Good Morning Washington Nationals Fan,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, October 2, 2023. I am Haden Raymer, let’s dive into the news.

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Leading today’s Morning Briefing: Nationals win series against the Atlanta Braves

Over the last week, I have talked ad nauseam about how the Nationals were chasing their 70th win on the season, and that going up against the Braves would make it an uphill battle. Friday night, the Nationals ended the conversation, putting up 10 runs against the MLB-best Atlanta Braves. With five home runs, the Nationals dominated the second half of the game. Carter Kieboom, Jake Alu, Keibert Ruiz, Dominic Smith, and Lane Thomas all hit one out of the park. This was only the third time in the last two years the Nationals hit five home runs in a game, according to Stathead. A good offensive showing is just what the Nationals needed heading into the offseason.

They slowed down a bit in game two, losing 5-3. CJ Abrams, Keibert Ruiz, and Jacob Young all got two hits. Joan Adon and Jordan Weems allowed all the runs, but Joe La Sorsa, Andres Machado, Cory Abbott, and Tanner Rainey all had scoreless outings. This was Rainey’s first MLB appearance since his Tommy John surgery last season.

On Sunday, the Nationals had a back-and-forth game that ended with a 10-9 victory. Keibert Ruiz continued to swing the bat well, going 3-5 with a double. The story of the afternoon was of course CJ Abrams, who got stolen base 46 and 47 to set a team record. Considering he only had nine heading into July, I would be shocked if that record was not set again next season. Jacob Young got his season total to 13 stolen bases in just 33 games. And with that, the season was over. 71 wins, a 16-game improvement over last season. Another 16-game improvement would put them at 87 wins, and there are some clear areas of need, so it should be doable.

Here are your final standings.

The Morning Briefing Will Continue!

Do not worry, the Morning Briefing will still be hitting your inbox all offseason long, with new editions coming out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. To fill that gap, we will have more content on our site thanks to our new and existing writers.

Thank you

Once again, thank you so much for the support this season, especially as we have transitioned to Substack. As Richard said in his blog post yesterday, we have big plans for this offseason and future seasons. For those of you who listen to In the Clubhouse, our final regular season episode is tonight and will be live on Twitch at 9:30 p.m. ET. After the World Series, we will still be delivering weekly episodes on YouTube and Substack.

As always, the best way to support us is to subscribe, tell your friends about us, and follow us on social media. We are still looking for writers, so if you want to join the team go ahead and DM me on Twitter and we can talk some ball. Or you can just DM me if you want to chat. Again thank you so much for a great season, it has been wonderful writing for you (almost) every weekday, and I can’t wait to continue to write this offseason and next season.

Featured Story of the Day

The postseason bracket via MLB.com

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