The Washington Nationals just won their 63ʳᵈ game of the season, and by doing so, there will be no 100-loss season. To some, that might not sound like an accomplishment, but there were plenty of so-called analysts who were guaranteeing at least 100 losses for this 2026 Nats team.

While the Nats were on an 84-78 pace at one point in July, they will most likely not get to a winning record — but they can avoid 90 losses if they can go 10-15 or better to finish their season.

Yesterday, manager Blake Butera was critical of his own team when he said that his team “didn’t play as hard as we normally do.” Today, they showed a lot more effort and delivered the win.

❝Today was awesome. Could not be prouder of the effort. … The bullpen was great today. … They showed a ton of energy. They played unbelievable.❞

— said manager Blake Butera after today’s game

Can the Nats turn this into a winning streak as there are just 25 games remaining in this regular season. To get to a winning season, the Nats would have to go 19-6 to finish the season.

It was quite the series for Daylen Lile who went 8-15 with three home runs in this series. The Nats had hits from every offensive player except for Jorbit Vivas who not only couldn’t transfer the ball from his glove to his throwing hand to hold Colorado scoreless, but he failed once again in two key situational hitting spots. Fortunately, Lile and Keibert Ruiz each hit homers.

On the pitching, Jake Irvin somehow got through this game going 4 1/3 innings of 1-run baseball, and his bullpen threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings while only allowing 2-hits. Perhaps the biggest play of the game when the score was 4-1 was when Keibert Ruiz back-picked and caught Troy Johnston off first base with Hunter Goodman batting as the tying run.

In the biggest spots of the game, the Nats did just enough. The Rockies didn’t look good in their situational hitting, and while the Nats had 17 RISP spots, they did get three RISP hits. To score 7-runs works but the Nats must improve in RISP spots where they are in the bottom half of baseball.

Tomorrow, the Nats start a 4-game wrap-around series with the Marlins, and the Nats open the series with Jackson Kent trying to show he belongs.

Photo by Marideth Sandler /Nats.Talk