Washington Nationals Draw Favorable Grade to Open 2026 Season

The Washington Nationals once again had a chance to get back to . 500, this time with a chance to do it in front of the fans back at Nationals Park. Yet it ended in another familiar loss after the San Francisco Giants took game one of the three game series in a 10-5 loss on Friday night , moving to 1-6 at home to open the 2026 regular season.

Yet there have been some early season highlights, such as the consistent bat of shortstop CJ Abrams as he enters the weekend ranked inside the top ten in multiple offensive categories as he's now notched a hit in eight consecutive games. James Wood, of course, has been the bigger storyline among fans after proving the bat is back, belting his seventh home run of the season on a blasting opposite field home run on Friday night. james wood (441 ft oppo) pic.

twitter. com/k70v5Hg8Z4 — Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 18, 2026 The Nationals enter the weekend ranked top five across baseball in runs scored (112), hits (183) and runs batted in (102) to start the 2026 regular season while the team's . 261 batting average is third-best in the National League.

Yet the biggest concern has been what everyone could see heading into the season: the pitching staff. That was magnified when manager Blake Butera watched both Ken Waldichuk and Cole Henry go down in the four game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, leading the team to call up a pair of pitchers from Triple A Rochester while also trading to bring back Dicky Lovelady from the New York Mets. Miles Mikolas, meanwhile, has been a liability in the rotation while Cionel Perez has struggled in his first appearances, leading the Nationals to question whether more impactful in-season moves will come to fruition.