With Spring Training nearing, let us take a look at three of the biggest storylines shaping up for the 2026 Washington Nationals. 

Mackenzie Gore was the Nationals’ ace in 2024 and 2025, where he was impressive, notching a 3.90 and 4.17 ERA, respectively, and made the All-Star game in 2025.

On January 22, Gore was traded to the Texans for 2025 first-round pick, SS Gavin Fein, along with RHP Alejandro Rosario, INF Devin Fitz-Gerald, OF Yeremy Cabrera, and 1B/OF Abimelec Ortiz.

On paper, the Nationals’ starting pitching took a big hit without Mackenzie Gore, but they did go out and sign 37-year-old Miles Mikolas on February 11, who had a 4.84 ERA in 2025 and was an All-Star as late as 2022. 

The Nationals will have options with their pitching rotation, with young guys like LHP Mitchell Parker, RHP Michael Soroka, RHP Cade Cavalli and RHP Brad Lord who will all be options throughout the season.

The Nationals' number two pitcher in 2024 and 2025 was 28-year-old Jake Irvin, who had looked like a legitimate piece for the Nationals in 2024 but had a big-time down year in 2025. Irvin had a 4.41 ERA in 2024 with a 1.9 WAR, but those numbers dropped to a 5.70 ERA and -0.4 WAR in 2025. Irvin will have time to turn it around, and the Nationals' pitching rotation might need him to look like he did in 2024.

Foster Griffin was another offseason acquisition for the Nationals. Griffin is coming off a dominant season in Japan as a starting pitcher despite never starting a game in the MLB. The 30-year-old finished the 2025 season with a 1.62 ERA in 14 games on the Yomiuri Giants.

MLB.com’s projected opening day rotation for the Nationals includes RHP Cade Cavalli, RHP Mikolas, RHP Jake Irvin, LHP Foster Griffin and RHP Brad Lord.

Cavalli was the Nationals’ fourth-ranked prospect in 2024 behind Dylan Crews, James Wood and Brady House. Cavalli had undergone Tommy John surgery in 2023, which sidelined him through most of 2024, but upon his return, he found time in the majors in 2025, where he finished with a 4.25 ERA in 10 appearances. 

Lord was with the Nationals all of 2025 in various roles. He appeared in 48 games and started 19 of them– even finishing two of them. He ended 2025 with a 4.34 ERA and had the second-highest WAR from a pitcher with 1.5, only behind Gore. He ended the season as a starting pitcher for the Nationals in 2025.

Probably the number one storyline for the Nationals' offense in 2026 will be whether Dylan Crews can look like the number two overall pick the Nationals took him with. 

Crews was dominant with LSU in 2023, where he batted .426 with a .567 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. He was the no-brainer pick at number two for the Nationals after his LSU teammate, Paul Skenes, was drafted ahead of him at pick one.

But Crews’ talents haven't translated to the major leagues yet. After moving through the minor leagues pretty fast and putting up good numbers in 2024, Crews finished his 2024 season in the major leagues, where he would go on to bat .218 with a .288 on-base percentage in 31 appearances. 

In 2025, he had 85 appearances in the major leagues after spending some time back in the minors, but his overall numbers decreased, batting only .208 with a .280 on-base percentage.

One thing Crews struggled with a lot was striking out. He struck out on 23.6% of his at-bats and finished the season with 76 strikeouts compared to only 24 walks. In his 2023 season at LSU, he had 71 walks to 46 strikeouts.

Crews will start the 2025 season with the Nationals and is looked at as a breakout candidate across the league. For the Nationals, they need to see their hopeful franchise cornerpiece look better in 2026 than he did in 2025. 

The Nationals hired a new manager, 33-year-old Blake Butera, who became the youngest Major League manager since 1972. 

The Nationals are looking for a fresh start after failing to crack 75 wins in the last six years and hope that Butera, along with a whole new, younger staff, can rejuvenate the team. 

Along with Butera, the Nats brought in other young coaches like 35-year-old Matt Borgschulte and 30-year-old Andrew Aydt as hitting coaches, as well as 30-year-old Simon Mathews as a pitching coach.

“It’s interesting. A couple of times, I’ve definitely mistaken a coach for a player, so that’s a little new,” said James Wood, “But yeah, it’s great. They’re coming in with new ideas, a lot of energy, and it feels like a collaborative effort, which I think everybody can appreciate.”

Off the field, the Nationals also brought in two young minds to run the operations, with 35-year-old Paul Toboni coming in as the President of Baseball Operations and 31-year-old Anirudh “Ani” Kilambi who came in as general manager. 

The Nationals are coming into 2026 with as clean a slate as possible with the staff, and it will be interesting to monitor if a shift in the culture can result in a shift in the results for the Nationals.