Photo by Andrew Lang/Nats.Talk

While the All-Star break is the unofficial midway of the season, today is the mathematical middle of the season after tonight’s game is completed. Projecting numbers will be easy as you double any non-average number like RBIs, HRs, runs scored, stolen bases, and wins.

Wins are the most important number of course. The Washington Nationals are 41-39. Win tonight, and the team would project to be 84-78. Lose tonight, and the team would project to be 82-80.

The Nats, as a team, are guaranteed to finish the first half with a winning record. Obviously, how does the team bounceback tonight after another bullpen and defensive meltdown last night?

The other question is what the Nats do to improve going forward. How do you increase the wins? Clearly the bullpen is the biggest issue on this team. President of Baseball Operations spoke on 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies show today.

❝I was driving home last night so freaking pissed off [after the loss]. It kind of hit me, that it’s a good thing. We have higher expectations than people had coming into the year. … This team will bounceback.

We’re not shying away from the fact that we could have a lot more wins right now if our bullpen was throwing a little bit better.❞

— Paul Toboni said on 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies show today

Toboni talked about improving the team, and didn’t shy away from discussing making trades and even said they have discussed it internally. One week from today is July 1 when teams start throwing in the towel on their season and might be open to making trades.

❝The tricky part is the time of the year. There are certain things you can do at this time of the year, you can be active on waiver claims and DFA’s and that sort of thing. You can look to make trades which we’re doing, and at the same time, it’s a window where teams look to see how the next three, four, five weeks go before the [trade] deadline (on Aug. 3rd).

It’s difficult to make trades at this time, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to try. We’re going to have a bunch of conversations and see where it goes.❞

— Paul Toboni said on 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies show today

Obviously the Nats offense is leading the Majors in runs scored. The pitching is the obvious weakness. But the team could certainly look to upgrade the lineup if the opportunity arises. The pitching is what needs the immediate attention, and that’s where you would expect a trade to be made to improve the bullpen.

The Nats didn’t suffer just one blown save last night, they had two blown saves in the same game to make it 22 on the season — the worst mark in baseball. The defense was once again not good, and the official scorer was too kind in their initial decisions.

We will see where all of this goes. It’s a moot point if the Nats don’t stay above .500 leading into the All-Star break which begins in 18 days.

Let’s pivot to some positives as we approach the halfway point tonight and look at some of the great offensive numbers on the team.

James Wood has scored 70 runs, 49 RBIs, and has 61 walks. Nasim Nunez has 31 stolen bases. CJ Abrams has 17 home runs, 57 RBIs, and 12 stolen bases. There are some gaudy offensive numbers.

Let’s go through some of the team records that could fall. Alfonso Soriano holds the Nats’ home run record with 46 in 2006, Bryce Harper hit 42 in 2015, and Adam Dunn hit 38 in both 2010 and 2009. The Nats RBI record is 126 RBIs by Anthony Rendon in 2019. Abrams holds the stolen base record at 47 in 2023. Juan Soto holds the walks record at 145 in 2021. Soriano also holds the record for 119 runs scored in 2006.

For Nats’ team records, the 2019 team scored 873 runs. The Nats are at 429 runs scored before tonight’s game. This 2026 team certainly has a chance to beat that number given the weaker remaining schedule in the second half.

Again, the most important record is the won/loss record. Let’s see where this thing goes.