The Washington Nationals’ 2026 season ended with one more comeback. Down 4–1 to the New York Mets in the second inning, they tied the game in the third. Andrés Chaparro’s second home run of the afternoon put them ahead for good in a 6–4 win. It was Washington’s 33rd comeback victory of the year.

Before the game, first time Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera named the quality he valued most in his team. “I’m most proud of the resilience of this group,” Butera said. “It’s been pretty amazing.

A final record can tell us where the Nationals finished. It cannot tell us what they should do with everything they learned along the way. That is the more important question now: which parts of 2026 can Washington build on, and which problems can it no longer afford to carry into 2027?

That win left Washington at 77–85, its best record since 2019 and an 11-win improvement over 2025. It was a step forward. But it was also a losing season. Both things matter when the Nationals decide what to carry into 2027.

For years, the Washington Nationals front office have asked fans to watch young players develop and imagine what the roster might become. In 2026, some of that imagined future showed up on the field. CJ Abrams hit 33 home runs. James Wood hit 30. Washington finished third in the majors in runs scored. Cade Cavalli gave the rotation a starter it can build around.

The season left Washington with a clearer set of lessons: keep the resilience that helped this team recover from losses, give its young lineup a better chance to win the games it puts within reach, strengthen the pitching, and make honest decisions about where players fit. None of that will happen simply because another year has passed.

The lesson is not that the rebuild is finished. It is that the Nationals should be more demanding of it now.

Butera’s praise was more than a feel-good line on the final day. The Nationals went 24–28 in series openers but 15–7 in rubber games, the deciding games of tied series. Those records do not tell the whole story, but they do describe a team that often found a way to finish a series well even when it had not started one well.

Butera reached for a Ted Lasso comparison to explain how his players handled disappointment. “When [Ted Lasso] talks about being a goldfish, I feel like we have a bunch of goldfish in there,” Butera said on Sunday. “And it makes it really fun for me when you don’t have to wonder if they’re going to come out flat the next day.”

Fans had reasons to appreciate that quality. They also had plenty of reasons to wish the Nationals did not need to demonstrate it so often. A late lead could vanish; a strong night at the plate could end in a loss. Yet the team kept coming back, right through the final game.

That resilience belongs in 2027. So does the responsibility of the Washington Nationals front office to build a roster that does not ask players to overcome the same shortcomings night after night.

CJ Abrams’ season made the Nationals’ future feel less abstract. He finished with 33 home runs, 106 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. James Wood hit 30 homers despite missing 27 games. Abrams and Wood became the first Nationals teammates to reach 30 home runs in the same season since Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in 2019.

Washington’s offense was not just a two-man story. The club finished third in MLB in runs scored and led the majors in stolen bases. Daylen Lile, Brady House and Chaparro gave the Nationals more young hitters to evaluate as they consider what this lineup could become.

Nasim Nuñez added one of the season’s most enjoyable individual achievements. In September, he broke the Nationals’ single-season stolen-base record, surpassing Abrams’ previous mark of 47. Butera praised Nuñez’s growth in choosing when to run. Nuñez pointed to what he still wanted to improve: getting on base more often so he could make even more use of his speed.

That is the right way to look at this lineup. Celebrate what these players accomplished, then help them find the next level. The Nationals cannot assume every 2026 number will repeat itself. They can recognize that this group has earned a stronger team around it.

Washington blew an MLB-record 42 saves in 2026. A blown save is not necessarily a ninth-inning failure, and one new closer would not solve every problem. The Nationals need enough trustworthy relief options to handle close games throughout the late innings.

Too often, the lineup did enough to put Washington in position to win, only for a lead to slip away. Butera admired the players’ ability to return the next day without letting those losses linger. The front office should make that test of character less frequent.

Right hander Cade Cavalli showed what steadiness can do for the rotation. He made 32 starts, posted a 3.02 ERA and struck out 200 batters. The Washington Nationals rewarded his performance this year by extending him during the season and not waiting to the offseason. Now the Nationals need enough pitching around him and a bullpen that a strong start and a productive night at the plate have a better chance of becoming a win.

Believing in a player does not mean leaving him in the same role forever.

In August, the Nationals announced plans to move CJ Abrams from shortstop to second base and shift Nuñez to shortstop. Butera acknowledged it was not an easy conversation. Abrams said he still believed he could be a great shortstop. Washington wanted to see whether a different infield alignment could help the team without losing the impact of Abrams’ bat.

That decision has a human side. Abrams had spent his Nationals career at shortstop and was putting together a remarkable offensive year. Asking him to learn another position was not a small thing. But if the Nationals believe this group can win together, they have to ask where each player gives the team its best chance not just where he has always played.

The answer is not settled yet. The work in 2027 is to evaluate Abrams at second, Nuñez at shortstop and the other infield options honestly. Helping a young player find the right fit is part of building around him.

Changes to Washington’s player-development operation coincided with substantial improvements in minor-league hitting and pitching results, according to The Athletic. For a club trying to build a lasting winner, those gains matter beyond any one prospect.

They deserve scrutiny, too. The Athletic reported that 54 Nationals minor-league pitchers went on the injured list from March through August, compared with 35 over the same period in 2025. The increase does not establish a cause. It does make pitcher health a question the organization should examine as it builds on its development gains.

Better numbers on the farm are encouraging. The real payoff comes when players reach Washington healthy and ready to contribute and when the club recognizes which big-league needs the farm system cannot fill quickly enough on its own.

At the trade deadline, the Nationals moved Foster Griffin, Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead for young players and prospects. Those deals may help the club down the road. They also captured the tension of 2026: Washington’s big-league team was beginning to look more competitive while the organization was still investing in a future version of itself.

The front office does not need to treat 77 wins as proof the Nationals are one move away. It does need to recognize that Abrams, Wood and Cavalli are contributing now. Strengthening the bullpen, adding pitching depth and making clear-eyed roster decisions would support the long-term plan not abandon it.

Butera told his players that next season begins with the work they do this winter.

The same should be true for the people building the roster. The Nationals front office and fans have seen what this group can do. Now they have to give it more than another season of overcoming what the team lacks.

There was something worth holding onto in that final comeback against the Mets. Even with the season nearly over, the Nationals fell behind and found a way back. Fans have spent years watching this club search for signs of the next good team. This season, they saw some of those signs on the field.

The Nationals finished 2026 with 77 wins, not a playoff berth. That distinction matters. So does the feeling that the future is no longer quite so far away. The challenge for 2027 is to keep the resilience that carried this team through difficult nights and build a roster that lets it turn more of those nights into wins.

The Nationals showed us what they might become. Now the decisions get harder. Join Nats Report+ for deeper Nationals analysis and minor-league coverage as we follow the players, roster questions and offseason moves that will shape 2027.