When Blake Butera steps into the visiting dugout at Wrigley Field for the Nationals’ Opening Day game against the Cubs on March 26, not only will it be the 33-year-old’s first time in a major league dugout, it will be the first time he’s been in any dugout since 2022, his last season as manager of the Charleston RiverDogs in the Rays’ minor league system.

The Rays had since moved Butera into a front office role. In 2023, he was Tampa Bay's assistant field coordinator. And for the past two years, he’s been the Rays senior director of player development.

That experience helped make Butera one of the fast-rising names around baseball, eventually landing him on new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni’s list of managerial candidates and then as the choice to become the youngest major league manager since the Twins hired Frank Quilici in 1972 (also 33).

“I obviously enjoyed my time managing with the Rays and then when they brought this next opportunity up to me, it was something that was obviously on a broader spectrum, with a lot more players, a lot more staff members to oversee,” Butera said of his move to the Rays front office during his introductory press conference at Nationals Park on Monday afternoon. “I think it was something that gave me a much better perspective of how to build an organization from the ground up and what goes into creating a winning culture, creating a winning team, creating a winning organization. And I think when this next opportunity came about, I always loved being on the field. I love the competition. I love being with the guys every day. So this is a no-brainer.”

After spending four years managing the lower levels of the Rays’ minor league system – earning his first managing gig at just 25 years old and during which he guided his teams to four straight first-place finishes and back-to-back league championships in 2021 and 2022 – the organization felt he was ready to oversee one of the best minor league systems in all of baseball at just 30 years old.

While most of today’s festivities at Nationals Park were focused on the official introduction of 33-year-old Blake Butera as the Nationals’ new manager, some news on his coaching staff also came out.

Sean Doolittle, the Nats’ former All-Star closer and fan favorite reliever who became a pitching strategist after his playing career on former manager Davey Martinez’s coaching staff, will remain on Butera’s staff, new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni announced in a scrum with the local media after today’s press conference. Doolittle’s exact title has not yet been determined, but Toboni believes that will be made known in the next week or two.

“Sean Doolittle is going to be coming back to the staff, so we're really excited about that,” Toboni said. “Sean, I just really liked getting to know him over the course of the past month, or however long it's been. I think the world of him. And coincidentally, he's got a great relationship with the pitching coach that we hired (Simon Mathews). They're very tight, so it ended up just being a really good relationship, I think, from the get-go, and it actually became an appealing part of Simon signing on here. Those decisions were totally independent of each other, but it turned out to be a really nice thing. So it speaks to Sean and the type of person he is, and how good he is at what he does.”

A product of the University of Virginia, Doolittle came to the Nationals along with fellow reliever Ryan Madson in a July 2017 trade with the Athletics. The left-hander was named an All-Star in 2018, with the All-Star Game taking place at Nationals Park for the first time, and he was one of Martinez’s few trusted high-leverage relievers during their run to a World Series championship in 2019.

Doolittle became a free agent after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and after stops in Cincinnati and Seattle, returned to the Nationals in March 2022. But after six appearances, he underwent an internal brace procedure on the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in July, which ended his season.

We will finally hear from new Nationals manager Blake Butera tomorrow afternoon, with his introductory press conference at Nats Park scheduled for 1:30 p.m. It will air in its entirety on MASN, and be sure to check back on the site and on the MASN Nationals social channels for more coverage.

This has been the most highly anticipated day on the Nats’ offseason calendar since Butera was hired over two weeks ago, the delay in the presser being due to his wife giving birth to the couple’s first child on the day he accepted his first managing job in the major leagues.

Of course, there will be plenty to dissect from what Butera and new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni say tomorrow. But the new leadership duo will have to get straight to work because there are important offseason dates coming up …

* Tuesday, Nov. 18 – Qualifying offer acceptance deadline at 4 p.m.
Toboni and Butera will have all day Monday to celebrate the new skipper’s official introduction. But the very next day, they have to get down to work.

Though this deadline does not directly affect the Nationals, who did not extend the $22.025 million qualifying offer to any players, Toboni and Co. will know after this deadline passes which free agents will cost them a draft pick if they chose to pursue and sign any of them.

We’re nearing the end of awards week for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s four highest honors that are handed out after every baseball season.

The third was announced last night as Paul Skenes was unanimously named the Cy Young Award winner in the National League. And it just so happens yours truly was among the 30 BBWAA members who submitted ballots to determine the league’s best pitcher for 2025.

My ballot was similar to those of the other 29 voters in that we all had the same top two selections. Skenes and the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez were the only pitchers named on every ballot, and this was the first time the winner received all the first-place votes and the runner-up all the second-place votes since the BBWAA went to a five-player ballot format for the Cy Young Award in 2010.

I was one of just four voters whose ballots had the Brewers’ Freddy Peralta in third place (he finished fourth), and I was one of 11 who had the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto fourth (he finished third). I was also one of seven who had the Padres’ Nick Pivetta fifth (he finished sixth).

But the award rightfully went to Skenes, who became the 13th pitcher to be unanimously elected the NL winner.

Baseball – a game that spans generations around the globe – is a vast world. And yet, sometimes we discover hidden connections that make it seem oh so tiny.

Much like that Disneyland theme ride says: It’s a small world after all.

When the Nationals announced Blake Butera as their eighth manager last week, very few people (if any) in local circles knew much about the 33-year-old former senior director of player development with the Rays.

In fact, even the guy who hired him, new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, had only heard about Butera without ever meeting him prior to the interview process, though he did scout Butera as a draft prospect coming out of Boston College in 2015.

“We didn't know each other personally,” Toboni explained Tuesday during a Zoom call with reporters to discuss his first major hire. “I heard a lot about him, actually, even though I'm not much older than him (35), I scouted him when he was at Boston College. We just have a lot of mutual connections where I'm actually surprised that I had never met him prior to this process kicking off. So many mutual connections. I can't remember exactly the first time I really heard about him, but there had been a number of people over the years that had told me about Blake. I really went into this process having an understanding of what I thought it was going to be like, but didn't honestly know until I really hopped into it. I'm really fortunate that we did reach out to interview him because he blew me away throughout the process.”

While the Nationals continue to make plans for new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni to formally introduce new manager Blake Butera, we now know how the two young heads will begin their journey together in the spring.

The Nats, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, announced their 2026 spring training schedule, during which we’ll get the first game action of the first team Toboni assembles and Butera puts through his first big league camp.

Grapefruit League play for the Nats will open on Saturday, Feb. 21 with a split squad traveling to Jupiter, Fla., to face the Cardinals while another group stays back in West Palm Beach, Fla., to open the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches schedule with their co-tenant Astros.

The Nats will then welcome a rare cross-state trip from the National League East rival Phillies on Monday, Feb. 23 before making their own trip to Florida’s Gulf Coast to face the Yankees and Phillies on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 25-26. The Nats welcome the Yankees to West Palm on Saturday, March 7.

Another fun wrinkle in next year’s spring calendar is an exhibition game against Team Venezuela in West Palm on Wednesday, March 4 ahead of the World Baseball Classic.

Blake Butera has officially been the Nationals’ new manager for five days. But we won’t hear from the 33-year-old skipper for a couple of weeks while he and his wife, Caroline Margolis, get settled after welcoming their first child, Blair Margaux Butera, literally hours after he signed his new contract.

Thankfully, new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni took questions from members of the local media over a Zoom call yesterday to give his perspective of his first major hire and what ultimately made Butera his choice.

“I think it just starts with the person that Blake is,” Toboni said. “I think he just very much aligns with the values that we hold sacred as an organization. And then, I think Blake's leadership skills really jumped out to us from the get-go. And so I think those two things, in conjunction with each other, were two of the main driving factors. And then also, he's got a pretty unique set of experiences that didn't necessarily lead us to making the decision in isolation, but I think were very beneficial as we considered Blake's candidacy relative to the other candidates.”

That “unique set of experiences” Butera has includes serving as the Rays' senior director of player development over the past two seasons following a successful run as a minor league coach and manager in one of the best farm systems in baseball.

Not many people make the jump from a front office role in player development to first-time major league manager, but Butera now has. Given the Nats’ young group of players (Trevor Williams is the only player on the 40-man roster who is older than the new skipper and only by 3 ½ months) and need to continue developing players at the major league level, was experience in player development something Toboni was searching for in this hiring process?

On what was supposed to be a quiet off-day from this year’s very entertaining World Series, the Nationals made headlines Thursday by reportedly hiring Blake Butera to be their new manager.

At just 33 years old, Butera will become the youngest major league manager since the Twins hired Frank Quilici in 1972, an odd connection to the former edition of the Washington baseball team.

Butera comes from the Rays, where he mostly worked in the minor league system. So what do we know about him?

He most recently served as Tampa Bay’s senior director of player development over the past two years. Before that, he spent one season as a minor league coach and then four as a manager on the Rays farm, which has been highly regarded as one of the best player development systems in baseball. He took his first job as manager when he was just 25 years old, three years after the Rays selected him in the 35th round of the 2015 MLB Draft as an infielder out of Boston College.

The Louisiana native went 258-144 (.642) in his four years managing short-season Single-A Hudson Valley and Single-A Charleston with four first-place finishes. In his final two seasons at the helm in Charleston, he went 170-82 (.675) and won back-to-back Carolina League championships.

We are already 10 days into the Nationals’ offseason and it has already been busy with the introduction of Paul Toboni as the new president of baseball operations one week ago. But before we look ahead at what’s to come this winter and in the 2026 season, let’s take some time to look back at what was a very eventual 2025 season.

Amy Jennings and I took a deep dive into various storylines during this week’s episode of the “District Chat” podcast, but here is a small sampling of the big picture topics that were discussed. You can check out our full breakdowns on your favorite podcasting platform or watch the show here.

We’ll be taking a break from new episodes until after the World Series. So we’ll be back in November with new episodes of “District Chat” that you can watch live on the MASN Nationals YouTube channel and Facebook page or listen wherever you get your audio.

Without further ado, some of our top storylines …

A tale of two halves
Now as it pertains to the team, it may be more like a tale of ⅓ and ⅔ of the season. After proclamations in spring training from then general manager Mike Rizzo and then manager Davey Martinez that this team would be competing for October, the Nationals were 28-30 at the end of May, good for third place in the National League East and only five games out of Wild Card spot.

It was easy to see why Paul Toboni impressed the Nationals ownership group during his interview process for the team’s then-open president of baseball operations position, a job that he officially accepted earlier this week. He’s charismatic, personable and smart.

What may not have been so obvious to those watching Wednesday’s press conference without being there in person is that those traits extend well beyond his new job. They clearly apply to his role as a father, too.

And Toboni may not even be the best holder of those traits in his own family. During his first 30-minute meeting with the local media, his wife, Danielle, spent most of the time wrangling the couple’s four young boys, who are between the ages of 1 and 6.

She’s the real star of the family.

But as Toboni looked at his young family and thanked them multiple times throughout the day, it was clear that this is a loving family man taking over the Nationals family.

Yesterday was a fun and exciting day for Paul Toboni and his family, as he was officially introduced as the Nationals’ new president of baseball operations. But now that the hands have been shaken and pictures taken, his real work to rebuild the organization in his likeness begins.

How does Toboni, the 35-year-old executive who quickly rose from a baseball operations intern to the senior vice president and assistant general manager with the Red Sox, envision doing that?

“I’m stepping into this role with a clear vision, and that vision is to be the highest performing organization in all of sports,” he said Wednesday. “I want to help build something that becomes the envy of all of sports. Where we get X amount of months and years down the line and people are looking at this organization like, ‘Shoot, I want to be part of that organization.’ We have a lot of work to do. That’s OK. We’re going to embrace it. While it’s going to be challenging, it’s going to be really rewarding when we get to where we want to go.”

Toboni has a lot on his plate as he starts this job. He has to fill out his front office, including making decisions on people he wants to retain and those he wants to replace. He has to hire a new manager and coaching staff, a process of which he gave very little insight to. And he has to evaluate all the players in the organization, from the major league roster all the way down to rookie ball.

That final process he did offer a lot of thoughts about.

Earlier this week, the Nationals announced their 2025 Minor League Players of the Year. The five winners will be recognized tonight as part of a pregame ceremony, and they’ll also take part in a season plan holder autograph session during batting practice. This year’s award winners are:

Hitter of the Year – INF/OF Phillip Glasser
Pitcher of the Year – RHP Riley Cornelio
Defensive Player of the Year – OF Cristhian Vaquero
Baserunner of the Year – INF Seaver King
Nationals Way Award – OF Andrew Pinckney

Glasser, 25, led the Nats system with a .302 average, .389 on-base percentage and 143 total hits. He also ranked second in OPS (.793) and walks (60), and finished in the top 10 in stolen bases (tied for third, 32), runs (fourth, 71) total bases (fifth, 191), slugging percentage (fifth, .404), triples (tied for sixth, four) and doubles (tied for seventh, 19).

His 143 hits were the most by a Nats minor leaguer since Andrew Stevenson’s 152 in 2022. Glasser finished the season with 124 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester.

The former 10th-round pick out of Indiana University in the 2023 MLB Draft played mostly in left field (91 games) but also appeared as the designated hitter (20 games), second baseman (11 games) and right fielded (three games) in his third professional season.

ATLANTA – Luis García Jr. had never played anywhere other than second base and shortstop in the major leagues. Sprinkle in a few games at third base in the minor leagues and there was only one remaining infield position he hadn’t played in his professional baseball career.

That changed Tuesday night when he took the field at Truist Park with Andrés Chaparro’s glove and manned first base against the Braves. And to his credit, after only practice reps at the new position since the All-Star break, he made a good first impression.

“Really good,” García said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz, of how he felt at first following the Nationals’ 3-2 loss to the Braves. “The first three innings, I was kind of nervous, but then after that, I felt really comfortable.”

García was on the receiving end of 11 putouts at first through the eight defensive innings, thanks in large part to Brad Lord inducing nine ground balls over his six innings. Most were routine plays, with a few short hops needing scooping, which he did so cleanly every time.

“I was trying to stop the ball, keep the ball right in front of me and make the play,” he said. “But I feel all the plays that were made today and were thrown at me, I felt good.”

ATLANTA – The Nationals had just one game remaining on the road portion of the 2025 schedule. With a victory this afternoon, not only would they end this six-game losing streak to the Braves, but they would also finish with a road record that is one game better than last year’s.

Things have rarely been easy for the Nats this year. But with an overall solid pitching performance and three home runs from some big sluggers, this was as easy of a victory they’ve had in a while.

Andrew Alvarez had a solid start through 4 ⅓ innings, Josh Bell and James Wood combined for three homers, and the Nats held on for a 4-3 win over their division rivals in front of an announced crowd of 32,898 at Truist Park.

“It was nice to get a .500 road trip," interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "That was awesome to take two out of three against the Mets and 1-2 here. It was awesome. The guys fight. We put some barrels on the ball. Good pitching from the bullpen, from the starting pitcher. So it was a team win.”

Alvarez entered his fifth major league start looking to bounce back from his first tough outing last week in New York, when he gave up six runs (four earned) over 3 ⅓ innings against the Mets.

ATLANTA – Julian Fernández was supposed to be on a 10 a.m. flight this morning back home to the Dominican Republic. Instead, he flew to Atlanta on Monday night to join the Nationals ahead of their second game against the Braves.

The right-handed reliever, who the Nats claimed off waivers from the Dodgers on Aug. 17, then found himself taking the mound at Truist Park in the bottom of the eighth inning, trying to keep it a 3-2 game against the heart of the Braves order and give his new team one more chance in the ninth.

Fernández proceeded to toss a perfect frame on a scant 13 pitches, striking out Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin with some high heat in the process.

It was a full-circle moment for the 28-year-old, who made his major league debut with the Rockies against the Braves in 2021, the first of only six appearances he would make that season before making just one this year with the Dodgers.

“I felt really good,” Fernández said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “I haven't pitched in a while, a couple of days. But I kept myself ready for this. Yesterday was really special because I made my debut against Atlanta back in '21. It's a great team and I was able to have a good performance.”

ATLANTA – The Nationals have lost six straight to the Braves. They’ve already lost the season series to their rivals, trailing 3-9 with one game to go. But a win in this afternoon’s finale would at least end the losing streak on a positive note. Plus, it would give the Nats a better road record than they had in 2024.

Andrew Alvarez has been impressive for most of his first stint in the majors. But he hit his first bump in his last start when he gave up six runs (four earned) in just 3 ⅓ innings against the Mets. The young left-hander will look to finish his season with a strong outing against a tough Braves lineup.

Meanwhile, Bryce Elder is 8-10 with a 5.36 ERA and 1.420 WHIP in 27 starts this season. He’s coming off seven innings of one-run ball and six strikeouts against the Tigers in Detroit. And the right-hander held the Nats to one run over six innings in D.C. back in May.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 12:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLBN (out-of-market only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 6 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
DH James Wood
SS CJ Abrams
1B Josh Bell
LF Daylen Lile
RF Dylan Crews
2B Luis García Jr.
C Jorge Alfaro
CF Robert Hassell III
3B Paul DeJong

ATLANTA – No matter how this final week finishes, Brad Lord has already entrenched himself as one of the Nationals’ best storylines in an otherwise disappointing 2025 season.

The former 18th-round pick out of the University of South Florida spent last offseason working at Home Depot before getting himself ready for what he thought was going to be another season grinding through the minor leagues. Instead, the 25-year-old broke camp with the Nats and spent the entire season in the majors.

Even while going back and forth between the starting rotation and bullpen, Lord has been one of the most consistent pitchers for the Nats. And that stayed true tonight despite him suffering a tough-luck 3-2 loss to the Braves in front of 37,322 fans at Truist Park.

Lord also faced off against fellow rookie Hurston Waldrep last week. And although he was credited with a no-decision, the Nats fell 9-4 after Lord departed the game with 3-0 lead in the sixth.

Tonight was a similar game, although this time Lord was saddled with the loss despite once again holding the Braves mostly in check.

ATLANTA – The Nationals ended the season for two more pitchers this afternoon, placing MacKenzie Gore and Mason Thompson on the 15-day injured list with only five games to go.

Gore landed on the IL with a right ankle impingement after it came about during his start last week on a rainy, cold Tuesday night at Nationals Park. He started last night’s series opener against the Braves, but only lasted two-plus innings. After allowing the first two batters in the third inning to reach while reaching 71 total pitches, interim manager Miguel Cairo thought that was enough for the 26-year-old left-hander, who had mentioned the ankle was still bothering him.

“It happened the last game when it was wet over there at home,” Cairo said during his pregame media session. “He felt it a little bit. He went through it. He toughened (through it) a little bit. And we didn't want to risk anything. It's not worth it right now. He had a really good season. Now it's time for him to just chill out and make sure this is fine. Just look forward to the offseason and have a great offseason, work hard and come back ready. He did really amazing things this year.”

Gore finishes the year 5-15 with a 4.17 ERA, 185 strikeouts, 1.353 WHIP and 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 159 ⅔ innings over 30 starts. He was named an All-Star for the first time in his career after going 4-8 with a 3.02 ERA, 1.196 WHIP and 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings over his first 19 starts. But he ended the year 1-7 with a 6.75 ERA, 1.703 WHIP and 8.6 K/9 over his last 11 outings.

“He had a great year,” Cairo said. “Everyone goes through the ups and downs of the season. He had a really good first half. He went to the All-Star Game, pitched really well and came back. They all get a little tired and they go to rough spots, but he pitched unbelievable.”

ATLANTA – The Nationals and Braves will square off with another pitching rematch from last week in the second game of this three-game set. Brad Lord and Hurston Waldrep will take the mound again as they did in the Wednesday's finale of a four-game series at Nationals Park.

Lord held the Braves to two runs on six hits and one walk and notched four strikeouts over 5 ⅓ innings that day. He departed that game with a 3-0 lead in the sixth, but the bullpen collapsed behind him in the Nats’ eventual 9-4 loss to complete the four-game sweep on their home field. The Nats will hope the rookie right-hander can keep them in the game again and that they can hold onto a lead if they get one.

Something to look out for in what could be Lord’s last start of the season: If he can complete 5 ⅔ shutout innings, he would become just the second Nationals rookie pitcher to complete 120 innings with an ERA less than 4.00, joining John Lannan in 2008 (3.91).

Meanwhile, Waldrep was charged with three runs on five hits last week. But he did strike out eight over his five innings, so the Nats will look to be more patient against the right-hander and get him in the zone tonight.

The Nats also made some pregame roster moves. They placed MacKenzie Gore (right ankle impingement) and Mason Thompson (right biceps tendinitis, retroactive to Sept. 20) on the 15-day injured list, ending both their seasons. They recalled right-handers Julian Fernandez and Orlando Ribalta to take their roster spots.

ATLANTA – When the Nationals made Nasim Nuñez the No. 5 overall selection in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, they knew what they were getting. The infielder was the best defensive prospect in the Marlins system with very little offensive upside. Any production they got from the switch-hitter at the plate would be a bonus.

Nuñez spent all of last season with the Nationals at the major league level as part of his Rule 5 status. He appeared in 51 games, mostly as a defensive replacement or pinch-runner, and made only 78 plate appearances. He collected one RBI on 15 hits, with only one going for extra bases.

This year, Nuñez was able to be optioned down to the minors. He appeared in 23 major league games between April and June, this time collecting five RBIs on eight hits, two for extra bases.

But when Nuñez came back up to the majors at the beginning of the month when rosters expanded to 28 players, no one expected to see this power surge the 25 year old has put on over his last 12 games.

He hit his first two major league home runs in his first game back on Sept. 3 against his former team. He hit what would end up being the game-winning home run Sunday against the Mets, a two-run shot in the third inning, in the city where he was born. And then he led off last night’s series opener against the Braves in what he considers his actual hometown by hitting a first-pitch homer off the reigning Cy Young Award winner.