The Washington Nationals struggled to hang onto late leads in what proved to be a humblings series loss against the Phillies
The Washington Nationals suffered a blowout 10-5 loss Thursday night, falling three games in the 4-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
it was a rough week for the Nats, who fell all the way back to an even .500 (41-41) after the difficult series. Sometimes it’s helpful to look at the three or four main takeaways, but this time there’s really only one:
The bullpen needs an upgrade… badly
It’s no secret that pitching has been the thorn in the side of this year’s Nationals team. But it has flown a bit under the radar just how bad the bullpen has been.
Washington has approached the 2026 season with a “closer by committee” strategy, and it has blown up in their face spectacularly. After Wednesday’s heartbreaking loss, the Nats have blown 23 saves on the year, by far the worst in MLB.
It wasn’t even the only one of the series — the team blew a save the night before, eventually giving up eight runs in the ninth en route to a 14-9 loss.
Even Thursday’s loss, which wasn’t a blown save statistically, represented another horrific bullpen collapse. The game was tied 5-5 going into the ninth frame before Gus Varland gave up five runs via a pair of home runs.
Varland was optioned to AAA immediately following the game.
It’s hard to overstate how damaging it is to a team to be unable to close out games. It’s unrealistic to expect a team to convert 100% of their save opportunities, and not every blown save is a loss, but let’s simplify things and imagine a world where Washington managed to hold on to 11 of those blown saves that did become losses — just under 50% of their total 23 late-game implosions (not counting the type of game we saw Thursday).
With those 11 extra wins — and 11 fewer losses — the Nationals would be sitting on a 52-30 record, good for the second best winning percentage in all of baseball, behind only the Dodgers.
You read that right: if the Nats had blown only half the saves they have, they would be one of the best teams in baseball.
So, what next? The problem is that it’s not just one player who’s struggling — it’s the entire relief group.
It is very likely one of the fatal flaws that will keep this team, and it’s incredible offense, away from legitimate contention in 2026. With the trade deadline just over a month away, the front office needs to decide if the problem is fixable in the short term.
If it’s not? It might be selling season in Washington.
Nationals Roundtable also offers a fan community. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Nationals. Create an account, click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our free community and follow for all of our coverage, analysis and more!
