This past weekend, the Washington Nationals did something that most people would recommend you not do when someone is down, as they kicked the pride out of the Baltimore Orioles, capturing their first sweep of the 2025 season in the process. In a series that has predominantly been owned by the Nationals' Beltway rival in recent years, the Nationals made a statement in Camden Yards, sending some members of the Orioles packing in the process.
Following a brutal collapse from the Orioles on Friday night in which they lost a game to the Nationals while only surrendering 5 hits, manager Brandon Hyde was fired, although he may have been a scapegoat for the shortcomings of GM Mike Elias. Then on Saturday, in the club's first game without Hyde, righty Kyle Gibson was DFA'd after not being able to make it out of the first inning against a struggling Nationals offense that had their fans calling for their hitting coach to be fired recently.
Then on Sunday, the Nationals put the cherry on top, with a 10-4 victory in which they had a bit of a home run derby off of Orioles starter Zach Eflin. The Nationals not only took the season series from the Orioles, but did it in a very convincing manner, by breaking out the brooms to sweep an Orioles team that is loaded with way too much talent to be as bad as they are. Now, what did things look like for both teams the last time the Nationals swept the Orioles?
Well, you would have to go back to late May of 2018, when the Nationals took 3 straight from their Beltway rival in Camden Yards, and some of the names in this series were enough to fill out an All-Star team. Across the 3 games, the Nationals lineup featured some rookie named Juan Soto, who ended up being pretty good, as well as hanful of other Nationals legends.
Of course, 2018 was the final season of Bryce Harper in DC, and he was in there for all 3 games, as were fellow Nationals legends like Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon, and the Nationals got some great pitching from Gio Gonzalez in the series opener and Max Scherzer in the series finale as well. Scherzer in particular was brilliant in that final game, throwing 8.0 shutout innings while striking out 12, walking just 1, and allowing just 2 hits. Sean Doolittle closed out 2 of the 3 games against the Orioles, who had a pretty great lineup of their own.
The Orioles had a lineup with some familiar names like superstar infielder Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Jonathan Schoop, Mark Trumbo, Trey Mancini, and declining slugger Chris Davis, among others.
05/30/2018 - Nationals lineup the last time they swept the Orioles:
LF Juan Soto
SS Trea Turner
RF Bryce Harper
3B Anthony Rendon
DH Matt Adams
1B Mark Reynolds
CF Michael A. Taylor
2B Wilmer Difo
C Pedro Severino
SP Max Scherzer
Following the series finale, the Nationals would raise their record to 32-22, while the Orioles fell to 17-39, in what would also be the final season of Machado in Baltimore, as they traded him to the Dodgers at the deadline that season. Longtime manager Buck Showalter was let go by the Orioles after an abysmal 47-115 final record, and of course, that stacked 2018 Nationals team ended up missing the postseason as well, losing Harper in the offseason as well.
To think, the last time the Nationals swept the Orioles, the club hadn't even won their ring in 2019 yet, and if you had asked any Nationals fan at the time following this sweep, you likely would have believed that the 2018 team was destined for greatness. To think, it was just 1 year too early.
What was your favorite part of this weekend's sweep? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.