It is an absolutely spectacular Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital. I don’t know what we did to deserve this sustained fine weather in late-August, but eternal thanks to whomever is responsible for it. Now, can the home team make it worthwhile for everyone who comes to Nationals Park for this game?

The Nats are mired in a six-game losing streak, one that has featured several frustrating losses, but perhaps none as frustrating as Friday night’s series opener against the Rays. Despite totaling 12 hits and four walks, they scored only one run because they went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Obviously, that won’t cut it in any situation. They have to be better today against right-hander Ryan Pepiot and the Tampa Bay bullpen.

Speaking of people who need to be better, Jake Irvin desperately needs a bounceback performance. It’s too late to salvage this month (0-4, 9.55 ERA) but perhaps the right-hander can at least end it on a high note and head into September feeling better about himself.

And the Nationals need someone in the rotation to step up and finish the season strong, because they just announced their most significant injury in a while: MacKenzie Gore has been placed on the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation. We’ll find out more shortly, so please check back for the full article before today’s game, but clearly this is not good news, especially at this late point in the season. Mason Thompson was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take Gore’s roster spot for now.

TAMPA BAY RAYS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 76 degrees, wind 6 mph in from left field

C.J. Stubbs stood by his new locker in the Nationals clubhouse and greeted his new teammates and team staff. It was his first time in a major league clubhouse, so he had a lot to soak in and many new faces to meet.

The Nationals selected Stubbs’ contract from Triple-A Rochester yesterday to make him the backup catcher. He replaces Drew Millas, who landed on the 10-day injured list after having surgery to stabilize the fracture and repair the joint on his left index finger.

“I was definitely overwhelmed and shocked,” Stubbs said of when he heard the news. “I spent quite a few days in the minor leagues and got to the point where I wasn't sure if it was ever going to happen. And sometimes it doesn't happen the way you think it's going to happen, but however it does, I'm just so happy and humbled to be here.”

A 10th-round selection by the Astros in the 2019 MLB Draft out of the University of Southern California, the now 28-year-old spent the last six seasons in the minor leagues, joining the Nats organization in May 2024 after Houston released him.

While savoring the moment and anticipating his hoped-for major league debut in the coming days, Stubbs reflected on seeing his brother, current Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, make his own big league debut with the Astros on May 28, 2019 in Houston.

The Nationals could have made a significant decision ahead of Friday night’s series opener against the Rays. With Thursday’s off-day, they could have chosen to skip Mitchell Parker’s spot in the rotation while keeping the other four starters on normal rest, allowing the struggling left-hander to work on some things with some extra time before his next start.

Instead, they chose to keep him in his spot, with interim manager Miguel Cairo saying before the game Parker needs to pitch.

So he did pitch, and in fact he pitched very well, albeit in a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay.

“It was nice to see him pitch like competing," Cairo said of Parker. "He was throwing strikes. He was attacking the hitters. … It was nice to see him come back and be who he can be. And it was really good to see that.”

Parker entered tonight with a 12.00 ERA and 1.952 WHIP over his five August starts, with the Nats winless in all of those outings. But he at least kept his team in the game by turning in his first quality start since July 19 against the Padres.

The Nationals officially placed Drew Millas on the 10-day injured list with a fractured and dislocated left index finger (retroactive to Aug. 28) and selected the contract of catcher C.J. Stubbs from Triple-A Rochester this afternoon. Millas underwent successful surgery today to stabilize the fracture and repair the joint on his finger.

“I feel bad for him. It was sad,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo during his pregame media session ahead of Friday’s series opener against the Rays. “He was doing so good and he's one of the future of the team, catcher. And he was doing good hitting and catching and everything. So the surgery went well today. Hopefully we'll get to see him tomorrow, over here. He's gonna come in. But everything went well. They did some stuff with the fracture, but everything went well today.”

Millas hurt his finger when he was called for catcher’s interference in the third inning Wednesday during an Austin Wells at-bat, when the Yankees catcher’s bat made contact with the Nats backstop’s catching hand while swinging at a 97 mph fastball from Cade Cavalli. Following surgery, Millas is expected to be done for the rest of the season, but ready for spring training next year.

He finishes the season hitting .306 with five doubles, a triple, seven RBIs, two stolen bases and four walks in 18 games. The 27-year-old threw out 2-of-8 would-be basestealers.

To replace him, the Nationals chose Stubbs over Francisco Mejía and Brady Lindsly at Rochester. The 28-year-old catcher signed a minor league deal with the Nationals after the Astros released him in May 2024. He hit .161 with a .602 OPS, three doubles, a triple, a homer and five RBIs in 24 games with the Red Wings this year following a promotion from Double-A Harrisburg.

The Nationals’ nightmare in New York is over … at least until they go back to Queens in three weeks. But for now, they get to enjoy a six-game homestand, starting with three games against the Rays to start this holiday weekend.

Mitchell Parker will take the mound for the series opener after the Nats chose not to use yesterday’s off-day to skip his spot in the rotation and give him some extra time to work on some things. The struggling lefty is 7-14 with a 6.01 ERA on the season and the Nats are winless in his five August starts as he’s pitched to a 12.00 ERA this month. He’ll need to get back on track tonight to give his team a chance and start making a case for his rotation spot next year.

Adrian Houser makes the start for the Rays. Since coming over in a trade with the White Sox at the deadline, the right-hander is 1-2 with a 5.32 ERA over his four starts with Tampa Bay and he’s given up four or more runs in three of those outings. So this might be a good opportunity for the Nats' offense to get back on track.

And the Nationals made an expected roster move official this afternoon, placing Drew Millas on the injured list with a fractured and dislocated finger and selecting the contract of catcher C.J. Stubbs from Triple-A Rochester.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. TAMPA BAY RAYS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly clear, 76 degrees, wind 11 mph from left to right field

The Washington Nationals selected the contract of catcher C.J. Stubbs from Triple-A Rochester and placed catcher Drew Millas on the 10-day Injured List with a fractured and dislocated left second finger (retroactive to Aug. 28) on Friday. Nationals Interim General Manager Mike DeBartolo made the announcement.

Stubbs, 28, joins a Major League roster for the first time after he was taken in the 10^th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Southern California. In six Minor League seasons, he hit .204 with 72 doubles, seven triples, 67 home runs, 203 RBI, 199 walks and 51 stolen bases in 472 games. Defensively, Stubbs has thrown out 114 attempted base-stealers in 371 tries, holding runners to a .693 stolen base percentage.

A native of San Diego, Calif., Stubbs was originally drafted by the Houston Astros before signing with the Nationals as a Minor League free agent on May 14, 2024.

Stubbs produced an extra-base hit in each of his final two games in Rochester prior to his call-up. He homered against Toledo on Aug. 22 and doubled against the Mud Hens on August 24. He has thrown out 28 of the 76 attempted base-stealers against him this season and his .632 opponents stolen base percentage this season ranks second in the Nationals organization.

Millas, 27, hit .306 with five doubles, a triple, seven RBI, two stolen bases and four walks in 18 games for the Nationals this season.

When the pitching probables came out for the Nationals’ weekend series against the Rays, nothing was out of the ordinary. No new names appeared nor where there any TBAs listed:

* Friday – LHP Mitchell Parker vs. RHP Adrian Houser
* Saturday – RHP Jake Irvin vs. RHP Ryan Pepiot
* Sunday – RHP Brad Lord vs. LHP Ian Seymour

The only interesting factor was that Thursday’s off-day would have allowed the Nationals to skip Parker’s spot in the rotation and still have the other four starters make their next starts on normal rest.

Why would they have done that?

Parker has struggled the most out of the five starters currently in the Nats rotation. Some extra time in between starts may have helped the left-hander figure out some things in order to have a strong finish to the season.

NEW YORK – The Nationals left New York on Wednesday knowing they would need to make a roster move before Friday’s series opener against the Rays. Drew Millas departed yesterday’s 11-2 loss to the Yankees in the third inning after he was called for catcher’s interference during an Austin Wells at-bat against Cade Cavalli.

When Wells’ bat made contact with Millas’ catching hand while swinging at a 97 mph fastball from Cavalli, the backstop suffered a fracture and dislocation of his left second finger, putting the rest of his season in jeopardy. So the Nationals will call up C.J. Stubbs from Triple-A Rochester to fill in as the backup catcher, a source familiar with the upcoming move confirmed.

The Washington Post was first to report the news yesterday.

Stubbs’ first appearance with the Nats will be his major league debut after spending the last six seasons in the minor leagues following his selection by the Astros in the 10th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of the University of Southern California.

The younger brother of Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, the 28-year-old backstop signed a minor league deal with the Nationals after the Astros released him in May 2024. In 24 games with Rochester this year following a promotion from Double-A Harrisburg, he is hitting .161 with a .602 OPS, three doubles, a triple, a homer and five RBIs.

NEW YORK – The Nationals can’t get out of New York City fast enough. They entered this afternoon’s finale against the Yankees 0-5 in the Big Apple this year after being swept by the Mets in a three-game series at Citi Field in June and dropping the first two games of this set at Yankee Stadium.

And they will remain winless in New York until their next trip to Queens in September after an 11-2 blowout loss, their third straight to get swept by the Yankees and their fifth straight defeat overall.

Just about everything that could have gone wrong for the Nationals today did. They couldn’t manufacture runs. They couldn’t prevent the Yankees from scoring. And they suffered injuries along the way, adding salt to an already wide-open wound.

If the power differential between these two teams wasn’t on display enough earlier this week, it definitely was in this finale.

The Yankees entered today with a major league-leading 219 home runs, while the Nats only had a measly 125 for the third-fewest. New York had already hit four to score eight of their 15 runs over the first two games. Washington had scored four of their six runs on one swing, Jacob Young’s ninth-inning grand slam Monday night.

NEW YORK – In order for the Nationals to escape The Bronx with at least one win, they’ll need timely hitting and shutdown pitching. It may be too much to ask for both at this point, but either one should give them a decent shot to beat the Yankees this afternoon.

Getting timely hitting might be tough against Yankees starter Max Fried. The All-Star left-hander is 13-5 with a 3.14 ERA over 26 starts in his first season in New York. And he’s coming off an outing in which he shut out the Red Sox over six innings with seven strikeouts. The longtime Brave is 8-5 with a 3.97 ERA in 19 career games (18 starts) against the Nats.

Getting shutdown pitching, on the other hand, may be a real possibility with Cade Cavalli starting on the mound. The right-hander has turned in back-to-back quality starts against the Phillies coming into today. And he has a very nice 2.82 ERA over his first four starts since returning to the majors. The key for Cavalli will be limiting the longball and slugging against this dangerous Yankees lineup.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK YANKEES
Where: Yankee Stadium
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (out-of-market only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 73 degrees, wind 11 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
LF James Wood
SS CJ Abrams
DH Riley Adams
2B Luis García Jr.
RF Dylan Crews
1B Andrés Chaparro
C Drew Millas
3B Brady House
CF Jacob Young

NEW YORK – Needing to play a much cleaner brand of baseball, the Nationals returned to Yankee Stadium trying to put last night’s disastrous loss behind them.

Although they gave themselves more opportunities to hang with the Bronx Bombers, they couldn’t come up with clutch hits to capitalize on them. And it didn’t help that their mistakes on the basepaths continued in a 5-1 loss to the Yankees.

CJ Abrams singled in the first inning to give the Nats their first baserunner early. But that was quickly erased when he was picked off by Yankees starter Luis Gil, with the original safe call being overturned by a New York challenge.

The Nats then got a one-out walk by Riley Adams in the second, but couldn’t move him past first base.

They were more successful in the third, but still left a golden opportunity to score a crooked number. Robert Hassell III led off with a double to the right-center field gap, and after a James Wood walk, he scored on Abrams' single to left to give the Nats a 1-0 lead.

NEW YORK – Daylen Lile continues to be away from the Nationals while dealing with an illness. The young outfielder will miss his third straight game and stay at the team hotel in New York after “throwing up a little bit and not feeling good” over the past couple of days, according to interim manager Miguel Cairo yesterday.

Cairo provided a non-update update on Lile before tonight’s second game at Yankee Stadium, saying the Nats want the rookie to feel 100 percent better before he returns to the field … and to the clubhouse as to not get anyone else on the team sick.

“He was feeling a little better. Still a little under the weather,” Cairo said during his pregame media session. “We just want to give him one more day. Until he feels that he can do something, we're (not) going to bring him over here. We didn't want to get the rest of the team sick. But hopefully he's better and he'll come back tomorrow.”

That leaves the Nationals short-handed once again in The Bronx with the other four young outfielders available and in the starting lineup tonight against reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil.

James Wood remains in left field, Jacob Young is in center and Robert Hassell III is in right, while Dylan Crews serves as the designated hitter for just the second time in his young career.

NEW YORK – The Nationals need to flush away the first eight innings of last night’s 10-5 loss to the Yankees and really try to build momentum off the ninth, when they scored all of their runs, thanks to swinging at strikes and patient at-bats. Jacob Young’s first grand slam didn’t hurt either.

Now that the initial shock of playing at Yankee Stadium has passed, the young Nats can focus on just playing baseball. They’ve proven that when they can string together good ABs they can go toe-to-toe with anyone.

Their next task is defending American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. The 27-year-old right-hander missed most of the year with a lat strain and only returned to the major leagues this month. In his four starts, he’s 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA and 1.684 WHIP. He’s been prone to walks in his career, leading the majors last year with 77 and having already issued 13 in just 19 innings this season. So the Nats really need to be patient against him.

MacKenzie Gore takes the mound for the visiting side, and you know he’s looking forward to facing this Yankees lineup in a tough environment. The lefty is 5-12 with a 4.11 ERA and 1.349 WHIP over his 26 starts. Gore held the Yankees to two runs on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts when he faced them in D.C. last year as part of his strong stretch to finish the season. Hopefully, tonight kickstarts a similar stretch to end this campaign.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK YANKEES
Where: Yankee Stadium
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 9 mph out to right field

The Washington Nationals, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, announced their 2026 schedule on Tuesday, highlighted by a home-opening series vs. the Dodgers, the traditional July 4 game in the nation’s capital, three games with the Yankees to close out the first half and more. Washington will begin the 2026 season on the road against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, March 26 – the earliest start to the season in Nationals history (2005-pres.) before opening the home slate against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ticket Plans for the 2026 season are on sale now and guarantee access to Opening Day. Fans who purchase by Sept. 1 can lock in early bird pricing and receive free tickets to home games in September 2025. More information is available at nats.com/Ticketfinder.

Following the opening series in Chicago, which marks the second time the Nationals have opened a season at Wrigley Field, the Club will travel to Philadelphia to face the Phillies for three games before returning to Washington, D.C. for the home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 3. The Nationals and Dodgers will square off in a three-game series over Easter Weekend before the St. Louis Cardinals come to the nation’s capital for three games (April 6-8) to complete the homestand.

The annual Beltway Series against the Baltimore Orioles will be played across two weekends, May 15-17 at Nationals Park and June 26-28 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Nationals will host the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game weekend series Friday through Sunday, July 3-5, highlighted by the traditional Fourth of July game at Nationals Park. That series marks the start of a nine-game homestand that will include a series against the Houston Astros (July 6-8) and a weekend series against the New York Yankees (July 10-12) – the final series before the 2026 All-Star break.

Washington’s first series following the break will start in Sacramento against the Athletics, July 17-19, followed by a three-game series at Colorado, July 20-22. The Nationals will return home on Friday, July 24 for a six-game homestand against the Arizona Diamondbacks (July 24-26) and Toronto Blue Jays (July 27-29).

NEW YORK – As we count down the final 31 games of the 2025 season, we now get to look ahead to 2026 knowing when and where the Nationals will play during their 22nd season of baseball in our nation’s capital.

The Nationals, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, announced their 2026 regular season schedule this afternoon, with Opening Day slated to take place on Thursday, March 26, at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. It will be the second time the Nats will open the season on the South Side of Chicago after beating the Cubbies 2-1 to begin the 2012 season.

It will be the ninth time since the Nationals relocated to Washington, D.C., that the team opened a season on the road and just the third time since 2017. It’s also the second time in the last three years the Nats’ first opponent will be from the National League Central after they dropped the 2024 season opener 8-2 in Cincinnati.

The Nationals will then play three games in Philadelphia before coming back to D.C. for an off-day on Thursday, April 2, and the home opener scheduled for Friday, April 3, against the Dodgers. The first homestand will consist of three games against Los Angeles and three against St. Louis.

The 2026 schedule includes two homestands that span over 10 days. The Nats will play nine games against the Pirates, Astros and Yankees over the 10 days leading up to the All-Star break from July 3-12. They will then play 10 consecutive home games from Aug. 24 to Sept. 2, with four coming against the Rockies, four against the Marlins and two against the Braves.

NEW YORK – Not all home runs are created equal.

They all count the same on the scoreboard, yes. But their meanings are different.

Consider Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off home run to open Nationals Park in 2008. Or Jayson Werth’s walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 2012 National League Division Series. Or Howie Kendrick’s longball off the foul pole in Houston to clinch the Nationals’ first World Series championship.

Now consider Jacob Young’s first career grand slam.

Sure, it came with two outs in the ninth inning with his team trailing the Yankees 10-1, the Nats having just got on the scoreboard thanks to Robert Hassell III’s bases-loaded walk. But it still put four runs on the board at Yankee Stadium as the Nats cut their 10-run deficit entering the ninth in half. And it sure meant a whole lot to Young.

NEW YORK – Greetings from the Big Apple! No, we are not in Queens, the Nationals’ usual stomping grounds when they visit New York. (Actually, thankful for that because of all of the U.S. Open tennis traffic that will be going to and from the area surrounding Citi Field). Instead, we are in The Bronx, where the Nats begin a three-game series against the Yankees. And the Nats have actually had success at Yankee Stadium, where they are 7-6 all-time, and against the Bombers, against whom they are 15-14 all-time.

The Yankees are in a tight battle for playoff position, currently sitting 5 ½ games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East. And after dropping three of four at home to the hated-rival Red Sox, they are a half-game behind Boston for the first AL Wild Card spot and half-game ahead of Seattle for the third one. But despite their weekend woes against the Red Sox, the Yankees are winners of eight of their last 12.

As for the Nationals, my colleague Mark Zuckerman pointed out after yesterday’s loss to the Phillies that they have gone 7-2 in games started by Brad Lord, MacKenzie Gore and Cade Cavalli while going 1-7 in games started by Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker over the last 2 ½ weeks. So luckily for them, those first three pitchers are the ones scheduled to start these three games.

Lord gets the ball tonight, bringing his 4-6 record and 3.46 ERA to the hill. The right-hander was charged with four runs in 5 ⅓ innings in his last start against the Mets, but three of the four runs came in the sixth inning. Since returning to the rotation, Lord is 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA and the Nats are 5-1 in his six starts.

In a battle of right-handed rookies, Cam Schlittler goes for the Yankees. He’s 1-2 with a 3.22 ERA in his seven starts and has not allowed more than three earned runs in an outing. In his last time out, he shut out the Rays over 6 ⅔ innings of one-hit ball with two walks and eight strikeouts.

NEW YORK – Miguel Cairo knows the aura that surrounds Yankee Stadium well. He called the old Yankee Stadium home for parts of three seasons during his 17-year major league career.

His message to his young Nationals team ahead of tonight’s three-game series opener in The Bronx: Embrace it and play clean baseball.

“Just do the little things,” the interim manager said during his pregame media session. “You gotta do the little things better than anyone, and you might have a chance to win games.”

Although the Nats have been playing cleaner ball lately, they by no means did the little things better than the Yankees tonight, dooming them to a 10-5 loss that was more of a shellacking by one of the most dangerous offenses in baseball than the final score assumes.

“That's what we've been preaching. To beat teams like this, you cannot give outs away," Cairo said after the game. "But our team has been playing good. It's just one of those days. So far, I'm proud of how we've been doing. Playing hard, it's just one of those days.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals will be short one of their young outfielders tonight as they begin a three-game series against the Yankees.

Daylen Lile is out of the starting lineup for the second straight game while dealing with an illness, interim manager Miguel Cairo revealed during his pregame media session. James Wood is starting in left field, Jacob Young in center and Dylan Crews in right as Robert Hassell III serves as the designated hitter for the first time in his young major league career.

“We don't have a Lile,” Cairo said. “He's been a little sick, so he's been out yesterday and today because of that. But besides that it's the same lineup.”

Lile was not seen around the Nats clubhouse before tonight’s game, with the Nats probably keeping him away from the rest of the team to prevent the disease from spreading to his teammates. This will be the first game Lile has missed since Tuesday’s opener against the Mets back home.

“He was throwing up a little bit and not feeling good,” Cairo said. “So hopefully he's ready tomorrow. We just want to make sure he's fine.”

PHILADELPHIA – When James Wood grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth Sunday afternoon, there was plenty of reason for the Nationals slugger to be disappointed in himself. That 4-6-3 twin-killing may have brought home his team’s first run of the day, but it spoiled a golden opportunity to score a lot more than that during what wound up a 3-2 loss to the Phillies.

The real surprise about Wood’s at-bat, though, was the fact he actually made contact yet didn’t record a hit in the process.

In one of the stranger weekend performances you’ll ever see, Wood finished the series 4-for-12 with one walk and seven strikeouts. Do the math, and you’ll figure out the unusual part of this: Every batted ball he produced turned into a hit, until that killer ground ball to second. He struck out in every other at-bat.

Wood has worked hard to snap himself out of the prolonged slump he was mired in through most of July and into the early stages of August. He entered Sunday’s game batting .304 with an .886 OPS over his previous 14 games, looking much more like the best version of himself from the season’s first half.

But he’s not all the way back. Because while Wood is finally hitting the ball hard again, he’s not hitting the ball enough overall, leading to a gargantuan strikeout total.