The Washington Nationals won two of three in their opening series on the road against the Chicago Cubs.

This included the Nationals' first Opening Day win since 2021 in a game where they would score a team record of 10 runs on an Opening Day game. 

This would also be their first opening series win since 2018.

But the series still delivered some ups and downs from the Nationals, so let's look at the good, the bad, and the crazy from the series. 

The main story of the Nationals’ opening series was OF Joey Wiemer’s Nationals introduction. Wiemer was perfect in his two appearances, hitting 6/6 with two home runs and two walks. 

He tied the record for the most consecutive plate appearances that reached base to start a tenure with a team since 1961. Two players, Jeremy Hazelbake and Steve Henderson, are tied with Wiemer at eight. Wiemer has the chance to break the record in his next at-bat. 

Starting pitcher Jake Irvin showed some promise on the mound in the Nationals’ series-closing win. 

Irvin looked like a promising pitcher for the Nationals in 2024, but struggled in 2025. It was important for Irvin to start well in the 2026 season, and he did just that. Irvin went five innings and allowed only two earned runs, which was enough to get the recorded win. 

One thing that is still worrisome is that after leading the league in home runs allowed, he gave up two solo shots back-to-back to start the fourth inning.

Daylen Lile and Brady House continued showing progress in the opening series. 

House finished Spring Training batting .429 with three home runs. He’s picked up where he left off, hitting .308 with a home run and a walk in the opening series. 

Lile batted .299/.347/.498 in 91 appearances in the Major Leagues in 2025. He continued his production in the first series of 2026, batting 4/12 with two walks and an RBI. 

Starting pitcher Miles Mikolas struggled big time in their 10-2 loss on Saturday. He pitched five innings, where he gave up six runs–four earned, six hits, three walks and a home run. He left the game in the fifth innings with a 1.80 WHIP and recorded the Nationals' first loss of the season. 

The Nationals' defense didn’t help Mikolas either, with two pop-up balls that dropped in the outfield during a four-run second inning. 

The defense had its struggles throughout the series, finishing with five errors. House finished the weekend with two throwing errors, while Cavalli, Keibert Ruiz and Nasim Nuñez all added an error of their own.

All-Star OF James Wood has struggled early in the season. He finished his first series of the year batting 1/13 with a walk and a home run. Wood has had strikeout problems his entire career, and it doesn’t seem to be going away. After leading the league with 221 strikeouts in 2025, he has seven strikeouts after the first series. 

Nationals Manager Blake Butera made some interesting choices, especially regarding the lineup in the loss on Saturday. After seeing success in the first game, Butera made changes to the lineup. 

In the second game, Luis García Jr. started at first base after Andrés Chaparro made the Opening Day start. Daylen Lile also went into the outfield for Wiemer after Wiemer went 3/3 with a home run in the first game. Jose Tena made the start at DH. CJ Abrams was also absent from the lineup due to family-related reasons and was replaced by Nuñez, while Jorbit Vivas made the second base start.  

The changes would not prove fruitful, as the Nationals lost 10-2 while recording only four hits.

The bullpen still lacks a defined closer. In all three games, the Nationals finished the game with a different pitcher. Cionel Pérez was on the mound to finish the Nationals' 10-4 win on Opening Day, Cole Henry pitched the last inning in the Nationals’ 10-2 loss and Clayton Beeter pitched in the Nationals' 6-3 win and recorded the first save of the season. 

It looks like Beeter might be the favorite to take over the closer role after pitching the eighth inning on Opening Day and recording the save on Sunday, but it feels like the Nationals continue to go with the flow in the bullpen. 

The Washington Nationals now travel to Philadelphia for their second series against the Phillies. The games start Monday at 6:40 p.m. EST and are available on Nationals TV.