The Washington Nationals are finally getting some much needed time off after finishing the first half of the 2026 season on a pretty sour note. Over the weekend, the team had a chance to solidify themselves as a very legitimate contender, only to find themselves on the losing end of a sweep by the visiting New York Yankees.
With the loss, the Nationals unfortunately dropped to a game below .500 once again, but even still, their overall 48-49 record is astronomically better than any Nationals fan could have hoped coming into this season. One other thing that was unknown coming into this year was if James Wood could bounce back into the guy we saw be one of the best hitters in baseball before the Home Run Derby last year, and we now know the answer to that question is yes.
James Wood takes home NL Player of the Week honors
The answer is unequivocally yes after Wood, who has powered the Nationals' offense all season long along with CJ Abrams, was named as the National League's Player of the Week for his efforts over the past several games. Over the stretch, Wood hit .500 after going 10/20 at the plate with 6 extra base hits including 5 homers, driving in 8 runs, drawing 9 walks, and scoring another 11 runs.
His ability to get on base at such an absurdly high clip is a huge reason why Wood has such a massive lead on the rest of the league in runs scored, as the 23-year-old has scored 21 more runs than the next closest man. As part of his 5 homers, 3 of them were leadoff homers that gave the Nationals an early lead, although the Nationals still managed to lose some of those games after getting off to a quick start.
Wood will make his 2nd career All-Star Game appearance on Tuesday afternoon, and he hopefully will be one of the first players off the bench after somehow not being selected to start the game via the fan vote. His teammate CJ Abrams will start the game and bat cleanup for the NL squad, and late addition Foster Griffin should have a pretty good chance to get at least an inning of work during the coveted game as well.
What was your favorite moment of James Wood's incredible week? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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