The Washington Nationals (37-35) have taken two of three games in six of their last seven series, after winning the final two against the Seattle Mariners (37-36). 

The Nationals' batting continues to stay hot, combining for 18 runs in Saturday and Sunday’s wins. 

Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller put on a show in Seattle's dominant Friday win, and the Nationals needed a win after dropping to 35-35 with the loss, doing just enough to even the series. On Sunday, the Nationals' batting and pitching both clicked in for an important rubber match win to position the Nationals two games above .500.

With Washington set to welcome the Kansas City Royals for a three-game series beginning on Monday, we dive into the takeaways from the latest series win:

Dylan Crews might be turning a corner. Dylan Crews has been toying with Nationals fans' hearts ever since being drafted number two overall in 2023. He continues to look strong in the minors, but hasn’t been able to convert that into a good Major League stretch. 

Although the numbers are still lacking for Crews to start his 2026 MLB campaign, there has been much more to bet on for the 24-year-old outfielder. His bat speed, average exit velocity, barrel percentage, and hard-hit percentage are all looking positive. With that, his expected batting stats are much higher than his actual percentages. His expected batting average is .268, and his expected slugging percentage is .474, according to Baseball Savant. 

With that being said, he still has a lot to be desired. He has only two walks and 17 strikeouts in his 22 appearances. He’s only seen 3.39 pitches per plate appearance in 2026. While the groundballs are going down, he has already grounded into two double plays in his 83 plate appearances. 

With some more time and some better luck, 2026 should turn into Crews’ most successful MLB outing so far.

Keibert Ruiz continues his high-level batting. Keibert Ruiz had a monstrous May, batting .379/.383/.724 with a 1.107 OPS. While he has slowed down since the start of June, his numbers remain impressive. In June, he is batting .286/.333/.464 with a .798 OPS. 

Ruiz’s improved batting has been a huge boost for the Nationals and has been a contributing factor for their explosion into the NL Wildcard race.

Zack Littell struggled for the first time in over a month. Zack Littell started the season with a disastrous April, where he put up an 8.37 ERA and finished by allowing eight runs in each of his last three games. 

After being given some extra help to start May, Littell put together a fantastic month. He finished May with a 2.35 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched and recorded wins in five of his six appearances. 

After a good start against the Arizona Diamondbacks to start June, Littell suffered through his worst start since April. He allowed five earned runs in 1.2 innings pitched. 

How Littell responds to the rough game will be important for the Nationals, who are already short one rotational arm in Jake Irvin. The Nationals' rotation can’t handle for Littell to go through another rough patch of games.

James Wood and CJ Abrams continue to be the franchise’s future. James Wood and CJ Abrams were both dominant to start the Nationals' home stretch. Wood finished the series 6-for-12 with two walks and two home runs. Abrams finished the series 4-for-12 with two RBIs.

Abrams was 3-for-4 from the plate with 2 RBIs in Saturday’s win, and Wood went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs in Sunday’s win. 

Wood has been off to a strong first half of June, batting .326/.426/.609 with an OPS of 1.035. His batting average on the season is up to .281. 

The Nationals need to start converting on sweep opportunities. Despite being two games above .500 and winning six of their last seven series, the Nationals only have one sweep on the season. That one sweep was against the now 43-26 Milwaukee Brewers from April 10-12. 

The Nationals had their best chance to finish a sweep against the San Francisco Giants after leading 9-1 in the final game of the series, but allowed 10 runs in the eighth and ninth innings. 

The pitching needs to be better from both the starting rotation and the bullpen for the Nationals to complete these sweep opportunities. 

Converting sweeps against teams that the Nationals should be beating will be crucial to the long-term success of this team if they want to survive in the NL Wildcard race and in the NL East.

The Nationals will now move on to the second series of the home stretch, against the Kansas City Royals. This will be another opportunity for the Nationals to improve on their record and possibly convert a series sweep. The series will begin at 6:45 p.m. EST on Monday, June 15. 

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