The Washington Nationals are actively being held back as we approach the halfway point of the 2026 season. At this point, no matter who you are as a player, it gets harder for the leopard to change its spots moving forward. That expression might be true for the Washington Nationals as a franchise, who are seemingly cursed for eternity.
Of course, the franchise as a whole is not cursed, but for whatever reason, it appears as if the organization will forever be incapable of fielding a competent bullpen. After collapsing on Tuesday night in heartbreaking fashion, getting the Phillies down to their last strike, the Nationals decided they had to do it again for good measure on Wednesday night, falling by a final score of 5-4.
Blake Butera's late pitching change costs Nationals in loss to Phillies
Looking back on how things played out in the 9th inning, I find myself scratching my head with Blake Butera's decision-making. The rookie manager has done a pretty remarkable job for the most part this season, but Wednesday's loss was one that was even harder to stomach given what transpired a mere 24 hours before.
After Kyle Schwarber worked a full count walk with 2 outs in the 9th inning to give the Phillies a final gasp of life, Butera pulled Orlando Ribalta, who had already thrown 23 pitches to 3 batters, rather than letting him finish the game. For a team that has been riding the hot hand in leverage spots a lot this season, it appeared as if it finally came back to bite Butera.
The Nationals skipper turned to lefty Richard Lovelady to face Justin Crawford, who was promptly pinch hit for by Derek Hill, a right-handed hitter compared to the lefty Crawford. Hill got down to his final strike as well before belting a go-ahead homer to right field, leaving the ballpark absolutely stunned.
My confusion is that if Butera was always going to bring in Lovelady, why not bring him in to face a far more dangerous lefty in Schwarber? Or better yet, why is Lovelady even pitching at all for a 3rd consecutive night when Ribalta has been one of your best relievers recently?
Although the numbers would say that Crawford struggled mightily against lefties with just a .364 OPS on the season, you have to know that Hill is still available on the bench and certainly able to pinch hit for Crawford in that spot. Hill's OPS against lefties is .781, with all 5 of his homers this season having come against southpaws as well. To me, wouldn't you rather want the right-handed Ribalta to face Crawford, who has just 2 homers all season and a .685 OPS against righties?
It really just does not make a lot of sense to me, and the losses of the last 2 nights could be ones that we look back on in a few short months and wonder why the team fell short of the postseason. There have been times this year when Butera has slightly overmanaged, and I think Wednesday night was a good example of that. I will also say that I am by no means bashing Butera's total body of work, as I actually have been extremely impressed by his performance so far this year, but I do think Wednesday night was not his best showing. He will learn from the last two nights, but they are certainly some costly lessons.
I will cut Butera some slack, as it appears as if he's doing the best he can to shuffle deck chairs on the Titanic, but as of right now there is no hope for the Nationals bullpen. For what it's worth, out of the now 47 save opportunities the Nationals have had as a team, they have only converted 24 of them, which is just simply inexcusable when you have one of the best offenses in baseball.
It might seem dramatic, but given how the standings look in the NL East and for the wild card, Thursday's series finale has become imperative for the Nationals to at least split a 4-game home series, but they will certainly have some work to do.
What did you think of Blake Butera's bullpen management on Wednesday night? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
Add us as a preferred source on Google