The Washington Nationals enter Saturday looking to build off of their strong Opening Day performance and improve to 2-0, something they haven’t done since 2018. Miles Mikolas, a free agent signing by Paul Toboni this past offseason, will be the pitcher trying to make that happen against his former division rival (more later in today’s notes).

The Nationals cruised to a monstrous 10-4 win on Thursday, defeating the Cubs despite needing 16 bullpen outs. This is the kind of game that didn’t seem to fall Washington’s way last season, but Blake Butera was able to get 5.1 innings of one-run ball from PJ Poulin, Brad Lord, Clayton Beeter, and Cionel Pérez. Lord carried the bulk of that, recording seven outs but also surrendering the lone run while recording a strikeout as well. Cade Cavalli had a solid performance as the starter, but Butera didn’t let things go awry with a high pitch count in the fourth inning.

Offensively, the bats first woke up in the second inning when Joey Wiemer hit the first home run for Washington. Down 2-1 in the fourth, however, Washington had five straight get on base starting with an Andrés Chaparro double, which gave them a 4-2 lead that they never handed back. A Jacob Young homer later made it 7-2 before the six-run frame ended. Brady House also joined in on the fun, muscling a two-run shot in the ninth inning to cap off an explosive day at the plate.

On Deck…

The Nationals and Cubs will wrap up this three game series on Sunday afternoon, when Jake Irvin takes the ball against Chicago’s dangerous lineup at 2:20. Lefty Shota Imanaga will pitch for the Cubs before Washington heads off to Philly.

In the hole…

The second and final stop on this road trip will be in Philadelphia, where Washington is set to begin a three-game set with the Phillies on Monday. Taijuan Walker will take the mound for Rob Thomson, while Blake Butera has not yet named his starter. What we do know, however, is that it will be either Foster Griffin or Zack Littell.

Washington’s bats opened the season on an unexpected high note, setting a Nationals record with three Opening Day home runs, which also tied the franchise maximum when including the Montreal era. Beyond that, the nine balls put in play with an exit velocity over 100 MPH was something that the team did not do until game 10 last year. Six of those were off of Cubs ace Matthew Boyd, who only had two starts last season allowing more than that (one of which was against the Nationals).

For a new coaching staff that oversaw a Spring Training offense with the lowest batting average and the eighth-worst rate of balls in play at 100+ MPH, this confidence boost could prove invaluable as the group finds its footing. First impressions matter in this sport, and Washington put its best foot forward on Thursday.

With the Nationals’ win on Thursday, Blake Butera and Paul Toboni each earned their first victory in their new leadership roles. For the new skipper, he became just the fifth Washington manager to win his first game, out of 10 who have tried. If he can lead his team to a win today, it would mark Washington’s eighth 2–0 start since the relocation, and its first since 2018.

Why it matters:

For a team looking to fully reset its culture and methods, winning its first series under a new regime, especially on the road, could be massive for building confidence both inside and outside the organization. While starting 2–0 isn’t necessarily indicative of a season’s eventual results, it would be significant for a team like Washington, which has no players on its current roster who were present the last time it happened.

This season, MLB is introducing the Automated Balls & Strikes (ABS) challenge system. Teams will get two challenges to lose per game on home-plate umpire calls, and they keep the right to continue if they overturn a pitch’s decision. The battery, along with the hitter all are permitted to head-tap and ask for a review, but there can be no dugout input. The Nats’ catchers, in particular, know the strike zone incredibly well (which was evident on Thursday with Keibert Ruiz’s challenge), and it will be important for Washington to save challenges for their battery.

Why it matters:

The Nationals challenged 63 pitches in Spring Training, the 13th most in MLB. Of those attempts, 34 were while fielding. Their 64.7% win rate of those head-taps ranked 6th best in the league, although they lost 18 of 29 in the batters’ box. On Opening Day, Washington challenged three pitches, just one of those being from behind the plate. Entering Friday’s play, the Nats were one of just five teams to have a perfect ABS success rate while fielding. At the plate, they were 1-2, with a CJ Abrams win and Luis García Jr. loss in the top of the ninth while the team had two challenges remaining.

The Nationals signed 37 year-old Miles Mikolas to a one-year deal this past offseason, with the intention being for the veteran to eat some innings and mentor Washington’s young pitchers. Drafted in 2009 out of Nova Southeastern University, Mikolas spent most of his career with the Cardinals after coming back from Japan. From 2018-25, he was a reliable arm for St. Louis that gave them 30+ starts every year except for 2020-21. That, plus the fact that he’s thrown the 15th-most pitches in MLB since 2023, made this signing a safe bet for Paul Toboni despite Mikolas’ recent performance struggles.

As a former Cardinal, Mikolas is no stranger to the Cubs’ offense. Today will be the righty’s 24th career start against Chicago, and his 15th at Wrigley Field. Through the first 23 outings, the former seventh-round pick has a 6-8 record and a 3.73 ERA. However, the battles in recent years have not fallen Mikolas’ way, as he dropped to a 9.82 last season over two appearances against his former division foe.

Craig Counsell’s Chicago Cubs had an incredibly successful 2025 season, despite their relatively early exit in October. Losing Kyle Tucker to the Dodgers was a big blow, but they did just extend their two-most valuable hitters in Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner to massive six-year extensions, respectively. Winning 92 games (96 including the postseason) was no joke for a young team making their first Postseason appearance since 2020, and they entered this season looking to build on that by any means necessary.

Against the Nationals, Chicago is 69-65 since 2005, and they also beat Washington in five games during the 2017 NLDS. The teams evenly split their season series last year at three games each, but Washington has not won the annual battle since 2023. Washington currently leads this season’s battle, 1-0.

Cade Horton, entering his second year as a big league pitcher, will start his campaign against a Nationals lineup that is eager to prove Thursday’s win was no fluke. The 24 year-old finished second in Rookie of the Year voting after posting a 2.67 ERA over 118 innings in 23 games, with an 11-4 record. In his only career start against Washington, he was credited with the win by throwing 5.1 frames while allowing three runs, only one of which was earned.

Day: 0-1 | Night: 0-0 | Home Record: 0-1 | Road Record: 0-0

Current Streak: L1 | Last Five: 0-1 | Last Ten: 0-1 | Current Month: 0-1

A.L. Teams: 0-0 | N.L. Teams: 0-1 | N.L. East: 0-1