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Here are your Washington Nationals Morning headlines, news, analysis, and more for Thursday, April 2nd, 2026
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📅 NEXT AT BAT
Friday vs. Dodgers, 1:05 PM ET — Nats Home Opener
Saturday vs. Dodgers, 4:05 PM ET
Sunday vs. Dodgers, 1:35 PM ET
Monday vs. Cardinals, 6:45 PM ET — New Series vs. Cardinals
Nats .500 Heading to D.C. for Home Opener
⚾ DUGOUT DISPATCH
Nats 3-3 through first 6 games of the season; a mark that doesn’t sound that impressive, but considering the teams they’ve played, a very good place to be. With their series coming up against the Dodgers starting Saturday, it will be a hard test. However, going back home to a rowdy Nats home crowd should get them fired up and in a place to win.
📊 THE BOX SCORE:
The brightest star on the Nats team so far has been Nats 27 year-old outfielder Joey Wiemer. Wiemer is batting .588 AVG through 17 ABs, tallying 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, 5 BB and 10 Hits. Let’s hope he can keep close to this efficiency as the season continues.
Along with Wiemer’s hot bat, Brady House and Daylen Lile have also gotten off to extremely strong and efficient starts. House, the 22 year-old prospect, has tallied a .348 AVG on 8 hits. Lile, blossoming 23 year-old star batting clean-up so far, has tallied a .407 AVG on 11 hits.
Pitching-wise, Nats SP Cade Cavalli is the only pitcher who has tallied 2 starts, racking up 9.2 IP, with 8 Ks and a 2.79 ERA. These are fantastic numbers, and all the Nats will hopefully need from Cade this season, hoping he can keep up the great work.
The Bullpen currently is struggling slightly with a blown lead yesterday especially, but we can hope to see them continue to find their groove and grow. It takes time to find when each reliever is best in a situation.
📈 MORNING STAT
Despite them being the eventual World Series champions, the Nats finished 3-3 against the Dodgers last year, ready to continue to play them hard this season starting Friday.
💬 FAN’S CHOICE
After the first 6 games, how content are you on a scale of 1-10 with the Nationals so far?
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Nats Drop Heartbreaker 6-5 to Rival Phillies
🔥 HEADLINE
Nats lose 5-1 7th inning lead over Phillies, eventually losing the game in the 10th in extra-innings.
Final Score: Nationals 5, Phillies 6
Date: April 1, 2026
Location: Citizens Bank Park
⚾ DUGOUT DISPATCH
After losing their last game 2-3 to the Phillies in a close rubber match, the Nats take an even more devastating loss, dropping a 4 run lead late in their series closer against the Phillies. Despite the heartbreaking fashion however, losing 2 games by 1 run is not the worst in reality. Winning one, and being in a position to easily win the other 2 games against a projected NL Contender is no small feat. These matchups should get them ready to heat up as the season continues underway.
📊 THE BOX SCORE
Winning Pitcher: Jhoan Duran ([1–1], 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K)
Losing Pitcher: Cole Henry ([0–1], 0.1 IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 0K)
Key Hitters:
Joey Wiemer: 2-for-4, 2R, BB
CJ Abrams: 1-for-4, 3 RBIs, HR, R
Brady House: 2-for-4, 2B, BB
Team RISP: [2-for-10]
Errors: Nats 2, Phillies 0
Attendance: 37,469
🎙️ LOCKER ROOM LORE
Nats new 33 year-old manager Blake Butera was optimistic for the upcoming series, following a rough outcome against the Phillies in the previous one. He believes this team can win games, and outcomes like these last two should not become a norm.
“There were some guys pretty upset walking out of the dugout, and it shows us they care. Our coaching staff’s upset, too. These last two games have been pretty frustrating. We thought we had all three this series,” Butera said after the 6-5 loss in extras. “They’re pretty upset right now, which you like to see — these guys are competitive, they want to win.
This young Nats team has heart, and they’re not afraid to show how much they care about bad losses. They know they are a winning team.
📅 NEXT AT BAT
Next Game: vs. Nats, April 3, 2026, 1:05 PM ET, Nationals Park
Probables: Nats — Miles Mikolas, Dodgers — Emmet Sheehan
Key Storyline: Nats finally get their Home Opener against the reigning World Series champs LA Dodgers. Be ready for an amazing environment and some great quality baseball to be played.
💬 FAN’S CHOICE
What do you see the outcome of the Home Opening series against the Dodgers being?
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⚾ DUGOUT DISPATCH
The Rochester Red Wings escape a close rally by the RailRiders, winning their matchup Thursday 5-4. Stars Trey Lipscomb and Christian Franklin both had multi-hit games, along with a great pitching performance by Riley Cornelio, striking out 7 batters in 4.1 innings, only allowing 2 runs.
📊 THE BOX SCORE:
Rochester moves to 3-1 on the season, continuing to show off their strong farm system and young players. Going to see a game this year should be on any Nats fans bucket list, with a high chance of seeing a future star play.
Batting second and third, Nats top prospects Dylan Crews and Harry Ford are still working on finding their footing. Despite Crews batting .154 and Ford batting 0.91, both were able to tally an RBI, hopefully finding their footing as the season goes on.
The Red Wings will continue this series against the RailRiders, with 5 more back-to-back home games upcoming for them.
📈 MORNING STAT
Despite being 3-1, according to MLB.com, the Red Wings have a 2-2 expected win-loss, showing their adversity to win games against the odds so far.
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WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING
Speed Reads
📌 National’s Updated Top Prospects (MLB)