The Washington Nationals are just 1-6 at home this season, yet one outlet is high on manager Blake Butera's squad to start the 2026 regular season
The Washington Nationals once again had a chance to get back to .500, this time with a chance to do it in front of the fans back at Nationals Park. Yet it ended in another familiar loss after the San Francisco Giants took game one of the three game series in a 10-5 loss on Friday night, moving to 1-6 at home to open the 2026 regular season.
Yet there have been some early season highlights, such as the consistent bat of shortstop CJ Abrams as he enters the weekend ranked inside the top ten in multiple offensive categories as he's now notched a hit in eight consecutive games. James Wood, of course, has been the bigger storyline among fans after proving the bat is back, belting his seventh home run of the season on a blasting opposite field home run on Friday night.
The Nationals enter the weekend ranked top five across baseball in runs scored (112), hits (183) and runs batted in (102) to start the 2026 regular season while the team's .261 batting average is third-best in the National League.
Yet the biggest concern has been what everyone could see heading into the season: the pitching staff.
That was magnified when manager Blake Butera watched both Ken Waldichuk and Cole Henry go down in the four game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, leading the team to call up a pair of pitchers from Triple A Rochester while also trading to bring back Dicky Lovelady from the New York Mets. Miles Mikolas, meanwhile, has been a liability in the rotation while Cionel Perez has struggled in his first appearances, leading the Nationals to question whether more impactful in-season moves will come to fruition.
Still, for a team pegged to challenge the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in baseball, the Nationals have turned heads to start the season with one outlet dishing a 'B+' for the Nationals start.
"At 6.1 runs allowed per game, Washington is pretty well getting what it didn't pay for with this pitching staff. But this offense has been a pleasant surprise, scoring at least five runs in 14 of its first 19 games. CJ Abrams, in particular, has a .367/.458/.717 triple slash with six home runs and four stolen bases," Bleacher Report wrote. "Good thing they didn't trade him away this winter, because they might be able to get one heck of a haul for him (under team control through 2028) this summer if he continues to produce."
Meanwhile, the Nationals will return to action in game two against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday afternoon with first pitch set for 4:05 PM.