What did the Nationals need to do to defeat the defending World Series champs tonight and extend their own winning streak to three games?

They needed six strong innings from MacKenzie Gore. They needed early offense to take a lead. They needed late offense to provide some cushion for a thin bullpen. They needed that thin bullpen to get the job done on a night when most of the big names weren’t available.

Oh, and they also needed to hold down the Dodgers’ vaunted lineup enough to make sure Shohei Ohtani’s otherworldly exploits wouldn’t cost them.

And wouldn’t you know, they pulled it off, combining all of those elements during a 6-4 victory that stands as their best of the young season.

"That felt like a playoff game," said closer Kyle Finnegan, who was right in the middle of it all at the end. "To play against a team like the Dodgers, their resume speaks for itself. To play with them and compete all the way to the last out, it says a lot of things about our team and our grit. We can play with anybody in the league."

CJ Abrams has his first day off of the young season, not because of a bad matchup or a planned respite, but because of a tight thigh muscle.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez said the shortstop felt his right thigh tighten up while making the final play of Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks. Abrams charged in to field Randal Grichuk’s broken-bat grounder in the top of the ninth, then threw on the run to first, nearly pulling Nathaniel Lowe off the bag.

“He feels a little bit better today,” Martinez said. “I just wanted to give him a day, to make sure this doesn’t become a big issue.”

Asked what level of concern he has about Abrams, Martinez replied: “Right now, none. Hopefully it could’ve just been a cramp. But I want to make sure that’s just what it is.”

Abrams not only had started all nine previous games this season, but had played every inning to date. Martinez’s choice of replacement may come as a bit of a surprise: Paul DeJong.

The Nationals beat the Diamondbacks on Saturday. Then they beat them again on Sunday. You know what that’s called? A winning streak! Now, can they keep it going against the defending World Series champions and their star-studded roster?

Yes, the Dodgers are in town the next three nights, so get ready for a whole lot of blue and a whole lot of Japanese media following Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Word is, there won’t be an empty seat in the press box during this series. Giddy-up.

It’s a great test tonight for MacKenzie Gore, who gets the ball for the series opener. The Nats ace was brilliant on Opening Day against the Phillies, then labored but minimized the damage against the Blue Jays. He last faced the Dodgers nearly a year ago, right here in D.C., and he was very good in that one: six innings of one-run ball. The key tonight: Efficiency. With all of their top relievers pitching much of the weekend, the bullpen could be thin for this game. Gore needs to get deep in the game.

The Nationals lineup finally did a good job jumping out to early leads against Arizona, and they’ll try to keep that up tonight against Dustin May. The oft-injured right-hander missed all of 2024 but is healthy again and tossed five innings of one-hit ball in his season debut against the Braves.

CJ Abrams sits tonight with tightness in his right thigh, while Paul DeJong moves to shortstop and José Tena starts at third base. James Wood slides up to the leadoff spot in Abrams' place. 

The Nationals beat the Diamondbacks 5-4 on Sunday to win their first series of the season. But 245 miles away on Long Island, another milestone was being reached. One that has slightly more historical significance in the sporting world.

Alex Ovechkin, the iconic captain of the Washington Capitals, scored his 895th career goal yesterday, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s 31-year-old record to become the National Hockey League’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Fittingly, Ovechkin’s historic goal against the New York Islanders came on a power play from the left circle. Right from his office. As it should have been.

It was the shot heard around the world, with fans, athletes and celebrities from all walks of life congratulating the greatest goal scorer to ever live. And that rang true on South Capitol Street back home in Washington, D.C., where the Nats were playing.

The Nationals showed the goal highlight on the big screen at Nats Park and congratulated Ovechkin in between the first and second innings, while the crowd of 14,528 gave The Great 8 a standing ovation with an “OVI” chant.

The Nationals entered Saturday losers of four straight, needing to win two straight games to secure their first series victory of the young season. They got the win yesterday by a score of 4-3. The task to win Sunday would be difficult against Corbin Burnes.

But the Nats bats may have found their stride this week, scoring four or more runs in all three games against the Diamondbacks. Their most impressive outing may have been this afternoon, staying patient against and peppering Burnes early on their way to a 5-4 victory in front of 14,528 fans at Nationals Park.

For the third consecutive game, the top of the Nats' order jumped out to an early lead in the first. CJ Abrams drew a leadoff walk against Burnes, then moved to third on Luis García Jr.’s single to right field. Nathaniel Lowe drove in the first run and Alex Call drove in the second a few batters later to give the Nats a 2-1 lead after the first.

After the D-backs tied the game in the top of the second, Paul DeJong led off the bottom frame with a double to left, moved to third on a flyout to right and scored on Abrams’ sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.

Burnes hit Josh Bell with a pitch and walked Call with two outs in the third to set up DeJong’s RBI double to left to make it a 4-2 game. Call tried to make it a two-run hit, but was thrown out at the plate, the second time a Nats player was called out at the dish.

Jacob Young will sit for the second straight day as the Nationals finish their three-game series against the Diamondbacks. Alex Call will play right field as Dylan Crews shifts to center, as was the case when Young sat Saturday against Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.

Call starting against a left-hander yesterday wasn’t questioned due to his career .740 OPS against southpaws versus Young’s .678. But against right-hander Corbin Burnes, it was a wonder why the starting center fielder wasn’t back in the lineup.

“I talked to him a couple days ago. We're just doing a reset on him,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame press conference. “He's got a little frustrated just (with) how he is swinging. We saw some things that we wanted to address. He's been working the last two days on his swing, so he'll be back in there tomorrow.”

Young is 1-for-15 (.067) with a double, three walks, two strikeouts and 1-for-3 stolen bases in seven games. He’s only started six of those games, coming in as a pinch-runner Wednesday in Toronto but getting caught stealing for the final out in a loss.

“Well, one, he's diving to home plate,” Martinez said. “He's not seeing the ball away from him. He's not catching up to the ball inside. So we just want to address the issue and get him going.”

For the first time this season, the Nationals are in position to win a series.

The Nats will look to build upon the eight runs they put up in the first two games. But they will have a tough task against Diamondbacks starter Corbin Burnes. The right-hander is making his second start of the six-year, $210 million contract he received from Arizona over the offseason after he finished fifth in American League Cy Young Award voting in his one year with the Orioles.

Burnes was charged with four runs (two earned), four hits and three walks with eight strikeouts over 4 ⅓ innings in his Arizona debut against the Yankees. He did give up two home runs to that dangerous New York lineup, so maybe the Nats can follow the Bronx Bombers’ footsteps and take Burnes deep a couple of times this afternoon.

Today was supposed to be Michael Soroka’s second start in a Nationals uniform, but a right arm biceps strain landed him on the 15-day injured list. So instead it will be Trevor Williams taking the mound for his second start. Thanks to Thursday’s off-day, the right-hander will be on normal rest. Williams gave up 10 hits (all singles) and three runs in his 2025 debut against the Blue Jays, but for the most part had a solid five innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 57 degrees, wind 8 mph in from left field

The Nationals finally broke through last night with the offensive output they’ve been desperately looking for in the new season’s first week. They just couldn’t sustain it throughout the full nine innings in a series-opening loss to the Diamondbacks.

Then today, after the inaugural 2005 team was inducted into the Ring of Honor in front of 25,916 fans at Nationals Park, they did it again. Only this time, their early lead held up throughout the course of the game en route to just their second win of 2025.

The Nationals’ 4-3 win over the D-backs wasn’t anything spectacular. But it was an overall clean game of baseball, one of the few these Nats have played thus far.

James Wood led the way, as he might often be called upon to do this season, from the jump. Literally.

With two outs in the top of the first inning, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. launched a deep fly ball to left field, only to see Wood use all of his 6-foot-7 frame to leap and rob him of extra bases at the wall.

John Patterson hadn’t been back to Nationals Park since the final day of the 2007 season, a day he didn’t know at the time would be his final day in the major leagues. The lanky right-hander has built a whole new life since, running a real estate company with his wife outside Dallas, coaching his 8-year-old son’s baseball team. His long, flowing hair has gone totally gray, which combined with the glasses he wears makes him look more like a college professor than an ex-ballplayer.

Patterson’s baseball life was a generation ago. And yet when he walked into the park Friday, the memories instantly flooded his mind. Opening Night at RFK Stadium. His 13-strikeout shutout of the Dodgers. The 10-game winning streak that left the stands bouncing every night and the team in first place.

“I remember it all so vividly,” the now-47-year-old said. “A lot of it is coming back to me. It really has not felt like 20 years.”

That was the sentiment of everyone who assembled here this weekend for the 20th anniversary celebration of the first team in Nationals history. Two decades is a long time. Think about the state of the franchise today compared to then. It’s hard to believe the two are connected.

“As you go along and look back, you realize that it’s pretty cool,” infielder Jamey Carroll said. “You were a part of MLB history. … The longer you get away from it, the more you realize it was a pretty big deal.”

The Nationals, plain and simple, need a win. They’re 1-6 to begin the season, and though they’ve pretty much been in every game, they have not shown an ability to do what they need to do late in those games to emerge victorious. They’ll give it another shot this afternoon against the Diamondbacks, perhaps inspired by the pregame induction of the inaugural 2005 club into the Nationals Park Ring of Honor.

Davey Martinez is going with a different look to his lineup. Facing Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, he’s got Amed Rosario batting second, the red-hot Nathaniel Lowe batting third, Alex Call batting sixth and Riley Adams finally getting his first start of the season, batting ninth. We’ll see what, if any, difference that look makes.

Mitchell Parker gets the start, and the young lefty will look to pick up where he left off in his season debut last weekend. He’s still the only member of the staff to reach the seventh inning so far in 2025.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS 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: Mostly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
2B Amed Rosario
1B Nathaniel Lowe
DH Josh Bell
LF James Wood
RF Alex Call
CF Dylan Crews
3B Paul DeJong
C Riley Adams

Jackson Rutledge was called into Davey Martinez’s office April 26, the day before Opening Day, and informed he would not be returning to Nationals Park the following morning but rather heading to Rochester to open another season at Triple-A.

Rutledge wasn’t shocked by the decision. And if nothing else, he was encouraged by the message he received from Martinez and pitching coach Jim Hickey, who suggested he would be first on the list of call-ups if the team needed a pitcher.

“In my option meeting, they said: ‘Be ready. It could be a week,’” Rutledge recalled Friday. “And they weren’t lying about that.”

No, they weren’t. Technically, it happened eight days later, not seven, but the Nationals indeed called Rutledge up as soon as they needed a pitcher from Triple-A, giving him the roster spot held by Michael Soroka before the latter had to be placed on the 15-day injured list with a right biceps strain.

This is actually the fifth time Rutledge has been promoted since September 2023. But it’s the first time he’s been promoted as a full-time reliever.

They finally got the early offense they’ve been craving since Opening Day. They just couldn’t sustain it. Or prevent the game from getting away from them late.

The formula wasn’t a carbon copy of the Nationals’ last week, but the final result was: a 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks that leaves them 1-6 for the second time in the last three years.

As was the case in most of those previous losses, the Nats were right there in this one to the end, with opportunities to emerge victorious. And as was the case in most of those previous losses, they were unable to do what was necessary to get over the hump.

"It's one pitch, one at-bat," right-hander Jake Irvin said. "Just timely things. Play 162 of them, the game starts to reward you for doing the right things."

A tie game through six turned into a two-run deficit in the seventh when Jose A. Ferrer gave up the decisive runs. The hard-throwing reliever, who was charged with Tuesday’s loss in Toronto after allowing two runs in the eighth, was one pitch away from posting a zero this time. But his 0-2 fastball to pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk was deemed just high and inside by plate umpire Ryan Wills. Seconds later, Ferrer threw a fastball over the plate to Grichuk and watched the ball soar to the wall in right-center, caroming away from Dylan Crews for a two-run double.

The Nationals will wait a couple of days before deciding who will take Michael Soroka’s place in the rotation, with Brad Lord a distinct option if the rookie isn’t needed out of the bullpen before then.

Soroka was supposed to start Sunday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks but was placed on the 15-day injured list today (backdated to April 1) with a right biceps strain. The 27-year-old made his debut Monday night in Toronto but had to be pulled three pitches into the sixth inning when his biceps muscle cramped while delivering a slider.

Soroka was cautiously optimistic at the time the injury wasn’t serious and that he’d be able to take his next turn in the rotation. The one caveat: He needed to be able to throw off a mound first before knowing he would be good to go.

That bullpen session never happened. According to manager Davey Martinez, Soroka played catch Wednesday in Toronto and reported afterward he still felt a twinge of discomfort in his upper arm.

“He said he just barely could feel it,” Martinez said. “But when a pitcher says he can barely feel it in his arm, I don’t like it. I think the best thing is to get it to calm down a little bit and get him ready to come back out again.”

And we’re back. After a brief international trip for their first road series of the season, the Nationals are back home for six straight against a pair of tough National League West foes. The undefeated, defending champion Dodgers come to town next week. But first up, it’s the Diamondbacks, the 2023 NL champs.

As stated numerous times over the last several days, the Nats really need to get their lineup clicking early. They’ve scored only two runs in the first three innings of six games to date. That’s a tough way to live. They’ll try to make it happen tonight against right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who they did beat last summer with three runs over 6 1/3 innings.

Jake Irvin gets the ball for the Nationals, on the heels of a good-not-great season debut. The right-hander lasted only five innings against the Phillies and put nine runners on base. But he limited the damage to two runs, an encouraging sign.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS 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: Cloudy, 69 degrees, wind 7 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Nathaniel Lowe
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Josh Bell
RF Dylan Crews
3B José Tena
CF Jacob Young

The Nationals have placed Michael Soroka on the 15-day injured list with a right biceps strain, throwing a wrench into the team’s rotation plans just one week into the season.

Jackson Rutledge was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take Soroka’s roster spot, but the 2019 first-round pick has made the full-time conversion to reliever, so he won’t be joining the big league rotation.

Soroka, signed this winter to a one-year, $9 million contract, made his club debut Monday night in Toronto, allowing four runs over five-plus innings. He felt fine physically until his 83rd pitch the game, a spiked slider in the bottom of the sixth, after which he looked toward the dugout and began clenching his fist.

Soroka told manager Davey Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard his right biceps muscle had cramped on that pitch, and he was taken out of the game. Afterward, he expressed optimism the injury wasn’t any more serious than that and was hopeful he could still make his next turn in the rotation.

Soroka did admit he would need to throw off a mound before knowing for sure he was good to go. He played catch prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Blue Jays and would have been on track to throw a bullpen session either Thursday (an off-day for the team) or today. The Nationals had listed him as their starter for Sunday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks.

On a sunny, breezy, April afternoon in Philadelphia exactly 20 years ago, a major league ballclub wearing navy blue caps with a curly W logo and gray jerseys with “Washington” emblazoned across the chest took the field, embarking on a brand-new journey many never believed would come to fruition.

For anyone who suffered through 33 long years without baseball in the nation’s capital, the mere sight of a team representing D.C. in a real major league game was both unbelievable and emotional.

Most fans best remember April 14, 2005, the night Frank Howard and the 1971 Senators ceremoniously handed over their gloves to the newly renamed Nationals, George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch and RFK Stadium bounced and swayed like it hadn’t in a generation. But the first game in Nats history came 10 days prior at Citizens Bank Park on April 4, 2005.

The occasion started off in grand fashion. Brad Wilkerson was the first batter in club history and immediately recorded the first hit in club history, a single over second baseman Placido Polanco’s head. One inning later, Nick Johnson and Vinny Castilla each singled, then the latter scored on Terrmel Sledge’s RBI groundout to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Sledge, a late addition to manager Frank Robinson’s lineup after Ryan Church was scratched with a groin strain, would make history again in the top of the sixth when he launched a two-run homer to right off Jon Lieber. (Side note: The first home run in Nationals history was also Sledge’s only home run in a Nationals uniform.)

TORONTO – Baseball players aren’t the type to look at the standings this early in the season, but if the Nationals happened to take a glance Wednesday evening at the NL East table, they wouldn’t like what they saw.

With two series in the books, the Nats are 1-5. They barely avoided a sweep against the Phillies. They couldn’t avoid a sweep against the Blue Jays. If not for the snakebit Braves, now 0-7 after giving up a walk-off homer to Shohei Ohtani, they’d reside in the basement. Not that their position in a distant fourth place is anything to get excited about.

“It’s difficult,” outfielder Dylan Crews said. “It’s something that we definitely don’t want. We want to win every single game. But it’s only April. April 2. So we’ve got May, June, July, August, September. I think we can really flip this thing around here in the future. … I see a lot of talent on this team.”

The Nationals clubhouse remained an optimistic place this week, even after three straight losses to the Blue Jays. The genuine belief in the room is that this is a significantly improved team from 2024, one that expects more of itself in 2025.

But they also know they can’t let things continue at this rate for long, lest they dig themselves into such a deep hole they can’t reasonably climb their way out of it.

TORONTO – The Nationals’ season-opening schedule, with four straight matchups against likely contenders, didn’t look kind on paper. It hasn’t looked kind in practice, either.

The Nats needed a win Sunday to avoid getting swept by the Phillies. They found themselves right back in the same position today against the Blue Jays, with perhaps their first favorable pitching matchup of the young season to hold their hats on.

That matchup didn’t even help. The Nationals couldn’t touch fill-in Toronto starter Easton Lucas, while MacKenzie Gore couldn’t duplicate his efforts from an Opening Day gem. The end result: a lackluster 4-2 loss and a demoralizing three-game sweep at Rogers Centre.

"The at-bats have to get better early in games," manager Davey Martinez said. "We talk about scoring first and trying to get on the starters early. And it just hasn't happened. Late in the games, we've been swinging the bats good. But there's nine innings. We've got to come out swinging from the get-go."

One week into a season of promise, the Nats are 1-5. They’ve gotten decent starting pitching. They’ve hit more homers than in recent years. Keibert Ruiz (who recorded another hit today) and CJ Abrams (who homered again today) have looked great. But they need more than that. And they haven’t gotten more. The challenge doesn’t get any easier, with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers coming to D.C. over the next week.

TORONTO – The Nationals are listing Michael Soroka as their scheduled starter for Sunday’s game against the Diamondbacks, suggesting the right-hander won’t have to miss any time after departing his season debut with a biceps cramp.

Soroka came out of Monday night’s game against the Blue Jays after spiking a slider to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the sixth, his 83rd pitch of the outing. He immediately looked to the dugout and began clinching his fist.

Whatever initial fears the Nats may have had about a potentially serious injury were alleviated when Soroka told them his right biceps muscle cramped on that final pitch, and he didn’t want to take any chances trying to go any further in the game.

He expressed cautious optimism afterward the injury was nothing serious, with manual tests performed by the club’s medical staff revealing no issues. He did acknowledge he would need to throw off a bullpen mound first before knowing for certain he would be fine to make his next scheduled start.

Soroka wasn’t planning to throw off a mound today, merely to play catch in the outfield at Rogers Centre prior to the Nats’ series finale. If everything went well, he would likely throw his bullpen session in D.C. on Thursday (an off-day for the team) or Friday (prior to the series opener against Arizona).

TORONTO – For the second time already in this young season, the Nationals find themselves needing a win to avoid a series sweep. They managed to do it Sunday against the Phillies. Now they need to do it again against the Blue Jays.

The good news: MacKenzie Gore is on the mound, looking to pick up right where he left off Opening Day. The lefty was utterly dominant that afternoon, striking out 13 over six scoreless innings of one-hit ball. Most impressively, Gore issued zero walks and kept his pitch count to a mere 93 even with all those strikeouts. He needs to bring that same approach to this outing against a good Toronto lineup.

The Nationals also need more offense than they’ve been getting, especially early in the game. They’ll be facing an unknown in Easton Lucas, a 28-year-old left-hander with a 9.82 ERA in 14 career major league appearances, all of them out of the bullpen. Lucas isn’t likely to pitch deep into this game, so it could wind up as more of a bullpen game for the Blue Jays. Regardless, now would be an opportune time for the Nats to string some hits together and finally score runs in bunches.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Where: Rogers Centre
Gametime: 3:07 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
2B Amed Rosario
C Keibert Ruiz
LF James Wood
1B Nathaniel Lowe
DH Josh Bell
RF Alex Call
3B Paul DeJong
CF Dylan Crews