MIAMI – While watching a Nationals game, whether in person or on TV, odds are you will see their top prospect sitting on a perch along the railing of the dugout during the game.

You’ll have to wait an inning, however, because Dylan Crews doesn’t have much time to watch the game from there while batting leadoff for manager Davey Martinez’s club.

Crews has only played in seven major league games entering tonight’s finale against the Marlins. But Wednesday's game will be the sixth time in eight appearances the rookie outfielder will hit in the leadoff spot.

That spot has typically been where CJ Abrams hits, including Crews’ major league debut when the young outfielder hit second. But the Nats’ young shortstop has been bumped down the order to try to take some pressure off him as he looks for more success at the plate.

In the meantime, Martinez thinks Crews’ approach suits him well as a leadoff hitter.

MIAMI – After a nice, clean game last night, the Nationals now have a chance to sweep the Marlins in this quick two-game series before heading up to Pittsburgh. A win would also keep their winning streak against Miami alive.

Like Patrick Corbin on Tuesday, MacKenzie Gore is looking to build off two strong starts. He completed six innings of one-run ball against the Braves in Atlanta and then he held the Yankees to two runs over six innings last week. Gore was excellent against the Marlins in his one other start against them this year, holding them to one run with 10 strikeouts over seven frames.

The Marlins are sending out another rookie right-hander in Valente Bellozo. The 24-year-old is 2-2 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.344 WHIP in eight major league starts since debuting in June. Although he has shown flashes of promise (holding the Royals, Reds and Phillies scoreless over a combined 17 ⅔ innings), he also has struggled at times in giving up five or more earned runs in three of his starts, including in each of his last two.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
RF Dylan Crews
3B José Tena
DH Andrés Chaparro
LF James Wood
2B Luis García Jr.
1B Joey Gallo
SS CJ Abrams
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Jacob Young

MIAMI – Ballplayers usually have an opposing ballpark they enjoy playing in outside of their home stadium. Usually, it’s one within the division where you play multiple times a year. The more you play there, the more comfortable you get and the better numbers you post.

For Keibert Ruiz, that ballpark might just be loanDepot park.

The 26-year-old Nationals catcher just enjoyed another successful night at the plate in Miami. He started Tuesday’s 6-2 win over the Marlins 3-for-3 and a triple shy of the cycle. He finished 3-for-4 with a double, a homer, two runs scored and an RBI.

“Don't try to do too much, look for my pitch and just trusting myself,” Ruiz said after his sixth multi-hit game in Miami, 10th overall against the Marlins. “I've been working on some things in the cage, and just gotta have the plan and bring it to the game.”

“He laid off some pitches and got the ball up a little bit and just smoked some balls,” said manager Davey Martinez. “So it was good to see him have a good day today. It really was. He's been working hard.”

MIAMI – The Nationals needed Monday’s off-day in Miami to get past an ugly weekend back at home.

While still a young team – Sunday’s starting lineup averaged 24.4 years old, younger than each of the lineups posted by Triple-A Rochester and Double-A Harrisburg that day – the Nats were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field on Saturday and Sunday. They were outscored 19-4 and charged with five errors over the last two games against the Cubs.

“We could have used the day off, for sure,” manager Davey Martinez said before tonight’s opener of a two-game set against the Marlins. “But when I went back and I looked at the game yesterday, to me, those were just really mental mistakes. Nothing physical about it. Just, it's September.”

It is September and there is less than a month left in the season. But what the Nationals displayed on the field over the weekend is not who they are and not what they want their young team to become.

Well, after yesterday’s off-day, the Nats cleaned up their act and played good baseball en route to a 6-2 win over the Marlins in front of an announced crowd of 6,854 at loanDepot park. Maybe a day off in the South Florida sun is all they needed.

MIAMI – Cade Cavalli last stepped on a mound on June 21 with High-A Wilmington. It was the third – and last – of his official rehab starts as he continued his recovery from last year’s Tommy John surgery. And it was the most encouraging of his rehab outings to date: He pitched three scoreless, hitless innings.

The initial target date for his major league return was in late June/early July, which was established after his March 2023 surgery. It was approaching and there was legitimate hope he would rejoin the Nationals rotation for the second half of the season.

But that target date and Cavalli’s whole rehab process was shaken up by a subsequent case of the flu and a period in which he experienced “dead arm” when he threw a ball.

“We shot for a date and we tried everything possible to get there. And sometimes the arm just doesn't respond like we wanted it to,” said Cavalli, who once again met the Nats in Miami from the team’s spring training facility in West Palm Beach, where he was rehabbing. “It wasn't anything horrible. Good news is we're still healthy. Just had to slow it down a little bit. It's part of the TJ recovery, as you know. It's 15 to 18 months for a reason, so we're just taking it slow and easy. Making sure that it's right and that it's the right time when I get back, so that we don't have to have another setback, hopefully.”

Setbacks happen in long rehab processes. Cavalli and the Nats just didn’t expect him to have two of them in quick succession when he was sick and then felt like he wasn’t throwing as well as he should have at that point in the rehab.

MIAMI – Hopefully, the Nationals used an off-day on Labor Day to reset and forget about this weekend’s series against the Cubs, in which they were swept in three games at home. Maybe spending the rare holiday off-day in the South Florida sunshine is just what they needed.

And what better way to shake off a home sweep than a division rival that you are perfect against this season? That’s right, after struggling against the Marlins over the past couple of years, the Nats enter this quick two-game set 7-0 against the National League East basement-dwellers.

Patrick Corbin will look to extend his streak of back-to-back impressive outings when he takes the ball tonight. Corbin finally earned that elusive 100th career win by holding the Rockies to one run over six innings on Aug. 22. He followed that up with six shutout innings against the Yankees last week. The lefty was roughed up for seven runs (four earned) in four innings when he started here on April 28, but the Nats offense backed him up and stormed back for a 12-9 win.

Max Meyer will make his 11th start of the season for the Fish. The rookie right-hander is 3-4 with a 5.44 ERA and 1.383 WHIP this season. He has yet to face the Nats in his young career and has given up at least four runs in five of his last six starts.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

CJ Abrams has been the Nationals’ primary leadoff hitter since July 7, 2023. When he wasn’t leading off, he was hitting second.

Until last night when manager Davey Martinez moved his All-Star shortstop down to the No. 7 hole. The idea was simple: Take some pressure off the young star so he can break out of this slump that is endangering his overall season.

Since July 7, the one-year anniversary of his promotion to the leadoff spot, Abrams’ season has been going in a downward spiral. Over 41 games entering last night, he slashed .169/.239/.288 with a .526 OPS, five doubles, one triple, four home runs, 16 RBIs, eight walks and 42 strikeouts.

“I was hoping that he worked some things out and got out of the funk,” Martinez said of the lineup change decision. “I wanted to see how he reacted to everything. And it's been going on for a while. I've been wanting to do it for a while. And I thought, let's do it now and see if we can get him back so he finishes the season off strong. … Nothing wrong with it. I told him, ‘Hey, you’re gonna play. You’re our starting shortstop. Just remember one thing: When the game starts after the first inning, you become a hitter. That’s it.’”

Abrams started last night’s game against the Cubs 0-for-3 with two strikeouts while batting seventh.

The Nationals were riding high this week. They saw another one of their top prospects make his major league debut on Monday, then proudly watched him lead a group of other young stars in beating the Yankees twice in three games.

But the Cubs entered this series riding high, too. They found themselves back over .500 and slowly nearing the playoff race again as winners of nine of their last 12 games coming into tonight’s three-game series opener on South Capitol Street.

In the end, only one team could keep the good times rolling with another win, and unfortunately for the home team it was the visitors who came away with a 7-6 victory in front of 28,792 fans on a misty, breezy night at Nationals Park.

Something had to give between the Nats rotation and Cubs offense to start this holiday weekend set.

Nationals starters have combined to post a 1.94 ERA and 1.098 WHIP while striking out more than one batter per inning and never once allowing more than two earned runs over their last nine games. Cubs hitters have combined to score 73 runs over their last seven games, averaging 10.4 runs per game.

While Dylan Crews and James Wood have commanded the spotlight this week, and rightfully so, the Nationals are focusing on ensuring two of their other young stars have strong finishes to the season. And in different ways.

Davey Martinez’s lineup for tonight’s opener against the Cubs features one major change and a noticeable absence: CJ Abrams was bumped all the way down to the seventh spot in the order and Luis García Jr. on the bench with left-hander Shota Imanaga starting for Chicago.

For the first time this season, Abrams is not batting in one of the top two spots in the lineup. In fact, it’s the first time the young shortstop has started a game this low in the order since July 6, 2023, when he hit eighth against the Reds. The following day, he was moved up to the leadoff spot, where he performed well for a strong second half of last season and hit for much of this year.

“Just want to give him a little breather. I want him to relax a little bit,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “Just start working better at-bats. As you know, he's been chasing a lot. I just want him to kind of slow down a little bit. So I talked to him before I sent the lineup out. He's good with it. Like I said, when you start getting on base and taking your walks, I want you to get back up there. But we need to slow you down a little bit. He's just swinging a lot.”

Up until July 7, the one-year anniversary of his promotion to the leadoff spot, Abrams was slashing .282/.353/.506 with an .860 OPS, 21 doubles, five triples, 14 home runs, 46 RBIs, 29 walks and 14 stolen bases. The Nats are trying to get him back to doing what he did to earn his first All-Star selection.

It’s been a good week for the Nationals. It’s always nice to take two of three from the Yankees, but it’s especially nice to do so with your top prospect making his major league debut and leading the charge with other cornerstone young players.

Now the Nats welcome the Cubs for three games over this holiday weekend. Chicago is barely holding onto hope of a postseason berth, entering this series 9 ½ games back of the Brewers in the National League Central and five games back of the final NL Wild Card spot.

Jake Irvin looks to become the first Nationals pitcher to reach 10 wins this season when he takes the ball tonight. The right-hander will also try to continue a strong streak by Nats starters, who have combined to post a 1.94 ERA and 1.098 WHIP while striking out more than one batter per inning and never once allowing more than two earned runs over the last nine games.

Shota Imanaga will get the ball from Craig Counsell to oppose Irvin on the hill. The 30-year-old Japanese left-hander is in the running for NL Rookie of the Year with a 10-3 record and 3.08 ERA in 24 starts during an All-Star campaign.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right-center field

The day has finally come for Dylan Crews’ major league debut. After James Wood reached the big leagues for the first time on July 1, the Nationals’ newest top prospect will play his first game in a curly W cap tonight against the Yankees.

And if you take a look at manager Davey Martinez’s lineup for the opener of a three-game set against the American League East leaders (and Juan Soto), there’s a lot to be excited about at the top.

CJ Abrams, Crews and Wood will bat in the first three spots in the order, respectively, making the top portion of the lineup filled with three of the organization’s young cornerstone pieces.

“We're facing a left-handed pitcher,” Martinez said during his pregame media session in a jam-packed press conference room at Nationals Park. “It just made sense to put him in between Abrams and Wood. So kind of exciting to see those three together. We've been waiting a little while, but I really believe that this is another piece to the puzzle and to our future. So I'm excited for the kid and his family. We're all excited here. I know Nats fans should be excited. But he's one of 26. That's what I told him today: Go out there, play, have fun, be where your feet are, and let's go try to win a game and go 1-0.”

Crews hit .270 with 21 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs, 68 RBsI, 36 walks, 25 stolen bases and 60 runs scored in 100 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester this season. But he was on a tear at Triple-A leading up to his promotion to the big leagues.

Travis Sykora was a big 19-year-old kid who had just graduated high school when the Nationals selected him with their third-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. The 6-foot-6, 232-pound right-hander was the best high school arm coming out of the state of Texas and one of the best prep pitchers in the whole country.

So when he fell to them at No. 71 overall, the Nats felt like they were getting a first-round talent
with their third pick. Combine that with No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews and second-rounder Yohandy Morales, and the Nats like to think they came away with three first-round selections in last year’s draft.

Now at 20 years old, he’s in his first full professional season at Single-A Fredericksburg and adjusting well.

“It’s been going great,” Sykora said. “Just to be here, after the draft, I was always excited to be here to start my pro career. So to get it going, it’s been great. I feel good. I’ve been pitching pretty decently. So everything’s been great.”

Pretty decently is selling Sykora very short. He’s pitching like a first-round pick while blowing away hitters in Single-A ball.

The Nationals’ goal for the last six weeks of the season is clear: Stick with the youth movement and see what pieces they have for next season.

The young regulars, of course, will continue to get a majority of the playing time. CJ Abrams, James Wood, Keibert Ruiz, Luis García Jr. and Jacob Young are important pieces moving forward. Newcomers Juan Yepez, Andrés Chaparro and José Tena will also get reps.

So where does that leave Nasim Nuñez?

The 23-year-old infielder, who the Nationals selected with the fifth pick of last year’s Rule 5 Draft, has been with the team all season. As part of his Rule 5 status, he has to remain on the major league roster all season or else be offered back to his original club, the Marlins.

But Nuñez has only played in 31 games this season, mostly as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. He has only made six starts and played four complete games.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals needed a win today. Entering this finale against the Phillies, they were losers of four straight and five of their last six. They were also in danger of suffering their eighth sweep of the season, fifth on the road.

It took a total team effort to finally get that elusive win. But they got it as the Nationals escaped Citizens Bank Park with a 6-4 victory in front of 40,677 fans, thanks to Jacob Young’s late sacrifice fly and James Wood’s first pulled home run.

“We put together some good at-bats late," said manager Davey Martinez after the win. "Jacob battling to get a sac fly. And then freakin' Wood crushing a ball. Everybody talks about, 'Pull the ball.' He pulled that one. That's what he can do. He stayed on the ball really well, got his hands through and he smoked it.”

Facing left-handed reliever Matt Strahm, the Nationals loaded the bases in the eighth with a single to left, walk and bunt single. With one out, Young stepped to the plate and surprisingly didn’t square around for the safety squeeze.

Instead, the center fielder swung away and made enough contact on a sinker high above the zone to score the go-ahead run.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals need to get their offense going in Sunday’s finale against the Phillies. Over the first three games of this four-game series, they’ve been outscored 21-6 and outhit 37-21.

As has been the case for most of this season, the offense goes as CJ Abrams goes. And right now, the young shortstop is struggling at the plate.

“He's been in a little bit of a funk, hitting-wise,” manager Davey Martinez said of Abrams during his pregame session with the media. “I really believe he's trying to do too much, I really do. So we gotta get him to calm down a little bit. And like I said, he's really good when he's another guy who stays left-center, right-center, and not try to do a whole lot.”

Since his participation in his first All-Star Game, Abrams is slashing .165/.234/.268 with a .502 OPS, 12 runs, four doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs, seven stolen bases, five walks and 22 strikeouts. He entered the break with a .268 average. He enters today with a .246 average.

Abrams is also striking out 20.6 percent of the time in the second half.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals need one today. Ideally, it would be a total team effort: Strong starting pitching, a lot of run support and a shutdown bullpen. But honestly, it doesn’t matter how they get it. They just need to win.

Luckily, the guy that gives them the best chance to do that is taking the mound this afternoon. Jake Irvin makes his 26th start in search of his team-high 10th win of the season. He’s coming off six strong innings against the Orioles on Tuesday, during which he only allowed two runs. But now he’ll face a Phillies team that he’s 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA against.

The Phillies are sending Taijuan Walker to the mound for the finale. The veteran right-hander is 3-4 with a 5.68 ERA and 1.509 WHIP in 11 starts this year. He hasn’t completed six innings since May and has allowed three or more runs in four of his last five starts.

If there ever was a time to score some runs this weekend, it’s now.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of scattered thunderstorms, 81 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

PHILADELPHIA – MacKenzie Gore needed some sign of encouragement in his 25th start. If he wasn’t already, the young left-hander was nearing a point of his season spiraling out of control.

Gore was fantastic through the first two months of his second campaign with the Nationals. Through his first 11 starts, he was 4-4 with a 2.91 ERA, numbers worthy of his first All-Star selection.

But as the calendar flipped to June, his results turned south. Over his last 13 starts, Gore is 3-6 with a 6.02 ERA to raise his season ERA to 4.50 entering tonight’s outing against the Phillies.

For five innings, Gore’s results were much better. But as it has too often lately, one bad inning derailed the whole outing leading to a Nationals loss, this time by a score of 5-1 in front of 43,356 fans at Citizens Bank Park.

Whatever Gore worked on with the Nats coaching staff during Wednesday’s bullpen session, it was working through five frames. Gore relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, throwing it half of the time, and then used a steady mix of his slider, changeup and curveball to get through five innings with one run and four hits.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals figured they were going to need bullpen help after seven relievers combined to cover almost 10 innings over the last two games. They just didn’t figure an injury would also creep up on one of their most trusted relief pitchers.

Right-hander Derek Law landed on the 15-day injured list this afternoon with a right elbow flexor strain, while left-hander Robert Garcia was placed on the bereavement list. To fill their spots in the ‘pen, the Nats selected the contract of left-hander Joe La Sorsa and recalled right-hander Joan Adon from Triple-A Rochester.

Law’s injury comes after he pitched an important scoreless eighth inning last night on 12 pitches to give the Nats a chance to rally in the ninth. The right-hander said he was supposed to go back out for the ninth of a newly tied game, but he and the Nationals decided it wasn’t a good idea with his elbow bothering him, leading to closer Kyle Finnegan coming in and surrendering the game-winning run without recording an out.

“Well, personally, I don't think it's really an injury. I feel pretty good,” Law said by his locker in the Nats clubhouse before tonight’s game. “Like today, I feel like I could throw. It's just kind of when I get up to the max-effort level for the last two weeks, I kinda have been grinding through it.

“The elbow has just been kind of barking. I think it's the flexor area. Honestly, it kind of came up during that rain game. When I was throwing, it was just soaking wet. I kind of felt something in there and I was just battling through it for a little bit. And finally, it just caught up yesterday. I was supposed to go back out for that ninth and I came in, not that there was no way I could do it, but I just didn't think it was the right decision to go back out there and do that. So I think just a little time off. Sadly, it has to be 15 days. I think I probably only need five or six, maybe seven. But I'll take my time, get right and be back in September.”

PHILADELPHIA – After winning three of their last four heading into Wednesday’s finale against the Orioles, the Nationals have now dropped three straight games. Following Thursday’s blowout loss to the Phillies, there were some encouraging signs last night before Trea Turner walked it off in the bottom of the ninth. And now there are question marks heading into tonight’s game.

Will the starting pitcher get deeper into the game? Will the offense score in the early innings? What is the state of the bullpen after covering nearly 10 innings over the last two nights?

MacKenzie Gore’s struggles over the last 2 ½ months have been well-documented and disappointing. The only positive sign lately is that the five runs he gave up against the Angels on Sunday were all unearned. The Nationals worked on some things with the young left-hander in his bullpen session on Wednesday in Baltimore. Hopefully that translates into better results tonight, otherwise the Nats may have a serious problem on their hands.

Offensively, the Nats will look to get some early production off Cristopher Sánchez, the only southpaw starter they will face this weekend. Sánchez is 8-8 with a 3.63 ERA and 1.325 WHIP. An All-Star this year, he does an excellent job of keeping the ball in the yard with his 0.3 home runs allowed per nine innings leading the major leagues. He started the only game the Nats have won against the Phillies this year on April 7, when he gave up three runs in 4 ⅓ innings. But he came back on May 18 to hold them to two runs over seven innings.

Tonight’s game is listed as starting at 6:05 p.m., but the actual start time is closer to 6:30 p.m. The Phillies are hosting a pregame ceremony for an enshrinement into their Wall of Fame and listed an earlier start time to get more people into the stadium for it. MASN’s “Nats Xtra” pregame show starts at 6 p.m. on MASN2 and will take you up to first pitch, whenever it is. And yes, the Nats were here last year for the same ceremony.

PHILADELPHIA – When the Nationals were asked earlier this year what more did James Wood have to prove in the minor leagues to earn his first promotion to the majors, the answer was always the same: They wanted him to hit left-handed pitching better.

Well, Wood did just that in his 52 games with Triple-A Rochester. In 53 plate appearances against lefties, Wood went 15-for-46 with a double, five home runs (half his total), 12 RBIs and seven walks. That added up to a .326/.415/.674 slash line and 1.089 OPS.

He was ready for his call-up.

Then the question was whether or not he could continue that pace. Would the improvements he made translate to the big league level? Or would major league southpaws prove to still be tough for the 21-year-old top prospect?

Forty games and 169 plate appearances into his major league career, we may have our answer.