Will Paul Toboni Tweak the Nats Roster at all?

Posted on May 18, 2026 by Andrew Lang

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Game #47 Nats go for a winning record

Posted on May 17, 2026 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
Photo by Marideth Sandler/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals started the season with a winning record. But the last time the team was 1-game over .500 in the mid-season was on July 1, 2021. That was 1,781 days ago on a roster that had some future Hall-of-Famers on it like Max Scherzer and Juan Soto. That team got very old in front of our eyes, and it was downhill from there. Nowadays, the Nats are trying to come out of the failed rebuild with optimism. Yesterday, the team reached the .500 mark, and the next step is a winning record.

While few had hopes for a winning season in 2026, enjoy what you have as they say. The Nats have the No. 1 scoring offense in baseball by a wide margin. They have an improving bullpen. And they generally go as their starting pitching goes. Yesterday, Cade Cavalli deserved a better fate than being collared with 3-earnies. His manager, Blake Butera, shoved him into the 7th inning, and Cavalli’s 6.0 scoreless innings turned into a sweat as the team got lucky by inches as a possible two-run home run was foul on review. They also got a great Web Gem catch by Jacob Young on the wall in center field. But if Cavalli was pulled at first sign of trouble — maybe none of that happens.

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Postgamer #46: Nats crush it at the end to clinch the series and get back to .500: A recap

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Ryan MacReynolds

Nats win! Nats win! Nats clinch the series and return to .500 in front of a sell-out crowd of 40,559.

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Game #46 The elusive .500 mark

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
Photo by Andrew Lang/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals started the season at 1.000 and went down to .500 and up to .667 and further up to .750. The last time the team saw .500 was on April 1. Fitting, right? The team is 0-6 trying to get back to .500 since that point — but there’s a reason for that. Almost every time they are in position to win to get back to .500, they are facing some really good starting pitchers like Tyler Glasnow, Paul Skenes, Logan Webb, Janson Junk, and Chase Burns.

Today’s starting pitcher the Nats will face is Chris Bassitt. The Nats have their Opening Day starter, Cade Cavalli, on the mound today. Can Cavalli replicate what Zack Littell did last night? Littell threw 5.0 innings of scoreless baseball on Friday night for the win. In his past three games, Littell has only given up 3-earnies with a 0.950 WHIP, and a .186 opposing batting average (8-for-43).

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Postgamer #45: Nats survive at the end to win game one of the Beltway series: A recap

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Ryan MacReynolds

The Nationals drew just under 39,000 people to Nationals Park tonight for a sell-out to take in the first game of the Beltway Series, on hotdog night, and Natty the dog’s major league debut. Despite the reason for the large crowd in the ballpark tonight, they were treated to one heck of a game. The pitching staff is owed a huge “attaboy” tonight, as Zack Littell turned in his best game of the season, Andrew Alvarez made his return from Triple-A with three dominant innings, and Richard Lovelady came in during a jam in the ninth inning and escaped with the third out just in time to give the Nats a game one victory over the Orioles. It was loud, it was dramatic, and it was a huge Nats win.

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Game #45 Beltway Series in D.C.

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals have a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles. We all know what that means. There will be plenty of orange in Nationals Park and the orange people will yell at the top of their lungs “O” during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. It is as predictable as the sun will rise tomorrow.

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The MLB Draft is under 60-days away

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The MLB Draft begins in under 60-days. Last year at this time, the Washington Nationals had the No. 1 pick in the draft and took Eli Willits. Today on MLB Pipeline, Willits is the No. 4 prospect in all of baseball. The buzz was reaching a fever pitch at this time a year ago. On July 11, the Nats are picking at No. 11, and the Nats destiny might be decided by the team’s picking in front of them. In 2021, the Nats also had the No. 11 pick and chose Brady House in that draft. There was a time when House was the top name in that prep class. This is considered a good draft class, and the Nats should have a choice of some very good players at 11.

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Postgamer #44: Nats get curb-stomped in game three, still leave Cincinnati with series win: A recap

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Ryan MacReynolds
Photo by Marideth Sandler/TalkNats

Well, I’m starting to think there really is something to the theory that there’s some sort of conspiracy out there to keep the Nats from getting back to .500. I mentioned this last weekend, but it seems like, going back to last season, the Nationals save their worst outcomes for the games where a win would get them back to or very close to .500. Today was more of the same. A buzz saw named Chase Burns set the tone for the Reds, as he absolutely mowed through the Washington order this afternoon, and received plenty of run support from his offense in the blowout win.

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Nats get equal time at the Economic Club

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
Photo by Intrepid/TalkNats

The Economic Club is located in Washington, D.C. and lawyer and businessman, David Rubenstein is the chairman. Did we mention that Rubenstein is also the owner of the Baltimore Orioles? Over the winter, he and his staff used the Economic Club to talk about their team and baseball — but they sure didn’t hide the fact that they were trying to attract D.C. based businesses for sponsorships and to sell them premium tickets. Last week, the Nationals brass got their turn at the Economic Club.

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Game #44 Lile wants to continue his home cooking for 3 straight games

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
Photo by Jake Stephens/TalkNats

The Washington Nationals first two games in Cincinnati were the Daylen Lile show with cameos of his dad celebrating up and down the stadium steps of the Great American Ball Park. These are like home games for Lile who grew up about 90 miles away in Louisville, Kentucky. A trip up I-71 and across the Ohio River, and you’re there. In the first two games of this series, Lile has three home runs, 7 RBIs, a stolen base, and is 5-for-9. He and his dad celebrated that 10th inning game-winning home run like it was a walk-off. Must’ve felt that way when it was your childhood home park.

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