Photo by Intrepid/Nats.Talk

The Washington Nationals are home for this 3-game series against the Marlins, and after that there is only 99-games remaining this season. We aren’t at the sprint to the finish or the dog days of summer just yet — but it feels like these next several weeks could determine who these 2026 Nats are. If you read Power Rankings by RPI, the Nats are the 6th best team in baseball. But at the end of the day, your record says who you are.

The Nats starter today is Cade Cavalli and he is going up against Sandy Alcantara. The Nats really need an ace performance from Cavalli to get the Nats into the win column.

With the Nats offense leading baseball in runs scored, the Nats Big-5 has become the Big-6. The L.A.W.Y.R.’s of Lile, Abrams, Wood, Young, Ruiz and Mead have a combined +9.1. And recently, Young, Ruiz, and Mead have all passed Lile in WAR with Wood at the top.

Here is the usage chart for manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. The numbers are getting very large as the season is headed towards the halfway point on June 24. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Miami Marlins vs. Washington Nationals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 176 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.