Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

You had Dylan Crews at third base in the bottom of the 9^th inning with one out in a 0-0 game. A walk-off was there for the taking with the matchup you want — the best hitter in the month of September in MLB was at the plate– and you didn’t even need a hit — just a productive out to score the speedy Crews. But unfortunately, Daylen Lile popped the ball up, just 80 feet from homeplate, for the second out.

That was a moment set for glory like a Hollywood script for Lile who was just on MLB Network hours before, because of all the eyes he has opened with his impressive stats. A Gatorade bath would have been his reward if he succeeded, then the top was put back on that orange Gatorade Dunk Hydration cooler, kind of like a cold slap in the face to the thousands of Nats fans who braved a 2-hour rain delay, and rain throughout this game. The ending was more miserable than the weather. But there was more. There was another at-bat coming that would be gut-wrenching.

The Nats final shot in the 9^th inning was very promising when a 373 foot line drive by Luis Garcia Jr. looked like a smash off the bat, and he dropped his bat in a moment of celebration — and that elation lasted until a Braves’ outfielder jumped at the wall and caught it. The cold weather and the wind knocked that ball down. A ball that still would have been a home run if the Nats had the dimensions of Yankee Stadium, Steinbrenner Field, or the Great American Ballpark.

For that matter, Josh Bell‘s long single off the bullpen wall that moved Crews to third base would have been a homer in eight ballparks. Heck, if the ball didn’t ricochet off the padding with a room service bounce directly to the outfielder — Crews would have scored easily and ended the game there. Bad luck on great contact was certainly the story for Bell and Garcia. For Lile, probably a rookie mistake where he got too aggressive and popped the ball up.

All of that summed up the Nats’ season in a nutshell. MacKenzie Gore threw a 5 1/3 inning scoreless gem. The bullpen (until Mason Thompson fell apart for the loss in the 10^th inning) was great in relief of Gore and kept the game scoreless to get the Nats in a position to win it in the 9th. Even the defense was great. This was the classic pitcher’s duel of Chris Sale versus Gore. The final score in the 10^th inning of 5-0 felt different than most of the losses. The Washington Nationals had an 82 percent win probability after Bell’s hit.

As we say, baseball can be cruel. That 9^th inning was like a prank when someone prints a fake lotto ticket, and you think you’ve won. Garcia and everyone in the stadium thought the Nats won for a second or two. Nope. The W turned to an L quickly. That was a script Nats fans have known all too well in the past few years.

Change is coming down Half Street. The front office, coaching staff, and other changes are coming. Someone tried to say this loss was due to the Lerner ownership group and former GM Mike Rizzo. Another answered that comment with another kneecap jab at the Lerners. If anything, credit to Rizzo. He drafted Lile who should be at the top of the Rookie of the Year discussions. Sure, he failed yesterday with rookie aggression — it happens. Crews had two hits in the game and great defense. Gore looked like an ace against a good offense. On this day, it was just bad luck. Interim-manager Miguel Cairo was really good with his in-game moves until he had to make a reliever decision for the 10^th inning. Again, it’s baseball. One team was going to suffer a tough loss there.

Soon, we will forget about this loss. It will be just one of 90+ losses that will get blended and spun to the now, 18-losses where an extra run or two in the first 9-innings of the game would have given the Nats a few more wins. The Nats are actually 21-16 in 1-run games. Yes, surprising. The Nats also have a winning record in extra inning games. The teams’ problem is really the 16-41 record in blowout games which are defined by games that end with a margin of 5+ runs like last night. That happens when your pitching is, um, awful.

Obviously you aren’t going to be a good team when your pitching is the 2nd worst in all of baseball at a 5.31 ERA. Just embarrassing. It all starts there. And that is why change came on July 6 and more change is coming. The fans do deserve better. The Lerners need to put trust in their permanent GM who they will name in the next few weeks, and give that person a budget to improve the team further. This is where my opinion differs from others regarding the team spending last offseason. They gave Rizzo a $50 million budget as we broke that news last offseason, and he spent it in quantity and his adds to the roster were poor. It was a big step backwards instead of another step forward.

The new GM has to add quality. On interim-GM Mike DeBartolo‘s record is the second half success of Lile, but a second half meltdown for James Wood is also on that same record. Credit to DeBartolo for re-building a bullpen that, with a couple of tweaks, had been the best bullpen in baseball for 30-days from August 12 to September 12. He acquired PJ Poulin and Clayton Beeter around the trade deadline. It is on DeBartolo’s clock that Jose A. Ferrer has become the best closer in baseball since the trade deadline. The analytics finally look to be taking shape. People want change — but maybe DeBartolo is the change. We will see.

Spend the resources to add a T.o.R. rotation starter, find another clutch bat for the middle of the order, and add another bullpen arm. Yes, big asks when the competition is fierce for teams to add impact players. That’s what the Nats need to take that next step. Those three moves need to be quality moves of impact that move that WAR needle. Then get Wood back on track and find a way to keep improving Crews and Brady House. That gets you going for the 2026 season. You make more changes in the following offseason. You have to get back to a system of continual improvement.

Remember, not everything will or can be solved in the upcoming offseason to turn this team into a World Series contender. This team needs to get back on track to where they should have been in this season and contending for a winning season. You have to get there first with winning before you can find yourself as a playoff contender. Steps forward.