Washington Nationals 2025 Season

THE LEAD

Yes, it was most definitely garbage time, at 15-0 in the bottom of the eighth. Yes, the pitcher (José Ureña) was rather nondescript, thrown out there by the Mets to pitch the final three innings so that they could rest their best relievers. But still, a home run is a home run, and when James Wood turned around a thigh-high changeup and sent it into Section 242 below the big scoreboard, he equaled last year’s total - in 210 fewer plate appearances. After nine bolts as a rookie in almost exactly half a season in 2024, Wood has nine in his first 29 games this season, second-best in the National League and currently on pace for an even fifty. And he’s doing this despite not hitting the ball at optimal angles all that often; he’s in the 22nd percentile so far this year for launch angle sweet spot, 234th/264 in the majors and seventh among the Nats’ regulars, ahead of only Josh Bell and Jacob Young. He’s already a monster at the dish - imagine what he could be if he just hits a few more balls in the air. The rest of his contact profile on his MLB Statcast page is a sea of red. We are seeing a superstar develop before our eyes, a lefty-hitting Aaron Judge (who split his age-22 season between the low-A Charleston River Dogs and the high-A Tampa Yankees, not slugging .500+ against MLB pitching).

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

Game Recap

Blech. When Trevor Williams departed in the sixth, the outcome of the game was still in doubt at 3-0, but three legitimate relievers and Amed Rosario (side note; can the next position player pitching appearance please be from Nasim Nuñez?) allowed not just both of Williams’ inherited runners to score (chief arsonist Colin Poche, naturally) but a whopping fourteen further runs of their own: one by Poche, five by Cole Henry (wasted in a blowout situation), four by Eduardo Sálazar (who pitched more like he had entered a scoreless game and not a laugher), and four by Rosario. The Nats had a nice five-run eighth inning ignited by Wood and Nathaniel Lowe each going deep, but as they were already trailing by two touchdowns and a two-point conversion it didn’t much matter. It was a wet fart of a series finale that was enjoyed solely by the plentiful Mets fans for the final innings.

 STORY TYPE

Preparation D

Yesterday’s butt-kicking was a microcosm of why I am out on Davey Martinez as the right manager to take the next step with this young team. Twice in this series - against a division rival that many Nats fans (although not this one, I will always and forever save my highest level of vitriol for the Barves) would label their most hated opponent - the Nats won an exciting game in thrilling walk-off fashion, and both times face-planted the next day, particularly at the plate. Yes, the Mets are a very good team, currently at 20-9 the best team in baseball. But the inability to bear down and go into Mortal Kombat mode (“FINISH HIM!”) is a hallmark of the Davey era. Davey Johnson or Dusty Baker would have made sure that their teams were prepared to step on the Mets’ necks and complete the job in at least one of those two games (Matt Williams would have consulted his binder). But just as the Nats allowed themselves to be steamrolled in the series finale against the Orioles by a pitcher with a 6.35 ERA, they came out lifeless twice after epic wins.

Let’s check the tape. How many sweeps or mops (a sweep of the four-game variety) have the Nats managed during Martinez’s tenure? How frequently have the Nats even had a chance to sweep during these five long years in the wilderness? Below is the team’s record by year after winning the first two games of a three-game set or the first three games of a four-game series:

2018: 4/8 sweeps (Reds, Marlins x2, Orioles), 2/3 mops (Pirates, Diamondbacks)

2019: 9/11 sweeps (Phillies x2, Marlins x3, Giants, Reds, Cubs, Indians), 0/2 mops

2020: 1/1 sweeps (Mets), 0/1 mops

2021: 3/4 sweeps (Marlins, Orioles, Pirates)

2022: 0/7 sweeps

2023: 3/7 sweeps (Giants, Reds)

2024: 2/9 sweeps (Marlins, Reds), 1/1 mops (Marlins)

2025: 0/3 sweep opportunities

That adds up to 22 sweeps in 50 opportunities, and 3 mops in 7 mop-portunities. Over the past six seasons those numbers are 9/31 and 1/2. Look, sweeping a team is hard, and mopping a team even harder. But it is not just the failure to capitalize on those opportunities but how they typically do it (getting shut out for six innings on eighty-ish pitches by the likes of Cade Povich, for example, which is exactly what happened on Thursday - Danny Rouhier of 106.7 WJFK calls that a “Dillon Gee Special”) that is so frustrating, and builds further evidence that Martinez doesn’t prepare teams as well as he could, or as well as another manager could.

Meanwhile, as opposed to every other team that is trying to win as many games as it can this season (and not just talking out of both sides of their mouth about that goal), Mike Rizzo continues to leave Poche on the roster despite ample evidence that he is not a major league-caliber pitcher right now (Poche’s 12.91 ERA and 2.870 WHIP are making Nats fans long for the days of Trevor Rosenthal and Kyle Barraclough, to say nothing of his allowing 8/12 inherited runners to score). It’s time to try someone, anyone else, even if hardly any of the various members of the Rochester bullpen are exactly clamoring for the job.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 Shusterman’s Power Rankings (Yahoo!)

📌 The Record MLB Payroll Gap (The Athletic)

📌 White Sox’s New CC Jerseys Echo Bulls (MLB)