The Washington Nationals are headed to St. Louis for their last road series of the season, and both clubs arrive with little left in the standings but plenty to sort through on the field.
Washington comes in at 71-82 after splitting a two-game set with the Phillies. The Nationals grabbed the opener 6-3 thanks to Daylen Lile’s pinch-hit three-run homer, then went quiet in a 3-0 loss on Wednesday. Even with the defeat, they’ve won four of their last five after sweeping the Angels and splitting with Philadelphia, though the club has now locked into its seventh straight losing season.
St. Louis enters at 75-78, sitting fourth in the NL Central and one game from elimination from playoff contention after losing its series to the Giants.
The Cardinals still have a few young names worth tracking, including Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt and rookie catcher Leo Bernal. Alec Burleson has been the biggest bat in the lineup, leading the National League with 109 RBIs, and Wetherholt has recently returned from the injured list.
With both teams looking toward 2027, this weekend gives a handful of younger players another chance to make a mark before the year ends.
Friday night’s opener features one of Washington’s bright spots on the mound in Cade Cavalli. The right-hander is 12-5 with a 3.12 ERA and is coming off another strong start against the Angels, when he gave up two runs on three hits over six innings, struck out nine, and kept the Nationals in position before the offense finished the job in a 4-3 win. Cavalli has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 29 of his 31 starts and has clearly established himself as the ace of the Nationals’ rotation.
The Cardinals are expected to go with Kyle Leahy, who is set for his second straight shortened start as St. Louis continues to monitor his workload late in the season.
In his last outing, he tossed three scoreless innings against the White Sox, giving up two hits, striking out four and walking none. He’s been one of the Cardinals’ steadiest arms, but Washington may get a look at the bullpen early in the series opener.
Saturday’s game brings Andrew Alvarez to the mound for the Nationals. The left-hander just delivered the best start of his major league career, blanking the Angels over seven innings while allowing one hit and striking out a career-high eight. Alvarez has been rolling quietly for a while now, putting together a 2.44 ERA across his last eight outings and making a strong case for a 2027 rotation spot.
He’ll face Michael McGreevy, who earned the win in his most recent start after holding the White Sox to one run over six innings. McGreevy has settled into the rotation after an uneven start to the season, and he’ll try to build on one of his better recent performances. Washington, meanwhile, will be looking to do a better job with runners on base after being shut out Wednesday and leaving seven men aboard.
Sunday’s finale has Jake Irvin lined up for the Nationals. He’s coming off a start against the Padres in which he allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks over 5⅔ innings. The right-hander has had a tough time finding consistency this season, but he’ll try to close out the year with something better in the series finale.
St. Louis is expected to counter with Mathews, who just turned in the best outing of his young career against the Giants.
The rookie left-hander gave up one run on four hits over 6⅔ innings, struck out a career-high eight and didn’t allow his first hit until the sixth. He has quickly become one of the more intriguing young arms in the Cardinals’ rotation.
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Nationals Could Have Another Tough Extension Call Coming Soon
After locking up Cade Cavalli on a four-year, $47 million deal, the Nationals have signaled they are willing to be proactive with young talent before the market gets too expensive. That kind of move can buy cost certainty and keep a promising core in place, but it also forces the front office to keep making judgment calls on players who are still sorting out who they are at the big league level.
Andrew Alvarez, Daylen Lile, Eli Willits and Jarlin Susana all sit somewhere on that spectrum, which is why the next extension conversation could come sooner than expected. Alvarezs rise makes him the kind of arm Washington could eventually want to secure, while Willits and Susana represent the longer-range bets the organization may have to weigh against comparable prospect deals elsewhere, especially if development keeps trending in the right direction. [Read more 🡒]
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The catch is that a promising lineup can only carry a club so far when the late innings keep going sideways. Washingtons bullpen problems have been severe enough to drag down the bigger picture, and the path to real contention in 2027 likely depends on more than just internal improvement in the lineup. The Nationals also need a few of their young position players to take another step, with the kind of breakthrough that turns optimism into something more durable. [Read more 🡒]
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Washington had plenty to celebrate in the game as the club stacked together a few different landmarks, but Grays comeback stood out as the one that felt most personal. For a pitcher who had spent more than two years fighting back to this point, simply getting into a game again was its own kind of payoff, even if the bigger questions about what comes next are still ahead. [Read more 🡒]