The Washington Nationals will turn to a familiar name when they take the field for Opening Day against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field
Midway through spring training, the call has been made for game one of the regular season under first year manager Blake Butera.
Cade Cavalli is expected to draw the Opening Day nod when the Washington Nationals travel to Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, March 26 for a 2:20 PM opening pitch. Ryan Shenker of Nats Journal first reported the news.
This marks a big development during Cavalli's early career with the Nationals, but not an unsurprising development.
Cavalli has consistently drawn praise from the coaching staff and Butera ahead of the 2026 season while his pair of spring training appearances were impressive. He first took the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals back on Feb. 24 where he tossed both one strikeout and one walk across two innings, while he returned against the Houston Astros on March 6 where he allowed one run off a grounder that turned into a double play while adding six strikeouts in four innings.
Of course, the vacancy became an ongoing debate after the MacKenzie Gore trade back in January, but Cavalli capitalized on an opportunity even after adding veteran starter Miles Mikolas to the mix. The Nationals also added another arm after reportedly signing Zack Littell after pitching for both the Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays in 2025.
"Cade Cavalli, right away, like this first one that jumps off the page to me," Butera said ahead of the official start of spring training. "The velocity is higher than it was last year already. And just the body, you can tell he put a lot of work in this offseason. He's in really good shape. And just his presence on the mound, he's one that stood out, you know, from the jump."
For Cavalli, it also marks a page turned after battling injuries ahead of 2025.
After becoming a third round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, he began his career in the minors before making his debut on August 26, 2022 where he pitched in 4.1 innings. He then suffered right shoulder inflammation that shut down his 2022 season, while a sprained ulnar collateral ligament of his pitching elbow led to Tommy John surgery the following spring training, then shutting down his 2023 season. Cavalli then suffered additional injuries that limited him to just three appearances in the minors during 2024.
Cavalli then returned where he spent the bulk of his time in the minors, tossing 79 strikeouts and 30 walks in 74 innings and 17 games with a 5.47 ERA. He also appeared in ten games for the Nationals where he finished 3-1 with a 4.25 ERA and threw 40 strikeouts against 15 walks in 48.2 innings.