The Washington Nationals have their newly extended ace, Cade Cavalli, on the mound to kick-off this weekend series with the Cardinals.

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 one more win to reach that mark. There are 9 games remaining in this 2026 season. To avoid a 90 loss season, the Nats need to get 2-games in the win column to get to 73 wins. Of course the hope is the Nats can play better than .500 baseball in these final 9 games.

After this game, there are just 8 games remaining in this season with just two series remaining after the team leaves St. Louis for Detroit. Next weekend is the final showdown with the Mets for what could be a battle for 4ᵗʰ place in the NL East — or if the Marlins fall apart, maybe a battle for 3ʳᵈ place!

❝We have big games ahead of us to finish this season strong for this group of players.❞

— said manager Blake Butera

On offense, the Nats have the third most runs scored in MLB this season at 778 runs, and that is an impressive 5.11 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.71 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.

Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 8:15 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 208 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.

Photo by Marlene Koenig /Nats.Talk