MIAMI – After a gorgeous (and successful) weekend in Chicago, the Nationals now open a four-game series here in Miami, where we’re getting torrential rain and the environment inside loanDepot Park figures to be nothing like the environment was at Wrigley Field the last three days. No problem, the Nats just hope to keep their winning ways going, regardless of opponent or venue.

The Nationals did just sweep the Marlins at home last week before taking two of three against the Cubs, so they’re feeling very good about themselves as they prepare to open this series tonight. And the guy on the mound will be looking to continue what he did last time out against this same lineup.

Cade Cavalli tossed five innings of two-run ball vs. Miami, striking out six and earning his second career win. The right-hander now gets a chance to face the Marlins again and keep things going in the right direction. Right-hander Janson Junk, who shut out the Nationals over 5 2/3 innings back in June, takes the mound for Miami.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
1B Josh Bell
DH Daylen Lile
2B Luis García Jr.
C Riley Adams
3B Paul DeJong
RF Dylan Crews
CF Robert Hassell III

CHICAGO – At some point last month, Cole Henry said, the members of baseball’s worst bullpen came to an important realization.

Nobody outside the Nationals believed that group was capable of being good. Perhaps that might even have been true for some people within the organization. And given the unit’s lack of experience – 25-year-old Jose A. Ferrer was the only reliever on the staff with more than a year of big league service time – there was nothing for anybody to lose at that point.

“Just looking around, we’re kind of all in the same situation,” Henry said. “Ferrer has the most time out of all of us. It’s kind of like, we’re all in this together. Let’s make something out of it and see if we can finish the year strong.”

You won’t believe what’s happened since. Over the last three weeks, the best bullpen in the major leagues has belonged to the Washington Nationals. Yes, the Nationals.

The pertinent starting point is Aug. 20, when four relievers combined to toss 3 2/3 scoreless innings and preserve a 5-4 win over the Mets. Prior to that game, the Nationals bullpen ranked dead-last in the majors in ERA (5.82) and WHIP (1.549). In 17 games since, that group ranks first in the majors in both categories, delivering a sparkling 1.97 ERA and 1.005 WHIP.

CHICAGO – For eight innings, they did next to nothing at the plate. Three hits. Zero walks. No life. The Nationals looked ready to leave Wrigley Field with a loss in the series finale and head south to Miami.

And then they sprung back to life. In a big way. To pull off perhaps their most unexpected win of the season.

With a furious five-run, top-of-the-ninth rally that included clutch homers from Robert Hassell III and Josh Bell, the Nationals stormed back to beat the Cubs, 6-3 and send the Wrigley Field faithful who turned out to celebrate Sammy Sosa’s induction into the team’s Hall of Fame home devastated.

"The guys, they've been resilient," said interim manager Miguel Cairo, whose team has gone 5-1 to begin September after failing to win 10 games in any of the previous three months. "Like I've said before, they battle to the end."

Maybe so, but the Nats gave no indication all afternoon they had anything like this in them. They barely scored one run through eight innings against Chicago’s seemingly effective bullpen game and looked ready to call it a day.

CHICAGO – Josiah Gray made his return to competitive baseball today, the Nationals right-hander throwing 34 pitches during a rehab start for Single-A Wilmington that represented a major milestone in his return from elbow surgery.

Nearly 14 months removed from Tommy John surgery and an internal brace procedure to reconstruct and reinforce the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, Gray took the mound to face an opposing team for the first time. Donning a No. 20 Blue Rocks uniform at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, he faced seven Aberdeen batters in total, retiring four without allowing a hit.

Gray was sharp in the top of the first, striking out the first batter he faced before inducing two fly outs. His command wavered in the top of the second, leading to a pair of walks and a hit batter. Scheduled for 30-35 pitches from the outset, he was pulled with the bases loaded and one out in the second, deferring to reliever Peyton Glavine, who got out of the jam without allowing a run.

All told, Gray threw 18 of his 34 pitches for strikes, appearing to use his full arsenal.

Truth be told, results were secondary for Gray in this rehab debut. The Nationals were focused solely on his ability to pitch in a competitive game and emerge healthy from it.

CHICAGO – Behind a stellar pitching performance from both their starter and their resurgent bullpen, the Nationals pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Cubs on Saturday afternoon. Which means they now have a chance to win the weekend series this afternoon, with another rookie starter taking the mound.

Andrew Alvarez makes his second career start, and if this one goes anything like his debut did, it’s going to be a great day for the lefty and the Nats. Alvarez was incredibly poised and in control Monday afternoon against the Marlins, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing only one hit. The challenge today is significantly tougher, with a good Chicago lineup standing in his way. But for what it’s worth, the wind has shifted direction here at Wrigley Field, now blowing in from left field instead of out to right field. Maybe, just maybe, that will help keep fly balls off the bats of right-handed batters facing Alvarez within the Friendly Confines instead of reaching the bleachers.

The Nationals managed to win Saturday despite scoring only two runs. They probably need more than that today in a matchup against the Cubs bullpen. Veteran lefty Drew Pomeranz will be the opener, then we’ll have to see how Craig Counsell manages things from there.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 64 degrees, wind 9 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
DH James Wood
C Riley Adams
LF Daylen Lile
1B Andrés Chaparro
2B Luis García jR.
3B Brady House
RF Dylan Crews
CF Robert Hassell III

Davey Johnson didn’t need to manage the Nationals. He had already enjoyed as full and successful a baseball career as anyone could have wanted by the time Mike Rizzo called him up in June 2011 with an unexpected offer to come back to the dugout.

A four-time All-Star second baseman and two-time World Series champion with the Orioles. A record-setting home run hitter in a Braves lineup that also included Hank Aaron. Another World Series title as manager of the powerhouse 1986 Mets. Division titles as manager of the Reds and Orioles, not to mention 1997 American League Manager of Year honors. A bronze medal with Team USA at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, then a semifinal appearance in the first World Baseball Classic the following year.

Johnson was 68, having survived multiple health scares including heart surgery and a ruptured appendix that nearly ended his life. He had dealt with the personal tragedy of losing a daughter and a stepson at young ages. Why did he need to accept Rizzo’s offer to take over the Nats’ job in midseason following Jim Riggleman’s surprise resignation following a walk-off win?

“It was not a tough decision for me to step in,” he said on June 27, 2011, in a press conference room in Anaheim prior to his first game back. “It’s really exciting to even have a chance to compete.”

This was an opportunity Johnson neither sought nor expected. But when it was presented to him, he jumped at the opportunity because he loved any chance he got to turn a ballclub into a winner.

CHICAGO – In his two months on the job, Miguel Cairo has established a clear policy on the deployment of his new closer. It doesn’t matter if it’s the seventh, eighth or ninth inning. If the game is on the line, and the opponents’ best hitters are due up, Jose A. Ferrer is going to be on the mound. And if someone else needs to finish out the game after that, so be it.

It’s a forward-thinking strategy that has served the Nationals’ interim manager well to date, and it worked to perfection today during a 2-1 victory over the Cubs.

With Ferrer retiring the top of the Chicago lineup in the bottom of the eighth, it was rookie Cole Henry trotting in from the bullpen for the bottom of the ninth and ultimately earning his second career save.

"It's something that I learned," Cairo said of the somewhat unconventional strategy. "I had really good managers that I played for and I watched work. ... We've got a plan, and we stick to it."

Those two back-end relievers weren’t alone in making this win possible. Brad Lord set the tone with 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in his best start in weeks. PJ Poulin finished off the sixth with a big out to strand the tying runner in scoring position. And Clayton Beeter worked around two more walks to record his ninth consecutive hitless inning of relief, keeping the one-run lead intact heading to the eighth.

Davey Johnson, one of baseball’s most successful managers who took over the Nationals at a time of unexpected chaos and led them to their first postseason berth, has died at 82, the team confirmed this morning.

Johnson, who had dealt with a number of medical issues later in life, lived outside Orlando with his wife, Susan, since his retirement following the 2013 season.

“On behalf of my family and the entire Washington Nationals organization, I want to extend my condolences to Davey Johnson’s family and loved ones,” managing principal owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “We are all deeply saddened by his passing and join all of Major League Baseball in honoring his memory.

“Davey was a world-class manager, leading our team to its first NL East title and earning Manager of the Year honors in 2012. But, most importantly, he was an incredible person. I’ll always cherish the memories we made together with the Nationals, and I know his legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of our fans and those across baseball.”

Johnson had long since established his legacy of success as both a four-time All-Star second baseman with the Orioles and Braves in the 1960s and ’70s and as the World Series-winning manager of the Mets in 1986 before joining the Nationals as a consultant to former general manager Jim Bowden in 2006. He became a senior advisor to Mike Rizzo when the latter replaced Bowden as GM in 2009 and seemed content to finish out his career with the off-the-field role.

CHICAGO – It’s another beautiful day at the Friendly Confines, where the Nationals will look to shrug off Friday’s 11-5 loss to the Cubs and get back to the winning ways they previously discovered against the Marlins. To do that, they’re going to need a good start out of Brad Lord.

The rookie right-hander had been on an impressive run for months, but his last three starts have gone sideways (17 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings against the Mets, Yankees and Rays). During that time, his ERA has shot up from 3.26 to 4.34, turning such a promising debut season into something less than that. Lord still has an opportunity to right the ship, though, over the final month and will look to start that process today against a Chicago lineup that launched four homers into the bleachers Friday afternoon.

At the plate, the Nationals will try to get to Cubs starter Matthew Boyd early after going silent the first time through the order against Friday starter Javier Assad before getting hot. The lefty was quite good against the Nats back in June, allowing two runs over 7 1/3 innings. But he took the loss that night because MacKenzie Gore was even better in pitching his team to a 2-0 victory.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 65 degrees, wind 14 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
DH James Wood
C Jorge Alfaro
1B Josh Bell
LF Daylen Lile
RF Dylan Crews
2B Nasim Nuñez
3B Brady House
CF Jacob Young

CHICAGO – The only thing more frustrating than Jake Irvin’s recent collapse has been the lack of any concrete answers for what ails the Nationals right-hander.

Irvin has insisted all along he’s healthy, with his on-and-off velocity drops likely a product of mechanics instead of anything physical. His answers after each laborious start include some variation of the sentiment that he’s going to keep working hard and keep taking the mound every five days in search of better results.

The problem: The results aren’t getting any better. They’re getting worse. And today’s performance during the Nats’ 11-5 loss to the Cubs might have represented a new low point.

Tagged for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, Irvin once again was done in by his two biggest bugaboos: walks and home runs. He issued four free passes during the start, two of them directly leading to runs. (He also hit a batter who later scored.) And he served up two more homers, raising his league-leading total to 33.

"That's been the story of the season, (not) limiting that damage, (not) keeping the ball in the yard," he said. "I've got to find a way to do it. The boys are working way too hard coming off a series sweep. To have a start like that? It's disappointing, man. The guys in this room are just awesome, and to let them down like that stinks. There's no excuse."

CHICAGO – Josiah Gray is ready to pitch in a competitive game for the first time since his Tommy John surgery more than a year ago.

The Nationals right-hander has been cleared to depart West Palm Beach, Fla., and will make a rehab start Sunday for Single-A Wilmington, his first game action in more than 14 months. He’s scheduled for two innings and 30-35 pitches.

It’s a long-awaited development for Gray, the Nats’ Opening Day 2024 starter who made only two big league appearances last year before going on the injured list with a flexor strain in his forearm. He made it back to start five minor league games on a rehab assignment early in the summer and appeared on the verge of rejoining the major league staff when he suffered a setback in his June 30 outing for Triple-A Rochester. An MRI revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and he underwent Tommy John surgery and an internal brace procedure July 24, 2024.

Gray knew at that point he would at best have a shot at returning before end of the 2025 season, and he expressed optimism earlier this summer during a stop at Nationals Park he would be able to pitch in the majors sometime in September.

Time is running out for that to happen, but if Gray makes it through Sunday’s two innings with no issues and is able to build up his arm in a couple more rehab starts, it’s possible the Nats would decide to activate him for a cameo appearance during the season’s final week.

CHICAGO – The Nationals proved this week they can beat the Marlins. Three times in a row, to be exact. And with a four-game series coming up next week in Miami, there’s some genuine optimism around this team for the first time in a while. But before that, there are three games to play this weekend at Wrigley Field against a much better Cubs team that remains in the thick of the National League wild card race.

The Nats swept the Marlins by jumping out to early leads and getting solid work from their starters, then lights-out work from their resurgent bullpen. So it’s imperative for Jake Irvin to keep the good rotation vibes going this afternoon. Irvin felt better about his last start against the Rays than any of his other recent outings, but he still allowed two homers in that game, leaving him with a league-leading 31 surrendered for the season. Well, the wind is going to be blowing out to right field today. Irvin has to find a way to keep the ball within the friendly confines and out of the bleachers.

The Nationals face Cubs right-hander Javier Assad, who didn’t make his season debut until Aug. 12 due to an oblique strain. He’s delivered back-to-back quality starts against the Angels and Rockies, and he pitched well in two starts against the Nats last season, allowing three runs each time (once over five innings, once over six).

Reminder: Today’s game is only available on Apple TV+. Bob Carpenter, Kevin Frandsen and Dan Kolko will be back on MASN for Saturday’s game.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: Apple TV+
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 65 degrees, wind 20 mph out to right field

Even when asked about his own home run Wednesday afternoon, Brady House couldn’t help but pivot to teammate Nasim Nunez’s more impressive power display during the Nationals’ 10-5 win over the Marlins.

“It’s a good feeling to put the ball in play, especially whenever I have runners on,” the rookie third baseman said. “And I feel like everyone did that today, especially Nas. Crazy work from Nasim today.”

OK, so House’s fourth-inning homer didn’t steal the show the way Nunez’s pair of homers (the first two of his major league career) did at Nationals Park. But it was plenty significant in its own right, because it had been a long time since the 22-year-old connected on a ball like that.

House made his big league debut June 16. He finally hit his first home run July 12 in Milwaukee, then hit another in that game just for good measure. It seemed like he had turned a corner and was poised to go on a sustained run that would showcase the power he had always owned at every prior level of the sport.

Except it didn’t happen that way. House went more than a month and a half before homering again, a stretch of 116 plate appearances that didn’t even include many close calls. Over that 33-game stretch prior to Wednesday, he hit a paltry .214 and slugged a paltry .259, drawing only one walk while striking out 39 times.

Life was oh so different the last time the Nationals swept a three-game series. Set the wayback machine to May 18 – if your memory banks go that far back – and recall when the Nats won three straight over the Orioles at Camden Yards. They would win their next two over the Braves, as well, for a season-best five-game winning streak that carried some legitimate optimism with it for a franchise attempting to prove it was ready to be a winner again.

The ballclub that put itself in position to sweep the Marlins this afternoon bears little resemblance to that one. The general manager and manager are long gone. A sixth consecutive losing season has already been clinched. Most of the veterans have been traded or released. The entire bullpen has been remade.

The 28 players who dressed for today’s game had no qualms about celebrating a 10-5 victory, one that completed a series sweep over Miami. It may have come before a season-low announced crowd of 11,190, but it was nevertheless meaningful for these young guys, especially the 25-year-old shortstop who enjoyed the greatest game of his life.

Nasim Nuñez, the former Rule 5 Draft pick acquired from the Marlins, launched both the first and second home runs of his major league career in his first major league appearance in three months. Starting in place of CJ Abrams at shortstop, he also delivered a run-scoring single, giving him four RBIs on the afternoon. (He entered the day with six RBIs in 74 career big league games.)

"I see the comments. I see the things people say: 'Can't hit,'" Nuñez said. "And even for myself, it's not about proving to everyone else. It's about proving myself right. I really proved myself right. I have to be the one to believe I can hit. When you go out there and see it, it gives you a little more belief."

It’s been quite a while since the Nationals were last in a position to sweep a three-game series. You have to go all the way back to July 23 when they took the field against the Reds having already won two straight, hoping to win one more and complete the sweep. Alas, they did not, getting shut out by Nick Lodolo during a 5-0 loss.

Well, here they are again at last, having defeated the Marlins each of the last two days and now giving themselves a shot at a sweep this afternoon. They’ll need Mitchell Parker to give them a chance, something the left-hander did finally do over the weekend against the Rays, albeit still in a losing effort. Parker has faced Miami twice this season, and the results haven’t been pretty: 10 runs over 9 1/3 innings. We’ll see if he can turn it around today.

The Nats scored five runs Tuesday night off rookie Adam Mazur. Now they face Eury Pérez, the one-time top prospect who is trying to reestablish himself after missing a year and a half following Tommy John surgery. He was pretty good when he faced the Nationals back in June, allowing only one run over four innings. He failed to make it out of the first inning last time on the mound, though, at Citi Field.

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 79 degrees, wind 5 mph out to left field

MARLINS
2B Xavier Edwards
C Agustín Ramírez
CF Jakob Marsee
SS Otto Lopez
DH Heriberto Hernández
3B Connor Norby
1B Eric Wagaman
RF Joey Wiemer
LF Javier Sanoja

As summer turns to autumn and a long-lost baseball season approaches its conclusion, the Nationals must cling to whatever bright spots remain. And there may be no bigger bright spot the rest of this month than the one that continues to follow Cade Cavalli nearly every time he takes the mound.

Cavalli has been far from perfect, and his most recent start at Yankee Stadium was downright ugly, but there still has been far more good than bad from the finally-healthy right-hander. And there was a lot of good tonight during the Nats’ 5-2 victory over the Marlins.

Bouncing back nicely from that seven-run, four-homer barrage in the Bronx last week, Cavalli shut down Miami’s lineup over five strong innings, a 75-pitch outing that probably could have continued if not for the team’s caution in extending the 26-year-old too much as his healthy-to-date season nears the finish line.

Cavalli’s efforts tonight – with some offensive help from James Wood (two-run homer), Daylen Lile (double, RBI single), Riley Adams (RBI double) and Jacob Young (2-for-2, RBI, stolen base) – earned him his second career win in his seventh career start.

Don’t let the lack of victories, though, overshadow Cavalli’s true performance so far. He has now allowed three or fewer runs in four of his six starts this season. He has notched 28 strikeouts and only eight walks in 29 2/3 innings.

The Nationals’ ever-changing catching corps underwent more change today when the club signed veteran Jorge Alfaro to a major league deal and sent C.J. Stubbs back to Triple-A one day after he was part of a shutout win in his major league debut.

The move, which caught plenty by surprise, brings a more experienced player to a Nats roster lacking in that area, especially behind the plate. Alfaro, 32, has 496 games of big league experience, mostly with the Marlins and Phillies, though he hasn’t played at this level since brief stints with the Rockies and Red Sox in 2023.

Alfaro had spent the entire season with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville, batting .244 with 15 homers, 49 RBIs and a .715 OPS in 82 games. He was released on Monday, and the Nationals immediately jumped in and offered him a chance to return to the majors.

“It’s emotional, getting back to the big leagues,” he said. “Being able to spend the last couple of months in Nashville, playing in Triple-A, it’s like a blessing from god to get this opportunity with the Nationals.”

With Riley Adams having ascended to the No. 1 catching job since Keibert Ruiz’s placement on the 7-day concussion injured list in early July, Alfaro now becomes the new No. 2 catcher. That role has changed hands several times in the last week alone.

The Nationals enjoyed a much-needed, feel-good Labor Day thanks to Andrew Alvarez, who tossed five scoreless innings in his major league debut and set the stage for his team to beat the Marlins 2-0 and snap an eight-game losing streak. So what does tonight have in store?

There won’t be another big league debut, but there will be another young pitcher on the mound for the Nats in Cade Cavalli. This is Cavalli’s sixth start of the season (seventh of his career) and he’s looking to bounce back from his first truly rough one, in which the Yankees scored seven runs in only 2 1/3 innings, blasting four homers in the process. The Marlins, on paper, look like a much more favorable matchup for the right-hander. And as things stand, he’s scheduled to face them again next week in Miami.

The Marlins send rookie Adam Mazur to the mound tonight for what will be only his 11th career start. (He’s 1-4 with a 7.06 ERA to date.) The Nats faced him last year, when he was with the Padres, and scored four runs in five innings.

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 6 mph in from right field

MARLINS
2B Xavier Edwards
CF Jakob Marsee
DH Agustín Ramírez
C Liam Hicks
SS Otto Lopez
3B Connor Norby
1B Troy Johnston
LF Heriberto Hernández
RF Victor Mesa Jr.

As he grew up and dreamed of one day playing in the majors, C.J. Stubbs never could’ve predicted what would actually happen during his first inning in the big leagues.

The first batter of Monday’s game at Nationals Park, the Marlins’ Xavier Edwards, tapped a little roller between the mound and the plate. Stubbs, the Nats’ starting catcher, sprung to his feet, corralled the ball and made a strong throw to first for the out.

Just like that, the 28-year-old was officially a big league ballplayer.

“The first play, it kind of calmed me down,” he said. “I was kind of like: OK, I belong here. And I’m here because I worked my (butt) off.”

It’s what happened next that will forever remain in Stubbs’ memory bank. Edwards, who was steamed about one of Brennan Miller’s strike calls during the opening at-bat, barked at the plate umpire as he trotted back to the third base side, then kept going once he got back to the Miami dugout. Just as Stubbs was catching the next pitch to No. 2 batter Agustin Ramirez, Miller gave Edwards the heave-ho, prompting Marlins manager Clayton McCullough to come storming out of the dugout and scream a string of expletives at the umpire.

Forget about the notion five weeks ago Andrew Alvarez might somehow pitch five scoreless innings in the major leagues. The mere notion at that time that Alvarez might pitch in the major leagues at all sounded pretty ludicrous.

The 26-year-old left-hander seemingly had stalled out at Triple-A Rochester, winless through his first 19 starts of the season, his ERA in the high 4.00s. As much as the Nationals needed all the pitching help they could get, Alvarez didn’t figure to make the list of prime candidates for a promotion.

Those who know him well, though, knew all along Alvarez wasn’t about to give up on his dream. He was going to find a way to put himself back in the mix somehow, some way. And when his moment did finally come this afternoon, he wasn’t going to waste it.

With five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, Alvarez made his major league debut one to remember. And thanks to some help from the Nationals lineup and bullpen, he was appropriately rewarded for it with a 2-0 victory over the Marlins, snapping the team’s eight-game losing streak in the process.

"It's hard to put into words," he said. "I'm just blessed and thankful. The team played awesome, and at the end of the day, the team won. It's such an honor to be a part of this. You dream of this as a kid. And to have it come to fruition is no more than a miracle."