By: Mason McDowell
Where do we even begin when discussing the Washington Nationals? Honestly, the season got off to a decent start for the Nats, where they went 28-30 over their first 2 months of baseball. James Wood was mashing, Mackenzie Gore was having an incredible breakout season, and Cj Abrams was playing like the shortstop we knew he could be...and then came June. The Nationals would go 9-17. Manager Dave Martinez went off the rails and was fired. James Wood had a really bad 2nd half where he slashed .223/.301/.388. Mackenzie Gore also had a brutal 2nd half collapse where his ERA climbed from 3.02 to 6.75, and he allowed 55 hits in 49 innings of work.
While no one can truly explain what happened to the Nats in the back half of the season, whether it was just a curse put on the team or really poor leadership, what we can do is talk about what they did this offseason. Starting off, they hired Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations. They parted ways with Josh Bell, Paul Dejong, and Derek Law in free agency, and traded their “ace” Mackenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Gavin Fien, Alejandro Rosario, Abimelec Ortiz, Devin Fitz-Gerald, and Yeremy Cabrera. They signed longtime Cardinal veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas, and they also signed the 5th man to complete their rotation with lefty Foster Griffin.
This team is extremely young and loaded with talent up and down the lineup that Nationals fans can genuinely get excited about. Starting with one of the best power hitters in baseball, James Wood, who posted a 127 WRC+ while hitting 31 home runs in 2025. Wood, just 23, absolutely has the potential to be an MVP candidate as soon as next season. The power is absurd to all parts of the field, and I think we can expect the home runs to climb to the 40-45 range very shortly. CJ Abrams is in the same boat as Wood in the sense that he has flashed his potential over his young career, but just needs to find that consistency. Abrams, who was the crowned jewel of the Juan Soto trade has had extremely lopsided splits over his last 2 seasons, in 2024 he posted a 135 WRC+ in the first half and in the second half just a 72 WRC+, in almost identical fashion, in 2025 he posted a 132 WRC+ in the first half and followed it with a 75 WRC+ in the 2nd half. Abrams has all of the tools to be top 10 at his position; it’s just about putting it together for 162 and staying out of casinos. The last hitter I want to dive into is Dylan Crews, the once top prospect out of LSU, who has struggled out of the gates to start his Major League career. Crews battled injuries all throughout the season and never got the chances to really string together consistent at-bats. Although he struggled, he showed flashes of his 5-tool upside that was once promised out of college; he posted solid exit velocities while hitting 10 homers in just 85 games. Overall, I expect this lineup to have some ups and downs because of its youth, but it should be really fun with the potential of a lot of these guys. Daylen Liles and Brady House are also some other young guys to keep an eye on.
Moving on to the rotation...sadly, this isn’t quite as appetizing as the lineup. Miles Mikolas is slated to be the opening day starter, yes, you read that right. Miles Mikolas is going to eat innings, and that’s about it, unfortunately. At 37 years old, he’s on the brink of retirement and just getting his last gasp of baseball. In 2025, Mikolas posted a 4.84 ERA while getting little to no whiffs, but did pitch 156 innings a season ago in St Louis. Despite the underwhelming frontline numbers, Cade Civalli actually has a pretty intriguing profile. He has a live arm sitting high 90’s with his fastball and getting pretty good swing and miss along the way. The problem is he only has two pitches that consistently produce for him, and that will always bite you as a starter. If Civalli can start to work his changeup into the mix a little bit more, I think the Nationals might have something here.
Overall, I think we can expect another frustrating year in the Capital. They will have a really hard time piecing a serviceable rotation together, and on the otherhand the offense is gonna be super intriguing to keep an eye on because of the prospect pedigree.
Record Prediction: 62-100
MVP: James Wood
CY: Cade Civalli
Breakout: Dylan Crews
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