the louder parts of this season. The Nationals rank third in MLB with 795 runs scored, which works out to 5.12 runs per game.
Their pitching staff has allowed 4.66 earned runs per game, and the gap has largely been about the extra damage caused by errors and the unearned runs that come with them. Even so, the club is sitting on a +14 run differential.
Blake Butera’s bullpen chart for the game is in place, and the larger numbers are starting to tell a clearer story. FanGraphs WAR now has enough volume to start painting a fuller picture of the roster, while OAA is helping show what this Nationals defense does well - and where the holes still are.
Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals.
In Other News...
Josiah Grays Long-Awaited Return Means More Than One Inning
Josiah Grays comeback was the kind of moment the Nationals have been waiting on for a long time. After Tommy John surgery and a rehab path that hit more than one snag, Gray finally made his way back onto a big league mound for Washington in St. Louis, with the club marking the night as part of a broader run of milestones worth savoring.
The return mattered beyond the box score because it represented a new checkpoint for a pitcher who has spent well over two years fighting to get back. Grays outing in the ninth inning gave the Nationals a fresh reason to think about what comes next, even if the bigger picture around his recovery still has a few chapters left to write. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Depth Pieces Are Forcing Attention In Rochesters Playoff Push
Rochester kept building momentum with a 7-3 win over Buffalo, a result that gave the club its second straight victory and four wins in its last five meetings with the Bisons. Zak Kent handled the early work on the mound, allowing one run across four innings on a solo homer, and Joe Glassey finished the job with a scoreless frame to earn the win. The night also featured useful production from a few Nationals depth pieces, with Cayden Wallace, Max Romero Jr. and Trey Lipscomb all turning in key offensive moments as the Red Wings continued to make their case in a crowded race.
For Washington, that matters because Rochester is no longer just trying to finish well, it is forcing its way into the conversation. The playoff picture tightened again after this one, and every win now carries extra weight for a club trying to keep pressure on the teams around it while continuing to get meaningful performances from players who could matter beyond this stretch run. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Clinch Series In A Thriller Fans Wont View Quietly
An 11-inning win gave Washington another hard-earned series clincher, one that featured both timely pitching and a few anxious moments before the night finally tilted the Nationals way. Andrew Alvarez set the tone with six scoreless innings, and the bullpen held long enough for Washington to keep grinding until the game settled into the kind of late-night test that tends to say more about a club than a tidy box score ever could.
Jorbit Vivas was right in the middle of it for much of the night, piling up four hits while driving in a run and scoring once, even as one rough defensive play gave the opposition a path back into the game. Riley Cornelio picked up the win and Will Dion finished it off, leaving Washington at 73 wins with another reminder that this team is still finding ways to survive the tight, messy games that September often serves up. [Read more 🡒]