RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wintertime carols purred from a glowing boombox in the center of the room as a veteran pitcher made the rounds handing out lyric sheets for an upcoming singalong. Nearby, an outcropping of colorfully wrapped presents of various shapes and sizes surrounded a neatly decorated Douglas fir. A red stocking with a curly white W hung from each player’s locker. Inside each oversized sock hid a miniature libation or two. The atmosphere was festive, jolly, merry.
The Washington Nationals were quite literally having Christmas in July.
It’s an annual tradition around these parts, a mid-summer bonding event that provides a rare opportunity for public displays of gift-giving and whimsy. Last year’s soiree, however, unfolded under particularly cheerless circumstances. The 2025 Nationals were a wreck, a slog, an utter bummer of a ballclub that eventually finished 30 games under .500.
A few weeks before last year’s warm-weather yuletide party, the club axed manager Davey Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo, both of whom led the franchise to the 2019 World Series title. In what must have been a surreal scene, Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner informed the players about the monumental firings while standing in the shadow of the clubhouse’s Christmas tree.
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
The 2026 Nats are a more chipper bunch — and for good reason.
The club’s 10-7 win over Arizona on Sunday moved them within one game of the third NL wild-card spot , currently held by those Diamondbacks. Washington’s high-powered lineup leads baseball in nearly every relevant offensive category, including runs per game, home runs and OPS.
James Wood and CJ Abrams, both All-Stars, each went yard twice on Sunday. Wood’s second blast made him only the second player in Nationals history with back-to-back 30-homer seasons. Abrams’ first made him the all-time Nats single-season leader for home runs by a shortstop. Things are going well.
“It’s exceeded expectations ...” first-year Nats manager Blake Butera answered postgame when asked to speak about his time around Wood and Abrams. “I have nothing but incredible things to say about both of those guys, about, honestly, everybody in our clubhouse.”
Entering the season under a completely overhauled regime led by new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, expectations for the 2026 Nats were awfully low. Before Opening Day, FanGraphs gave the club a 0.8% chance to make the postseason, the second-lowest figure in baseball. Now, with the Nats at 54-52, those odds are all the way up to 10%.
Butera, 33, has been a massive part of this unexpectedly competitive Nationals season. His hiring surprised swaths of the industry, with skeptics referencing his age and total lack of experience in a big-league dugout. But now Butera, who previously served as Tampa Bay’s director of player development, is garnering rave reviews around the sport and from inside the Nats organization for his ability to connect with players.
That human touch, that investment in people as people is a clear Tobonian organizational pillar. Development happens only from a baseline of interpersonal trust. That approach has already helped enable significant player development strides at the big-league level. For evidence, look no further than recently traded infielder Curtis Mead, whom the Nats sent to Boston late Saturday for highly regarded starting pitcher Connelly Early .
Just a few years ago, Mead was a can’t-miss consensus top-40 prospect in baseball, matriculating his way up the Rays’ farm system under Butera’s watchful gaze. But for whatever reason, Tampa Bay never gave the bald Australian consistent big-league playing time. Mead never got comfortable, and his play suffered accordingly. He was dealt to the White Sox at last year’s deadline, where he soon became an afterthought on a roster overcrowded with young infielders. Chicago designated him for assignment just before Opening Day this season, and the Nats scooped him up via trade a few days later.
The reclamation project was a near-immediate success. Reunited with Butera, Mead blossomed. Consistent at-bats helped, too. Eventually, Mead graduated from a platoon option against left-handed pitching to Washington’s every-day third baseman. The organization showed faith in him; he returned the favor with 17 homers in 87 games.
“Coming here with Blake was just great for me, because I felt like I didn’t need to prove myself to him,” Mead recently told The Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum . “
“That’s why we do what we do. That’s why I do what I do.” Butera said when asked what it means to know he had such an outsized impact on a player. “I know we care about, obviously, the wins and losses at the end of the day, but to be able to make that type of impact on a person and hopefully help their career ... it means a lot. It does.”
And Mead is far from the only beneficiary of Washington’s revamped culture. Abrams and Wood have taken steps forward. First baseman Luis Garcia Jr., catcher Keibert Ruiz and outfielder Jacob Young are all enjoying career years. As a result, the Nationals’ rebuild is well ahead of schedule, despite a relief corps that leads MLB in blown saves and is fourth from the bottom in ERA.
Still, this was not a roster constructed with October baseball in mind. It’s difficult to envision a team with so porous a bullpen sneaking into the playoffs. Abrams, still a poor defender, and second baseman Nasim Nuñez, a true glovesmith, should’ve swapped positions weeks ago if postseason baseball were truly the top priority. Even the acquisition of Early, who is currently on the IL and not expected back on a big-league mound for at least a few weeks, can be seen as a future-oriented move. Despite all the legitimate optimism surrounding this club, it’s difficult to argue that Toboni and Co. should be going all-in to win now.
And so, a few more trades off the big-league roster might be coming. All-Star hurler Foster G...
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