Blake Butera is going to keep Washington Nationals fans on their toes this season

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 17: Washington Nationals Manager Blake Butera (L) puts on a Nationals jersey as he is introduced during a press conference at Nationals Park on November 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. Butera became the eighth manager in Nationals team history and the youngest manager in Major League Baseball since 1972. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) | Getty Images When Nationals fans saw the lineup card yesterday, many of them scratched their heads.

It was an unconventional alignment, with Andres Chaparro hitting second and CJ Abrams hitting sixth. Buckle up because this is not going to be the last time we see an odd looking lineup. Blake Butera is going to shuffle his lineup around based on the matchup a lot this season.

Nationals 3/26 Wood LF Chaparro 1B House 3B Lile DH Wiemer RF Abrams SS Nuñez 2B Ruiz C Young CF Cavalli SP — Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) March 26, 2026 Tinkering with lineups and bullpen usage is going to be part of the Nats new philosophy this season. Honestly, Davey Martinez had started to tinker with his lineups more in the last couple years, but we will see it taken to an even more extreme degree this season. CJ Abrams was almost always the leadoff man and James Wood was usually right behind him.

This year, we are not going to have as good of an idea as to what the lineup will look like. That is both cool to see, but I am sure it will be frustrating at times. You want to play the matchups, but at the same time you do not want to out think the room.