Washington Nationals: Young Core Unfazed Against The Mets

Yes, the Nationals just lost another series to the New York Mets. Yes, they have lost 17 of their last 24. Yes, they are on track for their worst regular-season finish since 2010 when they lost 93 games. But none of this matters. It was well known that when the Nationals stripped down the roster and shipped out what felt like half of the roster, the team’s performance was going to drastically drop.

After almost a decade of dominance, the Nationals had reached the end of their road and had to reload for the future. The trades signaled the end of an era and the beginning of another. Gone were eight key players including four from the 2019 World Series team. Entered were 12 prospects who are seen as part of the team’s new core.

Of the 12, Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, Lane Thomas, Mason Thompson, and Riley Adams have all been called up and are attempting to stick. They joined Juan Soto and Josh Bell as the only veterans left behind that are considered part of the new core. Additionally, former top prospects Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia were both called up so they could play every day.

Since the trade deadline ended on July 31st, the Nats are 9-23 and the keyboard warriors have been quick to blame the front office. But despite all the losses, the young core has shown something that has been missing since 2019. Resiliency. They straight up refuse to lay down and die and instead they are battling to the last out on a nightly basis.

In their five-game series against the Mets, the Nats treated every game like it was Game Seven of the World Series. Each game went down to the wire.

The series opener saw the Nats down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth before Juan Soto launched a moonshot to put his team on the board. A Riley Adams double tied the game, but the Nats were unable to score him and they went on to lose in the tenth inning 6-2.

Saturday was a doubleheader, with New York jumping out to an early 9-0 lead in Game One. Despite how bleak things seemed, the offense wasn’t fazed and slowly started to chip away at the lead. With the Nats down to their final out in the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Stevenson hit a two-run bomb to tie the game at 9-9. Sadly the bullpen fell apart and the Mets went on to win 11-9 in extras.

During the nightcap of the doubleheader, New York went up 1-0 early, before the Nats offense came alive scoring four unanswered runs. Washington’s bullpen made things interesting, but the Nats held on to win 4-3. Yesterday, the Nats were down 4-0 and 6-3 before racing back to tie the game in the fifth inning. Unfortunately, for the third straight day, the bullpen fell apart and the Nats went on to lose 13-6.

Today’s game was similar to Friday’s with the Nationals losing heading into the bottom of the ninth, however, this time they were able to pull off the comeback. With two on and one out, Andrew Stevenson singled to tie the game at three. Carter Kieboom followed this up by singling up the middle to walk off the Mets.

For the Nats, it was a collective effort when it came to the comeback attempts. The five-game series saw Luis Garcia go 7-19, with five extra-base hits. Lane Thomas continued to defy expectations, going 6-16, with a walk, two homers, and three RBIs. Kieboom added six hits including his walk-off and two RBIs. Juan Soto and Josh Bell each had a homer and continued to do their thing.

While the bullpen blew multiple games, Mason Thompson and Albert Baldonado were electric in relief. Thompson who was acquired in the Daniel Hudson trade only made one appearance in this series. He threw two shutout innings, while only allowing two walks.

Baldonado, who recently made his MLB debut earlier in the week against the Phillies, has yet to allow a run. He made two appearances against the Mets, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings, while not allowing a single baserunner and striking out three.

Despite losing the series, the Nats refused to quit and gave the fanbase reason to believe in the rebuild.