This may not have been the rock bottom moment for the 2025 Nationals, but it was certainly one of them. You would think that playing the Yankees in front of a packed house would get these players inspired. However, they seemed to shrink to the moment rather than rise to it.
While none of the games in this series were competitive, this one was the biggest blowout of them all. Heading into the game, any true Nats fan had a bad feeling about this one. It was a day game where a left handed pitcher was on the mound.
That has been a disaster combination for this team all year.
Leadoff man Trent Grisham set the tone for what kind of game this would be. He squeezed a home run just over the infamous short porch in right field. While it was a cheap homer, they all count the same. That was the first of six homers the Nats allowed today.
There was much more embarrassment to come. The third inning was an historic meltdown from the Nats. In an inning that seemed to drag on for hours, the Nationals gave up 9 runs in an inning where the Bronx Bombers sent 15 hitters to the plate.
The worst part of all of this was the pure pitch count. Nationals pitchers threw 77 pitches in that third inning. That is the most in one half inning since 2003. The Nationals were not a franchise at that point and many of the players on this team were infants.
Another weird, slightly humiliating moment in the game came in the 5th inning. Since Drew Millas got hurt, Riley Adams had to replace him earlier in the game. However, since he was DH’ing, the Nationals lost their DH. That meant in the 5th, pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara had to hit. He left the bat on his shoulder for three pitches and struck out.
It is unfortunate that Ogasawara has been involved in a couple of the more memorable bad moments of this season. His first career start where he got shelled was the last game of the Mike Rizzo/Davey Martinez era. Today, he had a ridiculous at bat in an embarrassing loss to the Yankees. It has not been his fault, but he is probably going to be one of those random Nats that fans look back at and view as part of the dark ages.
Games and series like this really show how far away the Nats really are. It makes me wonder whether actually spending big money this offseason is really worth it. Would the team just be better off building up the foundation and pouring all their resources into fixing their drafting and developing issues. Any of the true difference making free agents would require significant overpays to attract because why would they want to play here instead of a contender.
Another alarming detail that this exposed was just how far off the Nats are from a run differential stand point. Their minus 171 run differential is the second worst of any team, and third worst is not close. For context, the White Sox run differential is only minus 66.
After a couple fun, competitive series against divisional foes, it is back to reality for the Washington Nationals. There are no quick fixes here and the Nationals need to start over. It is time to start from scratch with a new manager, new GM, new coaching staff and new front office personnel. What we have right now is not working and we are being left behind.
In the 2010’s, these teams were competing with baseball’s elite. However, organizational incompetence at all levels has allowed a culture of losing to set it. We need to bring in winners that know what it takes to get us back to a place where we can compete with the Yankees.
