Washington Nationals 2025 Season

THE LEAD

It isn’t all that often that teams postpone a game four months, as Atlanta and Washington agreed to do with yesterday’s rainout, which will now be played on September 16. Both teams could look entirely different by that point in the season; for Atlanta, presumably Ronald Acuña Jr. will be back and fully recovered from last year’s torn ACL, while the Nats will ideally have Brady House ensconced at third base. This is, of course, to say nothing of any trades, DFAs, less obvious promotions, etc.

In the near term, this schedule change with no immediate doubleheader will shake up the opponents for the Nationals’ rotation while also giving everyone an extra day of rest. In fact, thanks to another off-day looming on Monday while the team travels out to Seattle, each of the five members of the rotation will make their next start a full week after their previous start, and some of them will see a different opponent. Trevor Williams still gets the Barves today, but MacKenzie Gore will now face the Giants on Friday, followed by Jake Irvin and Michael Soroka, with Mitchell Parker getting the nod next Tuesday at Seattle. Hopefully all five of them can have a good turn coming off of not one but two extra days of rest, especially since those five starts will come against good teams. And in fact, the next time a Nationals pitcher will have to start a game on the standard four days’ rest is Sunday, June 1, when Parker will square off against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

Game Recap

The Nationals postponed yesterday’s game due to weather, and because today’s forecast is also iffy they pushed the makeup all the way to September. Assuming that they can a) get the game in today and b) start on time, Trevor Williams will take on A.J. Smith-Shawver this evening at 6:45 PM, where the Nats will be trying to dust the Barves (“sweep” is too strong for a two-game series - and for those of you who don’t listen to Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman on the Baseball Bar-B-Cast, taking all of a four-game set is called a “mop”).

 STORY TYPE

The Hassell Domino

There are several different ways that yesterday’s promotion of outfielder Robert Hassell III can go in both the immediate and more intermediate future, mostly dependent on Hassell himself (naturally) but also on the performance and health of other players in the system. As the Nationals typically do with their more highly regarded prospects, the plan will be for Hassell to generally play every day - he is not getting the call to play twice a week while spelling Alex Call or Jacob Young. In the outfield, Hassell will play right field when paired with Young and center field whenever Young sits for Call. Replacing Crews with Hassell does make the lineup extremely left-handed - the lineup that was put out for yesterday’s rainout had only one right-handed hitter (Call) with two switch-hitters (Keibert Ruiz and Josh Bell, both better from the left side) and a whopping SIX lefties (Abrams, Wood, Lowe, García, Tena, Hassell). Fortunately, Abrams and Wood have both hit southpaws well this year, so that at least negates some of the platoon split issues. Anyway, here are the most likely scenarios for how this whole thing plays out:

Scenario 1: Hassell carries over his hot month at AAA and proves capable of holding down an everyday job with the big club, necessitating an organizational decision on one of Call, Young, Amed Rosario, or Nasim Nuñez whenever Crews returns from the injured list (Crews himself will not be optioned ahead of any of those players). This is probably the scenario that the team prefers, and the player on the most precarious ground could be Rosario IF Brady House continues to hit dingers in AAA and looks capable of getting his own call-up to take over third base.

Scenario 2: Hassell shines but House doesn’t get the call, in which case Young would be the next most likely candidate to be optioned - certainly if he continues to hit for a 71 wRC+ and get thrown out on the bases half the times he runs.

Scenario 3: Hassell struggles enough that he gets sent back down when Crews returns.

Scenario 4: Hassell struggles, Crews’s oblique injury lingers for awhile (they have a way of doing that sometimes), and forced to make a move, Mike Rizzo calls up Daylen Lile to replace him - who is yet another lefty-hitting outfielder.

Those are the four most likely paths that this will take, so let us see what happens (and root for scenario one!).

AD

Wake up with Peet’s Coffee and the Morning Briefing

Peet’s Coffee is crafted for those who crave delicious coffee without the brewing; this versatile blend holds its own in any creation. Silky-smooth and delicious, hot or cold, it takes just one tablespoon and a couple of moments to whip up whatever cup you're craving. Order yours today to take advantage of their limited-time intro price.

 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 Who’s Trying, Who’s Not (The Athletic)

📌 Hitters Whose Projections Have Changed (Fangraphs)

📌 Hot Starts You Might Have Missed (Yahoo!)