Monday morning Q&A
Answering your questions about the Nationals at the one-quarter mark of the 2026 season
Can you believe we’re already one-quarter of the way through the 2026 season? Time flies when you’re having fun, huh?
We’ve learned a lot about these Nationals through 41 games. They’ve made real strides from an offensive standpoint. They’ve slowly but surely appeared to get their pitching together. And they continue to hurt themselves on defense and on the bases. They are simultaneously outperforming expectations at 19-22 and underperforming what they could be if they just cleaned up a few things.
With the team enjoying its third straight Monday off, but about to embark on another long stretch of 16 scheduled game days without a break, let’s take this opportunity to evaluate how things have gone to this point, and where they could be going from here.
If you’re a paid subscriber and you’ve got something you’d like to ask, here’s your chance. Just type it up in the comments section, then check back throughout the morning for my replies. I’ll do my best to answer as many as I can, but no promises if there are too many to keep up with!
Are the Nationals committed to improving the culture of defense being a priority by continuing to play Nunez at short? Yesterday's error notwithstanding. I would like to see best defenders around the field and then find a way to have CJ and Wood still get their at bats.
Mark, bit of a fun oddball question, but you’ve been quite particular in your preference for spelling players name right (i.e. ensuring it’s spelled James Wood and not James Wood). Is this in part because you’ve been often confused for the founder of Facebook? No matter what, as someone who’s name is often misspelled, I back you fully in your endeavor for the correct spelling of names