Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, September 12.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing!

Leading this Morning's Briefing: Abrams joins 20-20 Club

Although his entire second half has been largely disappointing, we do have to remember that CJ Abrams is just 23 years old - and we have seen a major step forward for Luis García Jr. in his age-24 season this year. Last night Abrams bonked one off of the bullpen cart parked well beyond the center field gate for his 20th home run of the season, becoming the fifth National to achieve that feat in a season:

Last Game Out

Abrams wasn't the only National to have a good day, as Jake Irvin recorded 17 outs before giving up a hit, while six Nats had two-hit days (Abrams, Crews, Wood, Yepez, Tena, Ruiz). They beat the Barves 5-1, and now host the Marlins for four games starting this evening.

Nationals Headline of the Day: Help Wanted

Barry Svrluga tackles the offseason spending questions over at the Washington Post, rightly calling for the Lerners to be aggressive this winter, since they will enter arbitration season 29th of 30 teams in 2025 payroll commitments (and really, only García Jr., Abrams, Kyle Finnegan, and MacKenzie Gore stand to make more than a couple million in arbitration).

Down on the Farm

Riley Adams homered for AAA Rochester in a loss, and Dustin Saenz, who missed the entire first half of the 2024 season on the IL, threw six innings of one-run ball for AA Harrisburg in a losing effort. The FredNats will try to sweep their series against the Carolina Mudcats today behind Travis Sykora.

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Featured Baseball Story of the Day

The most well-rounded player any of us have seen in our lives hit his 47th home run and stole his 48th base last night, inching ever closer to the first 50-50 season in baseball history with over two weeks to go. All hail Shohei.

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Former National of the Day

Remember Greg Holland? The closer of the Royals' law firm of Herrera, Davis, & Holland came to the Nats in August 2018 after being unceremoniously dumped by the Cardinals and was awesome in 24 games, recording a 0.84 ERA and 0.891 WHIP. Sadly, his arrival coincided with the Nats' listless finish to the 2018 campaign, and he departed for Arizona that winter, missing out on a second ring.

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