Washington Nationals 2025 Season

THE LEAD

In the early hours of Tuesday morning during a concert by popular merengue artist Rubby Pérez at the Jet Set, an institution of a nightclub on Avenida Independencia in Santo Domingo, the roof collapsed, killing 98 people (so far) and injuring dozens of others in a tragedy that has rippled across the baseball world. Among the victims were former MLB reliever Octavio Dotel (one of my favorite Immaculate Grid answers given that he played for eleven teams), original Washington National Tony Blanco (who made 65 plate appearances for the Nats in his only MLB season, and Monte Cristi provincial governor Nelsy Cruz, the sister of Nelson Cruz.

This hits home for me, too. I took a gap year between high school and college and spent half of it studying abroad in Santo Domingo through an exchange program targeted primarily to students of HBCUs. I lived ten minutes west of the Jet Set and visited many times with my classmates (my best friend in the program lived three blocks up the street, and almost every Friday and Saturday night he and I met for roast pork sandwiches at a street vendor cart just out of frame to the right of the photo above). I believe the Jet Set is also the first place where I ever had too much to drink. Today is a sad day in baseball, especially losing an original National just a few days after celebrating their inaugural season by inducting that team into the Ring of Honor. RIP Tony, Octavio, and Nelsy, along with all of the other victims.

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

Game Recap

Hello, James Wood! A day after Shohei Ohtani finished a double shy of the cycle at Nats Park, Wood hit the first two pitches he saw out of the yard, one each to left-center and right-center in the Nats’ 8-2 victory that thanks to the opponent never felt like that much of a walkover. After a rough first few games that saw him watch a ton of called third strikes, Wood ambushed Dodgers starter Justin Wroblieski twice for majestic bombs on a cold night with contrary winds - his first swing might have reached the restaurant in July (111 mph exit velocity, 30 degree launch angle), and the second traveled 413 feet as it was. All of a sudden through the first eleven games of the season Wood has four bolts and a .981 OPS. It probably helped that on this particularly frigid night that saw various Dodgers in balaclavas from the first inning on, Wood was giving Josh Bell a night off as the designated hitter and getting to hang out in the much warmer dugout rather than stand in left field. This is probably how the Nats should give him days off, keeping his bat and speed in the lineup (he also had an infield single in which he covered the ninety feet to first in about six strides) at essentially all costs.

The Nationals struck not just early (Wood’s first-inning blast) but often, adding three runs in the second (a Wood bases-loaded walk and a Keibert Ruiz single shortly thereafter) and fourth (Alex Call sacrifice fly - the most predictable result of all - and Wood’s second homer) innings. They did this in support of Brad Lord (on whom more below), making an emergency start in lieu of the injured Michael Soroka, followed by a succession of Colin Poche, Orlando Ribalta, and Jackson Rutledge, who combined to allow two runs and create a couple of hairy moments, but ultimately did their job.

Let’s talk about Ribalta for a moment. Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages rudely greeted him in the top of the fifth by depositing a hanging slider in the Los Angeles bullpen for the Dodgers’ first run, but Ribalta recovered to retire the side around a two-out walk of Mookie Betts. He came back for the sixth, retiring the first two hitters before third baseman Amed Rosario let a Kiké Hernández grounder right through the wickets; again he bounced back, whiffing Max Muncy to end the frame. He then came out again for the seventh and had the strangest situation yet. After Pages beat out a slow roller to Rosario to open the inning, Ribalta induced a pop-up near the third base line, which he promptly dropped when he took his eye off the ball - but recovered to start a double play. HOWEVER, the umpires convened and ruled that he had dropped the ball intentionally (he absolutely did not), voiding the double play and leaving a runner on base for Ohtani with just one out. After Davey Martinez argued the call for a few minutes with crew chief Chris Guccione, Ribalta bore down once again and got out of the inning, striking out pinch hitter Hunter Feduccia with two men on base on his 58th pitch to keep the lead at 8-1. There were three different times and three different ways in which Ribalta could have lost focus and imploded, but didn’t. It was a subtly strong performance from the rookie against the best team in baseball.

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

In the Day of the LORD

Over fifty-five pitches across three innings, Brad Lord flirted with potential disaster but ultimately finished those frames without allowing any runs, including allowing the leadoff hitter to reach in the fourth before he was lifted for Poche. He will get another chance to start this weekend and probably be allowed an additional twenty pitches or so. I have thought this since I started watching him in AA last year, but he reminds me of no National more than Tanner Roark, who compiled 16.3 WAR across 935 innings for the Nats from 2013-18. Like Roark, Lord works at a comfortably fast clip, averages seventeen inches of arm-side run on his fastball, generates a lot of soft contact, and always seems to give his team a chance.

If Lord has anything approaching Roark’s career in front of him, it will be the biggest win in organizational development history.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 The Physics of the Torpedo Bat (Fangraphs)

📌 Victor Robles’ Injury (Fangraphs)

📌 RIP Octavio Dotel (The Athletic)