PHILADELPHIA - The Washington Nationals spent part of Tuesday afternoon watching MLB Network talk about them in their own clubhouse, and that alone said plenty about where this season stands.
It was not a comfortable scene. The Nationals had already positioned themselves as deadline sellers, but being good enough to become a talking point on TV made the moment feel even stranger.
Nobody changed the channel. Nobody muted it.
Nobody reached for headphones.
Then came the game, and with it another flat result: a 5-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies that stretched Washington’s losing streak to seven, its longest of the season.
For a club trying to move faster through a rebuild than most expected, this is the part that tests the plan. The Nationals have pieces that suggest a quicker climb than usual - two stars in James Wood and CJ Abrams, signs that hitting development has taken a step forward, and a clubhouse culture that kept them in the race into the All-Star break. But now they have to turn the second half into something that matters, or at least convince themselves it does.
Blake Butera put it plainly.
“They’re very well aware of what’s going on and how we’re playing,” the manager said. “I think at the end of the day, they all want to step up and be the guy to help us get through this. And when you have a young team like this, sometimes it takes a little bit of extra motivation or conversations with players from the staff.”
That challenge got tougher almost immediately. Wood, their MVP candidate, went on the injured list Tuesday with a mild oblique strain.
Foster Griffin, their best pitcher, and Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead, two of their four best hitters, were traded before Monday’s deadline. A team that had hovered just shy of the final wild-card spot for months suddenly looked very different, and not in a way that makes the next week feel simple.
Cade Cavalli said the group has to learn how to absorb what it can’t control.
“It’s just something that you don’t know how to deal with until you go through it,” Cavalli said. “And then once you’re in it, you just have to make the mental decision and be at peace with it.”
CJ Abrams described the atmosphere in even more direct terms.
“I know that it’s been a little bit weird, a lot of noise going on, but stuff happens,” Abrams said. “You’ve got to push through it.”
When asked what he meant by weird, he kept it short.
“Just the vibe,” Abrams said. “You can feel different stuff that’s going on.”
The Nationals certainly felt different Tuesday night. On the final pitch, Abrams took off his helmet and walked from second base back to the dugout while the crowd waited on José Tena’s Automated Ball-Strike challenge. The pitch was ruled a called third strike right down the middle, and Washington finished 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
That has been the problem in sharper form on this trip, where the Nationals are 3-for-46 with runners in scoring position. Since July 18, they are 24-for-150 in those spots.
Zack Littell said it is the kind of stretch young teams have to survive.
“This is one of those learning things that guys are going to have to go through,” Littell said. “Like, it’s not going to go our way all year.
It’s just not. And honestly, we’ve - I don’t want to say we’ve been due for a streak like this.
But we kind of, for the most part, have gotten away with nipping any of these little streaks in the bud.
“But as we play longer and longer, guys are getting worn down. Really good teams are going to continue to get stronger and stronger, especially after adding guys, and we’re just gonna have to keep playing the game that you know we played up to this point.
“I know it feels like the sky’s falling a little bit right now. … But this team still has to go out there and play competitive baseball.”
In Other News...
Nationals Finally Found A Much Needed Spark In Extras
After a seven-game skid, the Nationals found a much-needed jolt at Citizens Bank Park, where they pulled away for a 10-4 win that offered a rare lift in a difficult stretch. The victory came with a mix of timely offense and small-ball execution, the kind of formula Washington has been chasing as it tries to steady itself after slipping out of Wild Card contention.
CJ Abrams delivered the biggest swing in extras with an 11th-inning triple that put the Nationals in front for good, while Miles Mikolas helped his own cause with a sacrifice bunt that brought in a run. In a season where every win has started to matter more, Washington at least left Philadelphia with a reminder that it can still manufacture pressure when the game gets tight. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Finally Have A Reason To Revisit Elijah Green Hope
Elijah Greens first pro seasons have been defined by the promise that made him a first-round pick in 2022 and the patience that has followed since. The Nationals have kept him moving through their farm system as a high-ceiling outfielder with obvious tools, and even as the overall production has lagged, his recent play has been enough to put him back on the radar in a meaningful way.
Now there is a fresh checkpoint in the development path, and for Washington that matters more than any single box-score line. Green still has not reached the majors, and the challenge ahead is the same one that has shadowed his rise from the start, but the organization finally has a reason to revisit the hope attached to him rather than just the questions. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Farm System Suddenly Has A Few Names Fans Need To Track
The Nationals farm system spent the past stretch doing what good farm systems are supposed to do, which is keep producing small but meaningful signs of progress across the affiliates. Rochester, Harrisburg, Wilmington and Fredericksburg all had their share of completed games to sort through, and the recent results came with the usual mix of pitching lines, timely hits and roster churn that often tells a bigger story than the standings ever do. For a club still building depth, those day-to-day developments matter because they help show which players are gaining traction and which levels are starting to settle in.
Johnathon Thomas is one of the names worth following closely after being moved from Harrisburg back to Rochester, and that kind of reassignment can say plenty about where an organization thinks a player fits right now. The transaction wire also had a few notable moves attached to it, with Konnor Pilkington and Joey Weimer both released and Cole Henry coming off the 7-Day injured list, leaving the Nationals with a handful of roster questions and a farm picture that feels a little more interesting than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]