Blake Butera on Nationals Hot Start to 2026 Season: "It's Huge"

The Washington Nationals  have opened the Blake Butera era in impressive fashion with Monday's 13-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies the latest in an encouraging start. The win marked the second time in four games the Nationals registered both double digit hits and runs, enough to register the third-most hits and tie the Milwaukee Brewers for the most runs scored in baseball in a hot start for the offense . Joey Wiemer's hot bat has been main storyline after tying Carlos Delgado for the league's longest streak to reach base to open a season, but Monday's win also featured some of the small ball highlights that fans expected out of Butera after Jose Tena capitalized with runners on the corners to steal home, making it a 9-2 game in the sixth inning.

"Felt like a travel ball game a little bit," outfielder Daylen Lile told team reporter Alexa Datt after the win. "We're just playing team baseball. We're doing the little things.

We're passing down the line and we're backing our pitches up and pitches are throwing strikes so nothing to it. " a good night all around → https://t. co/iUBDqlACVs pic.

twitter. com/XGsvWQkV0I — Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 31, 2026 Of course, Washington is following the encouraging start to spring training after stacking wins through spring training despite Butera and the revamped front office focused on getting eyes on the full roster. After becoming the last undefeated team in the Grapefruit League, the Nationals eventually finished fifth as Brady House proved to be the spark, eventually passing the torch to Wimer.