The Washington Nationals almost pulled off the comeback last night. A slip-and-fall, a bad slide at third base, an error, and a double that bounced over the wall cost the Nats 4 runs in a 5-3 loss.

The Nationals have Cade Cavalli, their ace, on the mound tonight at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California.

Since the World Series season of 2019, the Nationals have not won more than 71 games in a season. Can these Nats surpass that number? That would take 5-wins to reach that mark. There are 19 games remaining in this 2026 season. To avoid a 90 loss season, the Nats need to get 6-games in the win column to get to 73 wins. And to get to a winning season, the Nats would have to go 15-4 to finish the season.

The 41st pitcher appeared for the Nats this season. Last night, it was reliever Jack Sinclair who pitched a perfect 8th inning in his MLB debut. The first batter he faced was lefty Max Muncy in a 10-pitch battle before striking him out on an 85.1 mph sweeper, and from there — Sinclair rolled to a perfect 1-2-3 inning.

❝They’ve all kind of created their own unique paths to get here. You learn when times are tough, how did you respond versus the guy that maybe had the clear path up here? Each of them has had difficulties along their journey.❞

— said manager Blake Butera

On offense, the Nats have the second most runs scored in MLB this season at 738 runs, and that is an impressive 5.17 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.69 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +12 run differential on the season.

Here is manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen chart:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Washington Nationals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Stadium: UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
1st Pitch: 9:10 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 202 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.

Photo by Sol Tucker /Nats.Talk