The Washington Nationals come into this game on a 3-game winning streak, and all three games were come-from-behind wins. Tonight, the Nats start a 2-game series with the Phillies. After this game, there are just 10 games remaining in this season as the Nats have been officially eliminated from the postseason.

This game will feature lefty Cristopher Sanchez for Philadelphia, and the Nats will go with young lefty Jackson Kent. On the Vegas lines, this game has the Nats as big underdogs.

On the pitching rehab front, LHP Connelly Early has a scheduled rehab start tonight in Buffalo for Triple-A Rochester. And LHP DJ Herz is in Nationals Park today throwing a side session. With Cade Cavalli starting tomorrow, and a day-off on Thursday, will we see Herz pitch for the Nats on Friday? Lastly, RHP Josiah Gray will continue his rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester and pitch out of the bullpen.

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 3-wins to reach that mark. There are 11 games remaining in this 2026 season. To avoid a 90 loss season, the Nats need to get 3-games in the win column to get to 73 wins. It won’t be easy, but can the Nats go 3-8 to finish this season?

The remaining schedule includes these two games against the Phillies, then the Nats travel to St. Louis for three games for the weekend. Next week, the Nats travel to Detroit for three games before traveling back home for the final three games against the Mets in a weekend series for what could be a battle for 4ᵗʰ place in the NL East.

❝The athleticism – [James Wood and CJ Abrams] are both dynamic players and bring so much to the table outside of when they’re in the batter’s box. I think, honestly, our job is just to set them free and let them go play and do what they do best. … They’re both total-package players, and I’m lucky just to be able to sit there and watch them do their thing. I’m happy they’re on our team.❞

— said manager Blake Butera

On offense, the Nats have the third most runs scored in MLB this season at 772 runs, and that is an impressive 5.11 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.74 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +3 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.

Philadelphia Phillies 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 206 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.

Photo by Steve Mear /Nats.Talk