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The
Washington Nationals:
Current players and
historical comparisons

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* This Web page shows detailed data for the current year, as well as historical annual summary data.
Comprehensive detailed historical data that were formerly displayed on this page are now presented year-by-year on the interactive Washington Nationals Annual History page. Remarkable comebacks, grand slams, no-hitters, etc. of past years are now presented on the Washington Nationals BIG moments page. Also see the (u.c.) Washington Nationals players photo gallery page.

Contact me ~ ALSO SEE: MLB franchises, Baseball in D.C., RFK Stadium, Nationals Park

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2026: The Nationals' rebuilding effort showed great progress, until...

The Washington Nationals made only four significant acquisitions of veteran talent during the 2025-2026 offseason: outfielder Joey Wiemer (who played with the Marlins last year, and was DFA'd by the Giants in the off-season) in January and pitchers Foster Griffin (who played in Japan for the last three seasons), Miles Mikolas (formerly of the Cardinals), and Zack Littell (formerly of the Reds) in February and March, respectively. All four were free agents. Their ace pitcher Mackenzie Gore was traded to the Texas Rangers in January. Perhaps the biggest acquisition was the new manager Blake Butera, who replaced Miguel Cairo, who had been filling in after Davey Martinez was fired in July. During the first half of the season the Nationals exceeded the modest expectations held of them, consistently leading the majors in total team runs scored. Starting pitchers Foster Griffin and Cade Cavalli excelled, but in general the pitching staff is weak and inconsistent overall; for a while the Nats also led the majors in total runs allowed. The Nats improved greatly in May, briefly taking 2nd place in the NL East, thanks to some phenomenal slugging performances by CJ Abrams, James Wood, Luis Garcia Jr., and even Keibert Ruiz. Abrams, Wood, and Griffin all played in the All-Star Game, gaining recognition for the team. They set a team record for home runs in a month (50) in July, and led the majors in that category for most of the 2026 season, as well as in RBIs, slugging percentage), and stolen bases. But they kept wasting run-scoring opportunities, while their bullpen went from shaky to just plain awful. A slump as the trade deadline approached ended their fleeting chances at a playoff berth, and three key players were traded away: Curtis Mead, Luis Garcia, and Foster Griffin. Cade Cavalli excelled on the mound in August, but otherwise their pitchers were shaky at best, and it was the Nats' worst month of the season.

Starting positions, 2026

CF: Jacob Young .231 Dylan Crews

LF: * Daylen Lile .299 * Abimelec Ortiz

RF: James Wood.256 * Daylen Lile, * Joey Wiemer

SS: C.J. Abrams .257 * Nasim Nuñez

2B: * Nasim Nuñez .232 * Jorbit Vivas, Luis Garcia $

3B: * Brady House .234 * Jose Tena .

PITCHING ROTATION Cade Cavalli (4.25) * Miles Mikolas ** (4.84) Jake Irvin (4.41) * Zack Littell ** (3.81) * Foster Griffin $ (--) * Andrew Alvarez (2.31) * Clayton Beeter (3.65) : closer?

1B: Luis Garcia $ .252 Andres Chaparro, Curtis Mead $

C: Keibert Ruiz .247 Drew Millas, Harry Ford

DH: Jose Tena, et al.

2025 batting average for position players, ERA for pitchers. * (asterisk) = new player (since mid-2025) Underlines indicate that the photo is of the second-string player = No photo yet available. $ = traded away in July or Aug. ** = DFA, etc.

Manager: Blake Butera

Nationals' head-to-head matchups,
March-June 2026

Opponent	Wins	Losses
ARZ	2	1
ATL	3	4
BAL	4	2
BOS	1	1
CHC	2	1
CHW	2	1
CIN	2	1
CLE	2	1
COL	0	0
DET	0	0
HOU	0	0
KC	2	1
LAA	0	0
LAD	0	3
MIA	1	5
MIL	4	2
MIN	2	1
NYM	4	3
NYY	0	0
ATH	0	0
PHI	2	5
PIT	2	2
SD	2	1
SEA	2	1
SF	3	3
STL	1	2
TB	1	2
TEX	0	0
TOR	0	0
Totals	44	43
ATH: The former Oakland (OAK) Athletics began playing in Sacramento on a temporary basis in 2025, but it was decided not to identify with any city for the time being. They will presumably remain there for about three years, pending the construction of a new stadium in Las Vegas.

New contracts of note

• Foster Griffin (P) -- $5.5M+, 1 yr (Dec.)
• Miles Mikolas (P) -- $2.25M, 1 yr (Jan.)
• Joey Wiemer (RF) -- $700K, 1 yr (Feb.)
• Zack Littell (P) -- $7M, 1 yr (Mar.)
• Cade Cavalli (P) -- $900K, 1 yr (Feb.)

"+" = optional extension (mutual or otherwise). "D" = part of salary is deferred. "AE" = arbitration eligible. Dollar figures are rounded, and are estimates in some cases.

2026 memorable moments

• Mar. 26 (Opening Day) -- Joey Wiemer (3/3!), Brady House, & Jacob Young hit home runs; WSH 10, CHC 4 @
• Mar. 30 -- Nats score 4 runs in 1st inning & many more later without any home runs; WSH 13, PHI 2 @
• Apr. 12 -- 7th & 8th inning rallies enable the Nats to sweep the Brewers & emerge from NL-E cellar; WSH 8, MIL 6 @
• Apr. 29 -- Nats score 7 runs in 4th inning, incl. grand slam by Brady House; WSH 14, NYM 2 @
• May 12 -- Nats hit 6 home runs, incl. 2 each by Luis Garcia & Daylen Lile; WSH 10, CIN 4 @
• May 18 -- After Nats come back to tie it in the 8th inning, Mets score 10 runs in the 12th inning; NYM 16, WSH 7
• May 19 -- After Mets score 5 runs in 1st two innings, inside-the-park grand slam by James Wood sparks comeback; WSH 9, NYM 6
• May 25 -- Nats hit 6 home runs, incl. 2 by Curtis Mead; WSH 10, CLE 2 @
• June 10 -- Nats led 9-1, then Giants scored 5 runs in 8th AND 9th innings, incl. walk-off grand slam; SF 11, WSH 10
• June 23 -- After 2 outs and 2 strikes in 9th inning, Phillies scored 8 runs; PHI 14, WSH 9
• June 24 -- After 2 outs and 2 strikes in 9th inning, Phillies hit 2-run homer; PHI 5, WSH 4
• July 10 -- Yankees score 3 in 9th inning with 2 home runs; NYY 5, WSH 3
• July 26 -- C.J. Abrams & James Wood hit 2 home runs eacn, Nats get rare home series win; WSH 10, ARZ 7
• Aug. 13 -- Cade Cavalli strikes out 10 over 8 innings, allowing only one hit, rookie Abimelec Ortiz homers again; WSH 7, CHC 0
• Aug. 30 -- Marlins score 6 in 9th inning with just 2 hits, incl. a home run; MIA 6, WSH 2

"@" = away game

Nationals, 2026: month-by-month summary

Month	Wins	Losses	NL East place (at end)	Number of home games	Total attendance	Average attendance
* April 2026	15	17	3rd	13	291,234	22,403
May 2026	16	12	2nd	16	373,220	23,326
June 2026	13	14	4th	13	288,855	22,220
July 2026	11	13	4th	15	379,032	25,269
Aug. 2026	11	18	4th	14	282,382	20,170
Sept. 2026
TOTAL 2027
SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats and/or Washington Post. * -- The April data include 5 games in March.

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Annual and monthly summaries

SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, MASN-TV, Washington Post, and other newspapers. ? -- Data not yet verified, subject to revision.
Red borders denote the Nationals' all-time best (or worst) record for this category.
(!) -- Data corrected, via baseball-reference.com.
* -- Asterisks indicate the data include March (for April) or October (for September).
# -- Games scheduled for Sept. 25, 2008 and Sept. 7, 2011 were cancelled because of rain, and were not made up later, so the Nationals only played 161 games in those years.
Yellow background denotes postseason appearance (4 NL East championships and one wild card appearance thus far).

SOURCES: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, MASN-TV, Washington Post, and www.baseball-reference.com
Winning percentages pertain to the whole month; Place in the NL East and Games behind (or ahead) pertain to the end of the month.
* -- Asterisks indicate that the April data include games in March or that the September data include (regular season) games in October.
# -- Games scheduled for Sept. 25, 2008 and Sept. 7, 2011 were cancelled because of rain, and were not made up later, so the Nationals only played 161 games in those years.
Yellow background denotes postseason appearance (4 NL East championships and one wild card appearance thus far).
Orange background denotes the best monthly win-loss record or most number of games ahead of second-place team.
Violet background denotes the worst monthly win-loss record or most number of games behind the first-place team.
@ = The first 102 games of the 2021 season were canceled due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Nationals' postseason appearances

"@" = win or loss on the road. Underlined score = extra innings

Nationals' winning percentages, day-to-day, for each year

DYNAMIC CHART: Mouse rollover.

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Annual roster summaries

* = Played for less than half the season in this position. Positions for 2011 are based on number of innings for the first three months, subject to change. Starting players whose names are stricken through were on the disabled list for several weeks. Names in italics denote new players -- those who were not on the roster at the beginning of the season one year before. Yellow background denotes NL Most Valuable Player, NL Cy Young Award (for pitchers), or NL Rookie of the Year Award. Names that are underlined indicate players who were selected for the All Star Game. In addition, three Nationals relief pitchers played in All Star Games: Chad Cordero (2005), Matt Capps (2010), and Tyler Clippard (2011 and 2014). Capps and Clippard were credited with the wins in the 2010 and 2011 games.
** = In 2012, pitcher Gio Gonzalez was also chosen, Ian Desmond was chosen but decided not to play because of a strained back muscle, and Bryce Harper was chosen as a last-minute replacement after coming in third in the "Final Vote." In both 2013 and 2014, Jordan Zimmermann was chosen, but decided not to play either time because of, respectively, a strained neck and a strained bicep. Likewise, Stephen Strasburg was selected in 2016, but decided not to play because of health issues, and in 2017, but did not get a chance to pitch. In 2018, Sean Doolittle was also selected, but was on the disabled list. In 2019, Max Scherzer and Anthony Rendon were selected, but both opted out in order to let various ailments heal.
$ = Traded away in July. ** = "designated for assignment"# = sent down to minors.

Blue background denotes best record in the National League for this category. "CY" = Cy Young Award; "MVP" = Most Valuable Player; "(T)" : TIED with another player.
Red borders denote the Nationals' all-time best record for this category. (2020 is excluded because of the shortened season: 60 games rather than 162.)
( Q# ) : Only players with a qualifying number of plate appearances (3.1 per team game) or innings pitched (1.0 per team game) are included, except for 2022 and 2023. In 2022, NO Nationals pitchers qualified. Of the two pitchers who were within 10 innings of qualifying, Josiah Gray had a better ERA than Patrick Corbin. In 2023, Corbin was the only qualifying pitcher, but Gray had a substantially better ERA: 3.91 over 159 innings vs. 5.20 over 180 innings for Corbin. In 2025, Mackenzie Gore was just 2 1/3 innings short of qualifying, but had a substantially better ERA.
$ : Played part of the season for another team, being traded away; these data pertain just to games played with the Nationals.
* In 2021, Trea Turner led the National League in batting average (.328), but he played the last two months with the Dodgers.

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Head-to-head historical data

The table similar to the one above was originally presented in my April 5, 2013 blog post. It shows the Nationals' win-loss records against each team in all regular season games since 2005.
In postseason games, the Nationals are 6-3 vs. STL (2012 & 2019), 1-3 vs. SF (2014), 5-3 vs. LAD (2016 & 2019), 2-3 vs. CHC (2017), 1-0 vs. MIL (2019), and 4-3 vs. HOU (2019). Overall postseason record: 19-15.
* MIA was coded as "FLA" before 2012.

Listings of remarkable late comebacks, disheartening late losses, grand slams, walk-off home runs, no-hitters, etc. of past years that formerly appeared at the bottom of this page are now presented on the Washington Nationals BIG moments page.

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