"First in war, first in peace, last in the American League."
Boy, those were the days.
This, of course, has always been a National League franchise. But they've always been losers. They spent the first 30 or so years of their existence in Montreal, as part of the 1969 expansion, and while they weren't nearly as awful as most expansion franchises tend to be (shoutout to Gene Mauch, there), their history still begins with ten straight losing seasons. In fact, the only time the franchise has had an overall winning record came on that day in April 1969 when the Expos won the first game they ever played. They went 2755-2943 in Montreal (and San Juan); they've gone 1511-1628 in Washington.
But they did win a championship in 2019, of course. That was Dave Martinez' second season as their major league manager, and he's still on the job, along with Mike Rizzo, who's been the team GM since 2009. They've had five straight losing seasons since winning their title. They're coming off consecutive 91 loss seasons, which are actually their best performances in those five years. Their run prevention was somewhat below average last season, but seeing as how they don't plan to give Patrick Corbin 32 starts this time around, I expect to see some improvement on that front. However, their run production last year was very near the bottom of the barrel (better than only Miami). Nathaniel Lowe is certainly an upgrade on Joey Gallo, but he's not enough to fix that problem. And yes, that's former Jay Paul DeJong playing third base. DeJong was a Cardinal from his first day in the majors, back in May 2017, until he was traded to Toronto in August 2023. Since then, he's played in 173 of roughly 220 possible games, and he's done it for the Blue Jays, Giants, White Sox, Royals, and now the Nationals. His head may still be spinning.
The Nationals do have some interesting young players, starting with the double play combo of shortstop CJ Abrams and second baseman Luis Garcia. Enormous young left fielder James Wood had a very nice rookie season a year ago at age 21, and you do figure that a guy that big is going to hit a few baseballs over the wall at some point. I'm not an enormous Jacob Young fan, but he's young, he's fast, he's... he's like Myles Straw but better. The Nats like to run - it's not really something Martinez' teams have been noted for in the past, but last year's Nationals led the majors in stolen bases. They probably won't do that again, but Garcia, Abrams, and Young will challenge Kirk and Heineman.
Matchups
Mon 31 Mar - Soroka (0-10, 4.74) vs Francis (8-5, 3.30)
Tue 1 Apr - Williams (6-1, 2.03) vs Berrios (16-11, 3.60)
Wed 2 Apr - Gore (10-12, 3.90) vs Gausman (14-11, 3.83)
Boy, those were the days.
This, of course, has always been a National League franchise. But they've always been losers. They spent the first 30 or so years of their existence in Montreal, as part of the 1969 expansion, and while they weren't nearly as awful as most expansion franchises tend to be (shoutout to Gene Mauch, there), their history still begins with ten straight losing seasons. In fact, the only time the franchise has had an overall winning record came on that day in April 1969 when the Expos won the first game they ever played. They went 2755-2943 in Montreal (and San Juan); they've gone 1511-1628 in Washington.
But they did win a championship in 2019, of course. That was Dave Martinez' second season as their major league manager, and he's still on the job, along with Mike Rizzo, who's been the team GM since 2009. They've had five straight losing seasons since winning their title. They're coming off consecutive 91 loss seasons, which are actually their best performances in those five years. Their run prevention was somewhat below average last season, but seeing as how they don't plan to give Patrick Corbin 32 starts this time around, I expect to see some improvement on that front. However, their run production last year was very near the bottom of the barrel (better than only Miami). Nathaniel Lowe is certainly an upgrade on Joey Gallo, but he's not enough to fix that problem. And yes, that's former Jay Paul DeJong playing third base. DeJong was a Cardinal from his first day in the majors, back in May 2017, until he was traded to Toronto in August 2023. Since then, he's played in 173 of roughly 220 possible games, and he's done it for the Blue Jays, Giants, White Sox, Royals, and now the Nationals. His head may still be spinning.
The Nationals do have some interesting young players, starting with the double play combo of shortstop CJ Abrams and second baseman Luis Garcia. Enormous young left fielder James Wood had a very nice rookie season a year ago at age 21, and you do figure that a guy that big is going to hit a few baseballs over the wall at some point. I'm not an enormous Jacob Young fan, but he's young, he's fast, he's... he's like Myles Straw but better. The Nats like to run - it's not really something Martinez' teams have been noted for in the past, but last year's Nationals led the majors in stolen bases. They probably won't do that again, but Garcia, Abrams, and Young will challenge Kirk and Heineman.
Matchups
Mon 31 Mar - Soroka (0-10, 4.74) vs Francis (8-5, 3.30)
Tue 1 Apr - Williams (6-1, 2.03) vs Berrios (16-11, 3.60)
Wed 2 Apr - Gore (10-12, 3.90) vs Gausman (14-11, 3.83)
