A fan’s comment after a June loss to the Kansas City Royals stuck with Paul Toboni enough that he included it in his letter to Nationals fans today.

“You know what’s cool? I’m upset we didn’t sweep the Royals today.”

Toboni doesn’t share his response, but I love that a fan told him this. The fan thought Washington should have finished the sweep. The fan expected a win.

That’s where I want this fan base to be and needs to be in-order for the team to be successful in the future. Watching a game expecting the Nationals to win, then being annoyed when it doesn’t happen.

In his letter, the Nationals’ president of baseball operations discusses the young roster, better results throughout the minor leagues and offseason work taking place in West Palm Beach. He explains why he believes the organization is improving without suggesting the job is finished.

Reading it, I kept coming back to one question: What needs to happen this winter for the Nationals to win more of those games next season?

Toboni points to Washington’s 77 wins after preseason projections had the team winning 65. According to his letter, the Nationals also remained in playoff contention through late July.

Washington’s run differential improved from minus-212 in 2025 to plus-six in 2026. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, as noted in the letter, the Nationals had never improved their run differential by that much from one season to the next.

That’s a big improvement. It also doesn’t erase the games Washington should have won.

Toboni addresses that, writing about the need to execute better in tight games and finish more consistently.

Anyone who watched the bullpen give up a late lead knows exactly what he’s talking about. Some of those losses were tough to take because the Nationals had played well enough to win. You weren’t watching a team get beaten from the first inning. You were watching a game slip away after Washington had put itself in a good position.

Those losses stay with you because you wonder where the Nationals might have finished if they had held on. A few more wins could have changed the trajectory of the season.

The fan’s comment and interaction with Toboni about the Royals gets at that frustration. Once you start expecting more, a competitive game doesn’t always leave you feeling better. Sometimes you just want to know why your team couldn’t finish it.

Toboni reports that the Nationals’ minor league winning percentage improved from .463 to .531, moving the organization from 24th to fifth across baseball. Rochester also won the International League title.

He argues that developing players and winning games should happen together.

A young pitcher can work on a secondary pitch while learning how to get out of an inning with runners on base. A hitter can make adjustments at the plate and still be responsible for helping his team win. Working toward a major league career doesn’t mean the game in front of you shouldn’t matter.

I want and Nationals prospects need to experience that responsibility before they arrive in Washington.

The next question is how those minor league gains help the major league roster. When someone gets hurt, will the Nationals have a player ready to step in? Can a call-up give the manager another useful option? Will a prospect arrive prepared to compete for a job?

Those are the things I’ll be watching. Better records throughout the system are encouraging, but fans also need to see those teams produce players who can help Washington win.

Toboni says major leaguers and minor leaguers are working together at an offseason camp in West Palm Beach from early October through late November.

I’d like to know more about what they’re doing.

Who is changing something in his swing? Is a pitcher working on a pitch he struggled with during the season? What are the younger players asking the guys who have already spent time in Washington?

Give me those details. If a player is spending part of his offseason trying to fix something, I want to hear what he and his coaches are working through.

That would also give fans something specific to follow next spring. We could watch for an adjustment, hear how the player feels about it and see whether it holds up once games start.

Toboni compares the organization to an iceberg because most of the work happens out of view. Fans won’t see every workout or conversation with a coach. We’ll see a player step into the batter’s box next season and hope that extra work helped.

Toboni acknowledges that the work has to lead to a better major league team. The camp sounds like something worth following more closely as the offseason continues.

As I wrote in “Paul Toboni’s First Year: Rebuilding the Nationals From the Inside Out,” Toboni did not spend his first year chasing a quick fix. He spent it building one.

His letter gets into more of that work, including player development, staffing, infrastructure and the way the Nationals make decisions.

There’s a lot there that fans can’t judge from watching a game. We don’t know every conversation that goes into a roster move or every change the organization is making to its development process.

That doesn’t mean we have to put every decision aside until some later date.

Fans can agree with the direction and question a trade. They can support the work in the minor leagues and still want a deeper major league roster. They can recognize a better season and be frustrated by the wins that got away.

Toboni doesn’t promise and acknowledges that another step forward will not happen automatically. He writes about improving the roster, helping players develop and making sure the experience of working for the Nationals matches what he says the organization stands for.

This offseason will give us a better idea of how he plans to address those things.

The part of the letter that matters most to me and I really liked is when he addressed accountability within the Washington Nationals organization. From personal accountability to the greater team decision making everything and everyone is accountable for their decisions made.

There’s plenty from this season worth taking another look at. That includes the successes, but it also includes the roster decisions, late-game losses and missed opportunities.

Fans won’t see most of those internal discussions. They’ll see whether the Nationals have enough depth when a player gets hurt. They’ll see whether the bullpen can protect a lead and whether a young player is ready when his opportunity comes.

That’s how much of this will be judged.

Toboni has laid out where he believes the Nationals have improved and where they still need help. Now we get to see what he does with the winter ahead.

And hopefully, the next time Washington has a chance to sweep the Royals, that fan gets to enjoy it.