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The Washington Nationals are on a three-game skid in this four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds, and what the Nats need is a Curly W to salvage this series. The Nats home losses at Nationals Park keeps mounting, and they have a horrific 13-30 record in D.C.

The Washington Nationals are on a two-game skid in this four-game series against Cincinnati Reds, and what the Nats need is a Curly W. The team has their lone All-Star on the mound with Josiah Gray, and the team needs him to step up. This will be Gray’s final game before the All-Star game in Seattle.

The Washington Nationals had their largest crowd of the year last night, and it might have been even larger if there wasn’t the threat of rain that delayed the start of the game. Officially, the attendance was 36,290, and the overwhelming majority of the fans were cheering for the Nats. Most stayed for the postgame fireworks. But the die-hards left the stadium wondering how they lost another winnable game. Those who have attended all 41 games at Nationals Park have only seen 13 wins. Let that sink in for a minute. Home teams are supposed to have a home field advantage. Supposed to. That .317 winning percentage is pathetic, truth be told.

The Washington Nationals are finally back in Washington, D.C. after returning from a very successful 6-3 road trip from San Diego to Seattle to Philadelphia in which the Nats won all three series. This was the best showing on winning three consecutive road series since 2017. The Nats have played baseball at just one-game under .500 on the road this season, but the home record is an horrific .325 winning percentage. Why? That’s an article for another day.

The Washington Nationals got a reality check yesterday that their front of the bullpen is absolutely horrible. Three pitchers, Amos Willingham, Joe La Sorsa, and Thaddeus Ward, gave up four runs each for a cool dozen. On the good side, the final three pitchers in were good. Cory Abbott threw a scoreless inning, and Jose Ferrer in his MLB debut had an 18 K/9 1-2-3 inning while striking out J.T. Realmuto and inducing a weak 6-3 groundout from Bryce Harper. Position player Ildemaro Vargas pitched the final frame and went 1-2-3 on the Phillies. Okay, La Sorsa got BABIP’d badly, but Willingham and Ward both got rocked by hard contact and three combined home runs. In all, the Nats lost 19-4 after starter MacKenzie Gore had a blister and was abused for seven earnies — his worst career start.

The Washington Nationals got another signature win last night, and finished the mathematical first half of the season at 33-48. That puts the Nats on a 66-96 pace for the 2023 season. The calendar has turned to July which signifies the MLB Draft, the All-Star game, and two weeks after that is when the trade deadline becomes a real factor. If the thin Nats roster unloads some of their best player(s), how can they avoid losing 100 games again? That’s one of the million dollar questions. Fans get real nervous around the trade deadline, and the first big trade actually happened yesterday when Aroldis Chapman was traded to Texas.

The Washington Nationals are 32-48 heading into this game that will set the halfway mark in the season after the game is completed. It is easy math to do your interpolation or extrapolation to just multiply non-average stats by two. For instance if Joey Meneses does not homer today, he would be on a pace of just four home runs on the season. More importantly, if the Nats can win tonight — they would be on a 66-win pace. If they lose, it’s a 64-win pace.