Nationals Notebook: Breaking the Birds
The Washington Nationals headed north on Interstate 95, blowing up the Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, sweeping the O’s while posting a pair of 10-run outings.
The series began with a 4-3 decision that saw the Nats rally with a run in the eighth inning and another in the ninth.
That fade Friday cost Manager Brandon Hyde his job. His .461 winning percentage over six-plus seasons is better than Davey Martinez (.448) in seven-plus season with Washington. Hyde also made more playoff appearances and won more division titles than Martinez.
But Martinez will always have the 2019 World Series run, and Hyde will always have consecutive October sweeps, with four of those five losses coming at Camden Yards.
Digesting the Division: The New York Mets (29-18) dropped two of three to the New York Yankees, seeing their NL East lead shrink to one-half game over Philadelphia (28-18), who spent the weekend sweeping Pittsburgh.
The Phillies now must deal with life, minus reliever Jose Alvarado (4-1, with seven starts and five holds), who received an 80-game suspension for violating MLB’s drug policy.
Atlanta (24-23) is over .500, finally recovering from a god-awful start (0-7, while getting outscored 32-14). Washington (21-27) remains ahead of Miami (18-27), while staying even in the loss column.
O’s Woes: The Birds drop 15 games under .500 with Sunday’s loss, and third base coach Tony Mansolino takes over as interim manager, with a pair of losses to the Nats.
While teams have rebounded after posting 30 losses before Memorial Day (see the 2019 Nationals), a third straight playoff berth is highly unlikely: baseball-reference.com gives the O’s a 0.4% chance of making the postseason currently.
And while they’re going to waste team-control seasons of former prime prospects Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman, they can certainly build around the young core. It’ll be interesting to see how the front office attempts to do it.
Diamonds Direct Diamond King: James Wood hit .308 with two homers and seven RBI. His 12 home runs on the young season have already surpassed his rookie total and the outfielder’s 30 RBI are within striking distance of last year’s 41.
Last Week’s Heroes: CJ Abrams hit .300 with four homers and eight runs scored, twice leading off a game with a home run on the first pitch of the day.
Dylan Crews drove in five. Michael Soroka, in his return from the injured list, struck out 12 over 9.2 innings over two starts and posted his first win since 2023. Jose A. Ferrer tossed 4.2 scoreless innings of relief, while Kyle Finnegan saved both of his ninth inning opportunities.
Last Week’s Humbled: Zach Brzykcy coughed up four runs in two innings over three appearances, while Mitchell Parker allowed four runs over 4.2 innings in his start. Alex Call batted .125 with six strikeouts in 16 at bats.
Game to Watch: The Nationals wrap up their series with Atlanta Thursday, where MacKenzie Gore will pitch. While the lefthander leads the Majors in strikeouts, he hasn’t posted a win in his last five starts. The Braves start Chris Sale, who already has as many losses (three) this year as he had in his 2024 Cy Young season.