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"Dylan Crews is currently struggling to find any rhythm at the plate..."Currently?
The overall numbers with only one exhibition left to play: The Nationals rank last in the majors in spring batting average (.197), on-base percentage (.293), OPS (.604), homers (18) and hits (165). Only the Marlins have scored fewer runs (102 in 27 games).
Zuck:We mostly played Miami and STL this spring.
Record: 3-1Last Power Ranking: 29Most meaningless stat: Joey Wiemer’s 1.000 batting average and 3.333 OPSJust to put this into context, here are the top five teams in OPS through the weekend: Brewers, Angels, Nationals, Cardinals and Rays. Honestly, are any of those teams going to be top five in OPS at the end of the year? No way, right? The Brewers were great last season, and even they weren’t top 10 in OPS, much less top five. Yet, here are the Nationals, having just won two out of three against the Cubs — a team expected to contend for the pennant — while their best hitter was Weimer, who went 6-for-6 with two walks, two home runs and the first triple of his career. Almost literally too good to believe. — Jennings
Adding insult to injury...the MSRP for a seat in Section 212...whatever "Club" they call that these days, for a 2 hour AAAA game, is $172.00. You do get free soft drinks with that...whoopie!!!
that's the Doyers series. Regular prices are much lower. Barves on 4/21 in 208 J are $110 each. 50% mark up for the LAD on a weekend
You’re absolutely onto something here. The 2026 Nationals just might have the worst pitching staff ever assembled through their first 12 games. I’m writing this Friday afternoon before the Nats play the Brewers in Milwaukee, so all of the statistics below are as of the end of play Thursday. Nationals pitchers have produced -1.8 WAR across their 107 innings this season. That is the worst WAR figure for any pitching staff through a team’s first 12 games since at least 1974, which is as far back as we have data tracking game-by-game team WAR. If they keep this up, they will be the first pitching staff to finish below replacement level since Allegheny City, a precursor to the Pittsburgh Pirates, produced -2.3 pitching WAR in 1890.Unfortunately, historically bad pitching is all too familiar for Washington fans. The worst modern pitching staff over a full season is the 2022 Nationals, who were exactly replacement level. That group of pitchers actually got off to a solid start. The 2022 Nats played a doubleheader for their 12th and 13th games, but through their first 13 games of the season, their pitchers had amassed 1.7 WAR, the eighth most in the majors. They had by far the worst pitching staff for the rest of the season, however, combining for -1.4 WAR over their final 149 games.Do I think this year’s group is going to finish below replacement level? No, probably not. Our Depth Charts project Nats starters to post 7.9 WAR for the rest of the season; their relievers, 0.3. But based on what I saw on Wednesday, and what you’ve seen watching, by your own admission, “way too many Nationals games this year,” I don’t think it’s out of the question that this staff could do it. Miles Mikolas, the veteran of the staff, labored through three innings against his former team. He allowed just two runs, but the Cardinals threatened for more than that, tallying five hits and three walks. There’s a reason manager Blake Butera went to his abysmal bullpen so soon; Mikolas clearly didn’t have it. Through three starts, Mikolas has a ghastly 12.41 ERA and an 8.34 FIP. Lord, one of the pitchers you cited as an exception to the stinking, came on in relief and pitched well enough. The only hit he gave up in three innings was the solo shot to Walker. Things got dicey and dragged after that, though, as Cionel Pérez and Cole Henry surrendered another three runs. The team’s final pitching line: six runs, all earned, eight hits, seven walks, one hit-by-pitch, nine strikeouts, one home run. It was the seventh straight game in which the Nationals gave up six or more runs.
29th in ERA at 6.12 with the most HRs given up.
Nationals starters have been fine on their first pass through the order. It’s in the middle innings when the lineup turns over that it all falls apart. This is where the problems begin. Nats starters are averaging fewer than five innings per game, meaning their low-leverage arms are being asked to cover several innings at a time. Not even the best bullpens can survive such a workload. It’s been a group effort, in other words.There’s no way to spin Washington’s pitching to this point as anything other than a disaster. But I’ll try anyway. Cade Cavalli, for instance, struck out 10 against a strong Braves lineup Thursday and has a 2.82 FIP through six starts. His big knuckle-curve is missing tons of bats, and if he can ever find the strike zone more consistently, he could be a big deal for this team. I’m also intrigued by Foster Griffin’s kitchen-sink approach. He seems to keep opponents off balance and has turned in a few nice starts, even if the softer stuff makes him prone to ambush homers (especially on the second turn). And, if the Nationals can ever get the ball to Gus Varland in leverage, that top-rail fastball is a lot of fun to watch.There’s also a few “good process” things going on here. I’m willing to buy the stuff bump we’re seeing from Jake Irvin and think he’ll improve. I’m encouraged by the swingman-rebirth of Mitchell Parker — the stuff looks much better. Plus, I’m curious to see DJ Herz, Jarlin Susana, and Josiah Gray whenever their health allows it. Now, was it “good process” to trade Gore and Ferrer? Eh, I don’t know. Those deals look poorly timed if Washington continues to feature a top-10 lineup. Then again, maybe that’s not realistic, and it certainly wasn’t at the time those trades were made.
3 games out of a WC spot. If our ownership weren't such cheap bastards, we could be having a real conversation about fixing the bullpen at the deadline and securing a playoff berth.
