Can Washington Nationals Bounce Back Into Playoff Team in 2027?

Could the Washington Nationals become a playoff team in 2027? After a 2026 season showed signs of optimism amid a turnaround, the Nationals found themselves one of five teams tabbed as a potential breakout pick in year two of the Paul Toboni and Blake Butera era.

The Athletic rounded out their list of the five non-playoff 2026 teams who could break through in 2027 with the Nationals alongside the Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins.

Why? It's easy to explain the optimism: the offense.

The Nationals found themselves ranked at or near the top of multiple notable offensive categories, including becoming the league leader in run scores for much of the season while belting more home runs than the Los Angeles Dodgers. A big piece of that production came from the Nationals' stars, CJ Abrams and James Wood, en route to becoming two-time All Star selections. Yet they aren't the only ones the Nationals turned after highlighting Seaver King and Eli Willits, the team's first round picks from the 2024 and 2025 MLB Drafts, who could potentially make their MLB debuts in 2027.

The reason for pessimism? That's also easy to explain: pitching.

The Nationals will need to revamp its pitching staff, which ranked among the worst during the 2026 season. After trending that way through the regular season, Washington ended year one under new management by comfortably setting the MLB record for the most blown saves in a season, a feat that stuck with manager Blake Butera when reflecting on year one. The Nationals found themselves struggling at nearly every turn in the bullpen and closer, nearly ending the season as the third MLB team alongside the Athletics and Kansas City Royals to own a bullpen ERA north of 5.00. Washington also ranked fourth-worst in WHIP with the Minnesota Twins joining the Royals and Athletics as the only team to rank worse.

Washington made several notable decisions to move on from struggling veteran starters during the regular season, in addition to waiting for both Miles Mikolas and Zach Littell to hit their ten years of MLB service before moving on a roster decision. Can Connelly Early, possibly Andrew Alvarez or even Jarlin Susana materialize into the pieces to turn around the results in a hopeful 2027 season? That's the question that Toboni and the front office will need to answer this offseason once the new collective bargaining agreement is resolved to officially begin the offseason.