Can the Nationals Compete This Year?

It is that most wonderful time of year. Spring Training is just coming to an end, and baseball fans everywhere are gearing up for another glorious Opening Day. Today is the 10-day countdown to the Washington Nationals start to their regular season. The 2026 Major League Baseball season is just about to begin, and anything can happen. Another long offseason is over, and hopefully you have some optimism about the Nats.

Continue reading
Posted in Roster | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spring Training Game #21; Grapefruit League ends on Saturday for the Nats

Photo by Andy Ward/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals fly back to the DMV on Saturday for consecutive exhibition games on Sunday and Monday against the Orioles in a road/home 2-game final tune-up before Opening Day in 11 days. Time flies. After today, there are just six Grapefruit League games remaining and of course Thursday’s Spring Breakout game.

Manager Blake Butera has penciled up a starting lineup 1-8 that looks like your March 26 lineup for Wrigley Field.

Continue reading
Posted in InGame, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forget the score — and look at Clemmey, Ford, and Willits!

Photos by Nathan Hansen/TalkNats

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — A noon start was fortuitous to beat the incoming Saturday afternoon rain. The same type of nuisance that caused lengthy rain delays the previous two games. While the Floridian rain is common, seeing three top prospects start a Spring Training game is uncommon.

Today’s starting lineup featured three of the top Washington Nationals prospects in shortstop Eli Willits who is the team’s №1 prospect, catcher Harry Ford the №3 prospect, and the left-handed pitcher Alex Clemmey is the №11 prospect. The three prospects are aged 18, 23, and 20 respectively. They are a big part of the Nationals future.

Continue reading
Posted in Prospects, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spring Training Game #20 Eli Willits and Alex Clemmey start!

Photo by Jake Stephens/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals have a special starting lineup today. While Eli Willits had already appeared in a Spring Training game off the bench, the 18-year-old gets his first start today. And on the mound is Alex Clemmey who is a 20 year old minor leaguer ranked as the team’s 11th best prospect. Last year, Clemmey put up a 2.47 ERA in 19 games in High-A. He finished that season in Double-A.

Continue reading
Posted in InGame, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rotations from Double-A, Triple-A to MLB for the Nats organization!

Here is my best projection of every Washington Nationals starting rotation from Double-A Harrisburg to Triple-A Rochester to the Washington Nationals.

Continue reading
Posted in Roster | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Game #19 The Zack Littell 2026 Nats’ Spring Training debut!

Photo by Andrew Lang/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals get their first game looks at their newly acquired pitcher, Zack Littell. Who knows what to expect in his first start which is less than two weeks from Opening Day. He will only get two more starts before Opening Day. Can he even get his stamina built up to get to a 70-80 pitch count for his first regular season start? As they say in the predictions business, we will see.

Continue reading
Posted in InGame, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spring Training Game #18 Jake Irvin on the mound

Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals finally gave the first indication of what we can see on Opening Day as manager Blake Butera officially named Cade Cavalli as his starting pitcher. We are exactly two weeks away from that first game of the 2026 season in Chicago at Wrigley Field on March 26.

Continue reading
Posted in InGame, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The regular season brutal schedule is a reality to discuss!

The Washington Nationals are 10-4 in Grapefruit League play — and 11-4 if you include their win over the Venezuela WBC team in an exhibition game. History has shown little correlation from Spring Training wins to regular season wins. But of course you take those wins because they feel better than losses, right?

Two weeks from today is a game that counts as it is Opening Day. Cade Cavalli will toe the rubber in Wrigley Field on March 26. The MLB schedule-makers inked up a brutal schedule for a team that lost 96 games last year. It’s sadistic if this was done on purpose as the Nats face three teams with very high NL playoff odds with consecutive series against the Cubs, Phillies, and Dodgers to start the 2026 regular season. FanGraphs has the Dodgers at 99 percent odds today of making the playoffs, the Phillies at 71.3 percent, and the Cubs at 62.7 percent.

Continue reading
Posted in Schedule, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Nats’ Spring Breakout roster is stacked!

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in Analysis | Leave a comment

Spring Training Game #17 Cade Cavalli gets the start!

Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals have not officially named their Opening Day starting pitcher. We are just 15 days away from that first game of the 2026 season to take place in Chicago at Wrigley Field on March 26. Well, as we pointed out five days ago, Cade Cavalli lines up perfectly to start on Opening Day, albeit with no extra rest days. The postgame today might be the perfect time to name the Opening Day starter. Just sayin’.

And all of a sudden the Nats have a plethora of starting pitchers after the official signing of Zack Littell yesterday. As we know, too many starting pitchers is a good thing, especially when you have team control.

Continue reading
Posted in InGame, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment