Paul Toboni liked his situation in Boston. He was a rising star within the Red Sox organization, a strong candidate to be named general manager and work directly underneath chief baseball officer Craig Breslow for a storied franchise currently in the postseason that already owns four World Series trophies secured over the last two decades.

When the Nationals came calling, Toboni was intrigued enough to take the interview. But he was still unsure if he wanted to uproot his young family and take over a Washington franchise that just completed its sixth straight losing season since winning its one and only World Series title.

It was during his repeated conversations with members of the Lerner family that Toboni made up his mind. He knew plenty about the Nationals. He knew very little about their owners. Once he did, the 35-year-old executive came away firmly believing they were ready to commit to his vision, which convinced him he was ready to commit to theirs.

“We were going to hold a pretty high bar if we were going to leave the Boston Red Sox organization,” he said. “And this cleared it because of that: Ownership’s love of baseball, and how competitive they are. And really, how great of people they are. That’s what I really bought into, which made my wife and I think this was the jump we were going to make.”

Thus did Toboni find himself sitting at a dais in the Nationals Park press conference room this morning, surrounded by three of the club’s principal owners (Mark Lerner, Edward Cohen and Robert Tanenbaum), his wife Danielle and their four very young boys (ages 1-6) seated in the front row watching the Nats’ new president of baseball operations introduce himself to the world.

News broke exactly one week ago that the Nationals had selected Paul Toboni as their new president of baseball operations, the 35-year-old assistant general manager of the Red Sox beating out a fairly deep field of candidates to replace Mike Rizzo on a permanent basis.

This morning, we’ll finally get the official announcement from the team about the hiring, and we’ll finally hear from Toboni (and, presumably, Nats ownership) about this incredibly important change for an organization that had (for better or worse) become a model of stability over time.

The team has scheduled a 9 a.m. press conference at Nationals Park to introduce Toboni. You can watch it live on MASN and right here on this website (with proper TV provider authentication).

We know a little bit about Toboni. He played baseball at Cal-Berkeley and got an MBA from Notre Dame. He began working for the Red Sox as an intern in 2015 and spent the last decade climbing up the organizational ladder through their scouting department before becoming an assistant GM two years ago. He is well-regarded around baseball, has a background in both scouting and analytics and has a reputation as an excellent communicator.

But we have no idea yet what Toboni thinks about the Nationals, what sold him on this job and what his plans are now that he’s officially taking the reins.

Daylen Lile’s red-hot finish to the season earned him a pair of impressive honors: National League Player of the Month and NL Rookie of the Month.

Those joint awards were announced this morning by Major League Baseball, which handed out all of the sport’s monthly honors for September and declared a double-winner for the Nationals.

Lile closed out his rookie season on an absolute tear, batting .391 with three doubles, seven triples, six homers, 19 RBIs and a 1.212 OPS. The 22-year-old outfielder led the majors in slugging percentage (.772), hits (36), triples (seven) and total bases (71). His seven triples were the most in a single month in franchise history, and he was the first major leaguer with at least seven triples and six homers in a calendar month since Willie Mays in 1957.

Lile is the first Nationals player to win NL Player of the Month honors since Kyle Schwarber in June 2021. Prior to Schwarber, the last National to win the honor was Ryan Zimmerman in April 2017.

Because he won Player of the Month, Lile was a shoo-in for Rookie of the Month as well. The question now is how he’ll finish in voting for NL Rookie of the Year.

The Nationals entered 2025 with visions of winning for the first time in six years. Or, at minimum, showing significant improvement in their won-loss record and coming as close to actually winning as they had since hoisting the World Series trophy in October 2019.

That, of course, never came to be. Not even close. The 2025 Nats regressed, finishing 66-96, five games worse than each of the previous two seasons. And their fate was sealed during an abysmal stretch from early-June through mid-July when they went 8-26, lost 11 in a row at one point and ultimately fired both general manager Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez.

Now, with that ultra-disappointing season behind them, with a new president of baseball operations set to be introduced Wednesday morning and a new manager likely to be named in the coming weeks, it’s natural to start wondering about the answer to an age-old question: Will this team be ready to win at last in 2026?

Within the clubhouse over the weekend, the answer was resoundingly in the affirmative.

“Yeah, no doubt,” outfielder Dylan Crews said. “Every single guy here has tools and has desire to win and to go out there and produce and just have that winning mentality. Obviously, we’re young. … We’ve got some things we need to work on. But I definitely look at these guys and think that we’re a winning-caliber team.”

Was 2025 the most disappointing season in Nationals history? There’s a compelling argument it was.

Though four previous versions of this club (2008, 2009, 2021, 2022) produced worse records, this current group’s final mark of 66-96 might have been tougher to accept because there was genuine optimism entering this season, both from inside and outside the organization.

To see it all come crashing down in such spectacular fashion, with the final three months serving as a prolonged lame duck stretch after the July 6 firings of longtime general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez, was a bitter pill to swallow.

“It’s always tough when you go through a lot of adversity. There was a lot this year,” said Miguel Cairo, who began the year as bench coach and ended it as interim manager. “But they fought through it, they played hard and they’re fighting to the end.”

The Nationals did play better in September than they did in any of the previous three months, going 13-13 down the stretch and playing a major role in keeping the star-studded Mets from reaching October. But their brand of baseball remained unappealing throughout the majority of the 162-game marathon.

Few individual baseball games carry the kind of emotions that come with Game 162. For those involving teams still fighting for the chance to play in October, it’s the ultimate blood-pressure test. For everyone else, it’s the ultimate feel-good day, a chance to chase some personal milestones and say goodbye to those who aren’t returning the following spring.

For the Nationals, Game 162 this afternoon fell squarely in the latter category. They had nothing to play for. Neither did the White Sox.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t still plenty of emotion inside Nationals Park, where a crowd of 22,473 honored the retiring Bob Carpenter and Michael A. Taylor while interim manager Miguel Cairo and his coaching staff worked through what was likely their final game in their current positions.

Throw in the brief scare of a perfect game being thrown by Chicago starter Shane Smith, and there was plenty to care about in an otherwise insignificant game.

The Nationals avoided that ignominy, but barely did so. They managed one baserunner in nine innings during an 8-0 shutout loss to wrap up a 66-96 season that represented a five-game drop-off from back-to-back 71-win seasons in 2023 and 2024.

Miguel Cairo said he has not yet been told anything about his future with the Nationals, leaving the interim manager to guide his team through one more game this afternoon and then wait to learn his fate from a new front office that is about to take over.

“Today, I’ve got a game to manage, and I’m going to do my best to get a W. And tomorrow, we don’t know,” he said in advance of the season finale against the White Sox. “Whatever is coming next, we’re not in control. There’s only one in control, and that’s the man upstairs.”

Cairo took over for good friend Davey Martinez when the latter was fired July 6, reluctant to accept the job until Martinez gave him his blessing. He enters today’s finale with a 29-42 record after Martinez went 37-53, with a chance to secure a winning September if the Nats are victorious today.

The 51-year-old slowly began managing in his own style over the season’s final three months, making lineup and bullpen decisions that likely differed from what Martinez would have done. He also made sure his position players took full infield and outfield defense prior to batting practice every day, though the Nationals continued to rank among the majors’ worst defensive units regardless of the amount of work they put in.

With Paul Toboni set to be officially announced as the organization’s new president of baseball operations this week, Cairo and his entire coaching staff should learn their fates relatively soon. The expectation is that Toboni will hire a new manager, who in turn will hire a new coaching staff. But until told otherwise, Cairo remains a candidate.

For the last time in 2025, hello from Nationals Park. It hasn’t been a season to remember for the home team, which enters this finale with a 66-95 record (third-worst in the majors). But we know major change is on the way, and hopefully better days to come in 2026.

What’s at stake in Game 162? Nothing, really, from a team standpoint. On an individual level, James Wood looks to continue his great final week (while also hoping to avoid five strikeouts to tie Mark Reynolds’ major league record of 223). Daylen Lile looks for one more triple to break Denard Span’s single-season club record of 11, and to bolster his Rookie of the Year case. CJ Abrams seeks his 20th homer to go with 31 stolen bases.

On the mound, Brad Lord looks to cap a really impressive rookie season in style. The right-hander enters with a 4.12 ERA and has an outside shot at getting that number under 4.00 if he tosses five or more innings of scoreless ball. Jose A. Ferrer won’t be pitching today after appearing each of the last two nights. So if there’s one final save opportunity this season, someone out of the ordinary is going to get the opportunity to convert it.

And, of course, this is Bob Carpenter’s final game behind the mic. No matter the score, the ninth inning will be must-watch TV on MASN2.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 3:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 81 degrees, wind 5 mph in from left field

The Nationals knew they needed to hit for considerably more power in 2025 to enjoy better results than they experienced in 2024. And they did manage to do it. It just took longer than expected. And still wasn’t enough in the end to produce a better won-loss record.

This final week of a difficult season, though, has shown what a difference legitimate power up and down a lineup can make. With three more blasts today during a 6-5 victory over the White Sox, the Nats have now launched 12 home runs over their last three games, bringing their season total up to 161, a 26-homer increase from a year ago.

They still rank in the bottom third of the majors, and there’s plenty of room for continued improvement in 2026. But as they look ahead, this unquestionably is a lineup capable of hitting for power with far more regularity than several previous versions were.

"Heck, yeah," said interim manager Miguel Cairo, who is still waiting to learn his fate. "It's nice to see these guys, the work they've put in every single day, and still doing it at the end of the season. It tells you what they are, and what they're going to be about. It's going to be nice to see them next year, because it's going to be a force."

Today’s blasts included yet another big hit by rookie Daylen Lile, the hottest hitter on the team and one of the hottest hitters in the sport right now. And then it included back-to-back blasts by one guy not known for power (Jacob Young) and one guy very much known for power (James Wood), flipping the game for the home team in the bottom of the seventh.

For someone who has spent more than four decades speaking for a living, Bob Carpenter found himself in a most unusual position today: Sitting back and wiping tears from his eyes as scores of others offered him praise.

On the penultimate day of his broadcasting career, Carpenter was the guest of honor for “See You Later Day,” celebrating his 20 seasons with the Nationals and 42 seasons announcing major league games. There weren’t many dry eyes in the house.

“It’s hard for me to express what I’m feeling right now,” he said.

The Nats presented Carpenter with a personalized jersey and a crystal microphone statue. Those items will go home to Tulsa with the 72-year-old. The “Bob Carpenter” sign unveiled on the façade of the home broadcast booth at Nationals Park will remain here for generations of fans to see.

In addition to in-person speeches by fellow broadcasters Kevin Frandsen and Dan Kolko, plus franchise icon (and occasional broadcaster) Ryan Zimmerman, the Nationals played a series of pre-taped messages that included such luminaries from Carpenter’s entire career as Lee Corso, Joe Buck, Ozzie Smith and Johnny Holliday.

There was enough action Friday night to fill an entire weekend series, but that was just one of three games scheduled between the Nationals and White Sox this weekend. Emphasis on the word “scheduled” there, because the forecast today is not good at all. Though it’s not really raining here yet, it’s supposed to start coming down at some point this afternoon and not let up through the rest of the day and evening. What does that mean for this game being played today? And if they can’t, would they actually force these two last-place teams to play a doubleheader Sunday? Stay tuned. As soon as we know anything, you’ll know it.

If and when they do play, it’ll be Jake Irvin on the mound looking for one final opportunity to end a rough season on a high note. The right-hander enters with a 5.69 ERA in 32 starts, not to mention 36 homers surrendered. That’s two shy of Josiah Gray’s single-season club record, a mark Irvin surely hopes not to match. He was better last weekend at Citi Field, though, holding the Mets to two runs over 5 1/3 innings. Perhaps he can pick up where he left off against what should be an inferior Chicago lineup.

At the plate, the Nationals will try to pick up where they left off Friday night, especially in the power department. They slugged a season-high six homers (in a losing effort, alas), with three coming off the bat of Luis Garcia Jr. alone. Today, they face former Terrapins right-hander Sean Burke, who enters with a 4.29 ERA and 1.5 homers per nine innings.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 71 degrees, wind 8 mph in from center field

WHITE SOX
2B Chase Meidroth
C Kyle Teel
SS Colson Montgomery
3B Miguel Vargas
DH Edgar Quero
LF Brooks Baldwin
1B Lenyn Sosa
RF Dominic Fletcher
CF Derek Hill

There was nothing at stake tonight, nor will there be all weekend, as the Nationals and White Sox wrap up equally frustrating seasons with three final games that have no bearing on the standings or any pennant race.

Tell these two last-place opponents and a boisterous crowd of 33,938 that packed into Nationals Park tonight this one meant nothing, though.

With a barrage of big home runs – three of them off the bat of Luis García Jr. alone – the Nats stormed back from seven runs down to take an improbable lead in the bottom of the eighth. Then they watched in horror as Jose A. Ferrer blew that lead in the top of the ninth and took a head-spinning, 10-9 loss to Chicago on the chin.

"That happens," García said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "That's nothing that you can control. That's part of baseball."

After digging themselves into an 8-1 hole behind a rocky start from Cade Cavalli and some very shoddy defense behind him, the Nationals easily could’ve played out the string and accepted their 95th loss of the year. Instead, they banded together and put together one of their best rallies of the season, thanks to the kind of power display they’ve long been waiting to show everyone.

There are no guarantees when it comes to prospects. Some of the best never make it to the major leagues. Some of the lesser-known names wind up enjoying long and productive careers.

The five young players who sat in the press conference room at Nationals Park this afternoon as the organization’s annual minor league award winners, though, need only look back at their predecessors from a year ago to see how significant a stepping stone it can be.

Last September, Dylan Crews, Brad Lord and Daylen Lile were among the 2024 honorees. All three now hold prominent roles on the Nats’ major league roster, with Lord and Lile in particular bursting onto the scene as full-fledged rookies this season.

“When you look at who was in that (press conference) room last year and who is now in that clubhouse, it’s something for them to build off of,” said Eddie Longosz, the Nationals’ assistant general manager for player development. “Everyone wants to get into that clubhouse. They feed off each other, and they know what it takes to get in there.”

This year’s award winners included three prospects who finished the season at Triple-A Rochester (outfielder/infielder Phillip Glasser, outfielder Andrew Pinckney, right-hander Riley Cornelio), which makes each a potential candidate for promotion in 2026.

It’s been a long, often frustrating, season. And at times, it probably felt like the end couldn’t come soon enough. Well, it has come at last. Tonight the Nationals open their final series of 2025. And from a pure baseball standpoint, there’s hardly anything at stake. The fates of the Nats and White Sox have long since been determined.

But there’s still meaning to these games on an individual level, and that certainly applies to Cade Cavalli. The rookie right-hander makes his 10th and final start of the season tonight, hoping to end this already successful mini-campaign on a positive note. Cavalli is coming off a strong outing at Citi Field, shutting out the Mets over five innings. If he can hold the White Sox to zero or one run over five more innings tonight, he’ll get his ERA under 4.00, which would be a nice outcome for him and the organization.

We’ll also see if James Wood can end his roller coaster season on a high note after a really nice couple of games in Atlanta. When last we spoke Sunday, Wood seemed to have a much better chance of finishing with 223 strikeouts than he did of finishing with 30 homers. Well, he hit three bombs at Truist Park and got to 30 with three games to spare. And he didn’t strike out once, which means he’s still eight shy of Mark Reynolds’ major league record with only three games left to play. You sure hope he doesn’t threaten that mark any more.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 5 mph in from left field

WHITE SOX
2B Chase Meidroth
DH Kyle Teel
SS Colson Montgomery
3B Miguel Vargas
C Edgar Quero
CF Brooks Baldwin
1B Lenyn Sosa
LF Will Robertson
RF Dominic Fletcher

Earlier this week, the Nationals announced their 2025 Minor League Players of the Year. The five winners will be recognized tonight as part of a pregame ceremony, and they’ll also take part in a season plan holder autograph session during batting practice. This year’s award winners are:

Hitter of the Year – INF/OF Phillip Glasser
Pitcher of the Year – RHP Riley Cornelio
Defensive Player of the Year – OF Cristhian Vaquero
Baserunner of the Year – INF Seaver King
Nationals Way Award – OF Andrew Pinckney

Glasser, 25, led the Nats system with a .302 average, .389 on-base percentage and 143 total hits. He also ranked second in OPS (.793) and walks (60), and finished in the top 10 in stolen bases (tied for third, 32), runs (fourth, 71) total bases (fifth, 191), slugging percentage (fifth, .404), triples (tied for sixth, four) and doubles (tied for seventh, 19).

His 143 hits were the most by a Nats minor leaguer since Andrew Stevenson’s 152 in 2022. Glasser finished the season with 124 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester.

The former 10th-round pick out of Indiana University in the 2023 MLB Draft played mostly in left field (91 games) but also appeared as the designated hitter (20 games), second baseman (11 games) and right fielded (three games) in his third professional season.

ATLANTA – Luis García Jr. had never played anywhere other than second base and shortstop in the major leagues. Sprinkle in a few games at third base in the minor leagues and there was only one remaining infield position he hadn’t played in his professional baseball career.

That changed Tuesday night when he took the field at Truist Park with Andrés Chaparro’s glove and manned first base against the Braves. And to his credit, after only practice reps at the new position since the All-Star break, he made a good first impression.

“Really good,” García said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz, of how he felt at first following the Nationals’ 3-2 loss to the Braves. “The first three innings, I was kind of nervous, but then after that, I felt really comfortable.”

García was on the receiving end of 11 putouts at first through the eight defensive innings, thanks in large part to Brad Lord inducing nine ground balls over his six innings. Most were routine plays, with a few short hops needing scooping, which he did so cleanly every time.

“I was trying to stop the ball, keep the ball right in front of me and make the play,” he said. “But I feel all the plays that were made today and were thrown at me, I felt good.”

ATLANTA – The Nationals had just one game remaining on the road portion of the 2025 schedule. With a victory this afternoon, not only would they end this six-game losing streak to the Braves, but they would also finish with a road record that is one game better than last year’s.

Things have rarely been easy for the Nats this year. But with an overall solid pitching performance and three home runs from some big sluggers, this was as easy of a victory they’ve had in a while.

Andrew Alvarez had a solid start through 4 ⅓ innings, Josh Bell and James Wood combined for three homers, and the Nats held on for a 4-3 win over their division rivals in front of an announced crowd of 32,898 at Truist Park.

“It was nice to get a .500 road trip," interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "That was awesome to take two out of three against the Mets and 1-2 here. It was awesome. The guys fight. We put some barrels on the ball. Good pitching from the bullpen, from the starting pitcher. So it was a team win.”

Alvarez entered his fifth major league start looking to bounce back from his first tough outing last week in New York, when he gave up six runs (four earned) over 3 ⅓ innings against the Mets.

The Nationals are finalizing a deal to hire Paul Toboni from the Red Sox as their new head of baseball operations, ultimately choosing to bring in an up-and-coming outside voice to lead the organization rather than staying in-house.

The deal with Toboni is not done yet, but sources familiar with the move confirmed the 35-year-old has been selected by the Lerner family as the choice to replace Mike Rizzo, who was fired as president of baseball operations and general manager in July after 16 years in the position.

Still unclear is Toboni’s new title with the Nationals, whether he is named president of baseball operations, general manager or both, and whether he’ll have a GM as his second-in-command, whether that’s current interim GM Mike DeBartolo or someone else.

No official announcement has been planned yet, but the club has hoped all along to be able to introduce its new head of baseball operations just before or immediately after the season ends Sunday, with Major League Baseball discouraging teams from holding major press conferences during the postseason (which begins Tuesday).

Toboni was one of at least seven reported candidates for the job, joined by DeBartolo, fellow Red Sox assistant GM Eddie Romero, Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes, Cubs GM Carter Hawkins, Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman and Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye. From that group, only Byrnes (a D.C. native) had previously held a full-time job running a baseball operations department (both Arizona and San Diego).

ATLANTA – Julian Fernández was supposed to be on a 10 a.m. flight this morning back home to the Dominican Republic. Instead, he flew to Atlanta on Monday night to join the Nationals ahead of their second game against the Braves.

The right-handed reliever, who the Nats claimed off waivers from the Dodgers on Aug. 17, then found himself taking the mound at Truist Park in the bottom of the eighth inning, trying to keep it a 3-2 game against the heart of the Braves order and give his new team one more chance in the ninth.

Fernández proceeded to toss a perfect frame on a scant 13 pitches, striking out Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin with some high heat in the process.

It was a full-circle moment for the 28-year-old, who made his major league debut with the Rockies against the Braves in 2021, the first of only six appearances he would make that season before making just one this year with the Dodgers.

“I felt really good,” Fernández said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “I haven't pitched in a while, a couple of days. But I kept myself ready for this. Yesterday was really special because I made my debut against Atlanta back in '21. It's a great team and I was able to have a good performance.”

ATLANTA – The Nationals have lost six straight to the Braves. They’ve already lost the season series to their rivals, trailing 3-9 with one game to go. But a win in this afternoon’s finale would at least end the losing streak on a positive note. Plus, it would give the Nats a better road record than they had in 2024.

Andrew Alvarez has been impressive for most of his first stint in the majors. But he hit his first bump in his last start when he gave up six runs (four earned) in just 3 ⅓ innings against the Mets. The young left-hander will look to finish his season with a strong outing against a tough Braves lineup.

Meanwhile, Bryce Elder is 8-10 with a 5.36 ERA and 1.420 WHIP in 27 starts this season. He’s coming off seven innings of one-run ball and six strikeouts against the Tigers in Detroit. And the right-hander held the Nats to one run over six innings in D.C. back in May.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 12:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLBN (out-of-market only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 6 mph in from right field

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