As soon as it was placed on the schedule, this was always a possibility. You just have to hope that everything goes well leading up to it.

Once Major League Baseball released the updated 2022 schedule after the first week of the regular season was canceled due to the lockout, the Nationals must have circled this weekend on their calendar.

One of the two games against the Phillies that was originally scheduled for early April was rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader on Friday, the back end of an 11-game homestand over 10 days. Not to mention it’s Ryan Zimmerman Weekend at Nationals Park.

So yeah, a long weekend.

On the field, the Nationals need help for and from their pitching staff to get through these next five games.

This week hasn’t been pleasant to the Nationals. After starting this homestand with two big wins over the Brewers, it’s been all downhill since.

Looking to avoid their third sweep in as many weeks, the Nationals dropped another dud in the form of an 8-2 loss to the Braves in front of 21,153 fans at Nationals Park.

The Nats had nothing going against Braves starter Spencer Strider. The rookie brought his good stuff to his fourth straight start, putting away hitters with his triple-digit fastball and sharp slider.

Strider’s fastball averaged 98.8 mph and topped out at 100.9 mph, with the Nats swinging late on it all night. Then the slider was a great putaway pitch as it was thrown for strikes 43 percent of the time.

“He was good. He hit 100-101 (mph)," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "But more so his breaking ball was good and he threw it for strikes. When a guy's like that, he's tough locating his fastball. He was tough."

The Nationals have already had a rough start to the week with Stephen Strasburg’s injury news, a worn out bullpen and three straight losses at home, including the first two games of this three-game set against the Braves. The last thing they need is for their best player to miss time due to a freak injury in the dugout.

But that’s exactly what they have as Juan Soto is not in the starting lineup for the second straight game after slipping in the dugout and banging his right knee on the corner of a bench in the eighth inning of Monday night’s game.

Soto was seen in the Nationals clubhouse before batting practice walking around with a slight limp in his step. He was going to test it out in the cage before making a decision on whether or not he would play, even though he told manager Davey Martinez he’s feeling better.

“He says he feels better, but we'll see,” Martinez said during his pregame session with the media before a starting lineup was announced.

What do the Nationals want to see Soto do before putting him back in the field?

Well, this week has not started off well for the Nationals. After starting this 11-games-in-10-days homestand with two impressive wins against the Brewers over the weekend, the Nats have dropped three straight by a combined score of 23-10, including the first two games of this series against the division rival Braves. Not to mention all of the injury and roster news from the past 48 hours …

As they look to avoid a three-game sweep, the Nats will turn to Erick Fedde to be the stopper, something he actually has done a handful of times this season. The Nationals have won seven of the 12 games Fedde has started this season, with the right-hander going 4-4 with a 4.87 ERA. Of those seven wins, five of them were the only victories the Nationals secured in those respective series (against the Mets, Pirates, Rockies, Astros and Dodgers). And his most recent start against the Brewers stopped a three-game losing streak after the Nationals were swept out of Miami last week.

He’ll try to do it again tonight.

The Braves will send one of the National League’s best rookies in Spencer Strider to the mound for just his fourth start in his 15th appearance this season. The 23-year-old right-hander is 2-2 with a 1.122 WHIP and 2.35 ERA, which is third-best among qualified major league rookies. Strider’s three starts have come in his last three outings, over which he allowed four earned runs in 14 innings while striking out 20 and issuing just eight walks. He gave up one run on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings of relief against the Nats on April 11 in Atlanta.

Juan Soto is not in the lineup for the second straight game. The star right fielder slipped in the dugout and banged his right knee on the corner of a bench in the eighth inning of Monday night’s game. Manager Davey Martinez told reporters yesterday Soto’s X-ray came back clean, but today said the knee is still sore. Martinez also said during his pregame media session that Soto could be available off the bench.

Reed Garrett got the call around midnight on Tuesday, having only just arrived in Scranton, Pa., with his Triple-A Rochester teammates a few hours earlier. The Nationals were calling him and fellow reliever Francisco Perez up, and because there weren’t any good flight options, his best bet was to rent a car and make the four-hour drive to Washington.

So it was that Garrett found himself behind the wheel, with Perez riding shotgun, on the road to D.C., then eventually into Tuesday night’s game against the Braves. It may have sounded like a stressful trip to some, but for the 29-year-old right-hander, it sure beat the travels he endured the last two seasons.

“Reflecting on it, it’s been a wild journey,” he said. “But it’s all been worth it.”

The journey began in Henrico, Va., where Garrett was born. It included life growing up in the Richmond area rooting for the Braves, though he believes the first major league game he ever attended was at RFK Stadium to see the Nationals.

A 16th round pick of the Rangers in 2014 out of Virginia Military Institute, Garrett would be selected by the Tigers in the 2019 Rule 5 draft and make his major league debut that season, only to be sent back to Texas after 13 disappointing appearances.

Jackson Tetreault found himself standing on the mound at Nationals Park at 7:06 p.m., a 26-year-old, seventh-round pick in the 2017 draft realizing a lifelong dream, starting a big league game. And when the right-hander proceeded to strike out Braves leadoff man Ronald Acuña Jr. on a high, 97-mph fastball, the impossible seemed possible, if only for a fleeting moment.

That moment indeed was fleeting, because the Acuña strikeout was followed by a no-doubt Dansby Swanson homer to left, which was followed by another run an inning later, which was followed by five more runs (including two more homers) the inning after that, leaving the Nats in a big hole they wouldn’t escape en route to a 10-4 loss.

"Early on, I just made sure I looked around, took it all in, said hi to the family, all that," Tetreault said. "But after that, it was good. Obviously not the result I was looking for, but I'm not going to shy away. I'm eager to get back out there and throw again. Just happy to get the first one under my belt. An awesome experience."

That Tetreault, who isn’t listed among the organization’s top prospects, found himself in this situation was more a reflection of the drastic pitching predicament the Nationals found themselves in than of his particular resume. After Stephen Strasburg went on the 15-day injured list with a stress reaction in his ribs and Josiah Gray had to be scratched from Monday night’s start after warming up just before a lengthy rain delay, the Nats simply needed somebody to start this game capable of throwing 90 or more pitches.

And with their higher-ranked prospects all off-schedule, the call was placed to Tetreault, who last started for Triple-A Rochester on Thursday and thus was good to go.

The Nationals formally placed Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day injured list today with a stress reaction of his second and third ribs, a diagnosis that doesn’t necessarily offer an optimistic or pessimistic outlook on the right-hander’s timetable to return but is related to the thoracic outlet surgery he had last summer and ensures he’ll be out for a not-insignificant period of time while letting this latest injury heal.

Strasburg is scheduled to fly to Southern California to be examined by specialist Neal ElAttrache, the noted orthopedist who just performed teammate Joe Ross’ second Tommy John surgery last week.

“This surgery, you just don’t know where it’s going to go,” Martinez said of pitchers who have attempted to return from thoracic outlet surgery. “I’ve seen a lot of guys go through this and not come out of it good right away. I’ve seen guys come out of it where they pitch for many years. We’re just going to have to wait. There’s no timeline right now for Stephen. He’s going to go see another specialist, and then we’ll know more.”

Strasburg had just completed a yearlong rehab process from last summer’s career-altering surgery, making his return to a big league mound Thursday night in Miami. Though he gave up seven runs in 4 2/3 innings, with a fastball velocity that averaged 90-91 mph, the 33-year-old was genuinely encouraged with how he felt physically and was prepared to make his next start in five days.

But during a standard bullpen session Saturday, Strasburg noted something didn’t feel right. And on Sunday, shortly after the Nationals announced him as their scheduled starter for tonight’s game against the Braves, he informed the club of this new bout of discomfort, leading to an MRI on Monday.

First we thought Stephen Strasburg would be starting tonight. Then we thought Josiah Gray would be starting tonight. Neither is, Strasburg because of an injury that today put him on the 15-day injured list, Gray because he wasn’t ready to bounce back after completing a full warmup session before Monday night’s game was delayed by rain.

So who’s starting for the Nationals tonight against a Braves team that has won 12 in a row to climb back into the NL East race? That would be Jackson Tetreault. Who’s Jackson Tetreault, you ask? He’s a 26-year-old right-hander drafted in the seventh round in 2017. In 12 starts at Triple-A Rochester, he went 5-3 with a 4.19 ERA and 1.293 WHIP, striking out 52 while walking 24. He’s not officially ranked among the organization’s top 30 prospects, but he made his most recent start Thursday and that means he was already on schedule for tonight, something the club’s other potential pitching options were not.

So, welcome to the majors, Jackson. Now, go out there and hold Ronald Acuña Jr., Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley and Co. in check for at least five solid innings, OK?

The Nationals could help their rookie starter out with some early run support. To do that, they’ll have to produce against lefty Max Fried, who enters 6-2 with a 2.64 ERA but hasn’t been as successful in his career against the Nats. Old stats don’t mean a whole lot, given how different this current lineup looks compared to previous ones. But they did get to Fried for three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings when they met earlier this year in Atlanta.

In addition to selecting Tetreault's contract, the Nationals have also selected the contract of right-hander Reed Garrett from Rochester and recalled lefty Francisco Pérez. Along with Strasburg's latest stop on the IL, the team made space for the three by optioning reliever Jordan Weems to Rochester and designating utility player Dee Strange-Gordon for assignment.

In a season that's already featured more than a fair share of bad days, Monday was about as bad as it gets for the Nationals. Between injuries to star players, a rain delay, altered pitching plans and a 9-5 loss to the Braves, nothing went right for the club.

And now the Nats have to pick up the pieces from all that and take the field against the red-hot Braves again tonight, with the rest of this 11-games-in-10-days homestand still looming.

Here’s a rundown of what needs to be sorted out before today is over …

* How’s Stephen Strasburg?
Davey Martinez didn’t want to offer up any update on Strasburg late Monday night: “We’ll talk about Stephen tomorrow, if that’s OK,” the manager said. “I’ll know a lot more tomorrow about Stephen.”

Chances are, Martinez already knew something about the results of the MRI performed on Strasburg earlier in the day. But given all the other fires he was trying to put out after a game that nearly ended at midnight, he didn’t want to go into any more detail yet.

As he warmed up in the right field bullpen, Josiah Gray’s task for the evening was clear. Give the Nationals a chance to beat the Braves tonight? Sure. But more important than that, go deep enough in the game to alleviate pressure on a pitching staff that faces a daunting task this week with eight games scheduled over the next seven days, and with a replacement starter already needed Tuesday as Stephen Strasburg heads back to the injured list.

So consider what happened right around 7 p.m. as a worst-case scenario for the Nats. With rain falling and a heavy storm cell fast approaching, the grounds crew rolled out the tarp, the start of the game ultimately was delayed 1 hour, 33 minutes and Gray (because he had already warmed up) was scratched altogether out of caution by the organization.

"He sat for a very, very long time, and I'm not going to do that to him," manager Davey Martinez said. "I mean, he was in uncharted waters right there, so I decided after an hour and a half that we weren't going to send him out, and he was good."

This game was now in the hands of an already depleted bullpen, with Erasmo Ramírez charged with the unenviable task of starting the game and going as far as he could possibly go.

The ensuing results shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Ramírez gave up six runs in three innings, and the Nationals slogged their way through a 9-5 loss that brought a fitting conclusion to a downtrodden day for the organization.

Stephen Strasburg is going back on the injured list after reporting discomfort following his bullpen session over the weekend, bringing the Nationals right-hander’s attempted return from thoracic outlet surgery to a screeching halt.

Strasburg had come out of Thursday’s start in Miami – his first big league outing in more than a year – genuinely encouraged about the way he felt physically, and the Nationals had already announced him as their scheduled starter for Tuesday’s home game against the Braves.

But after throwing off the bullpen mound Saturday in his typical between-starts regimen, the 33-year-old informed club officials he “didn’t feel right, some discomfort,” according to manager Davey Martinez.

Strasburg went to have an MRI test today; the team is still waiting for results, but Martinez already announced he’ll be placed back on the IL and won’t start Tuesday as initially planned.

“Like I said before, this surgery, this thoracic outlet thing, you just don’t know,” the manager said. “We don’t know if this is the same issue or not yet, but we’ll know more as soon as we get the MRI and the doctors read the image. But it stinks because he was all excited to be back. But hopefully it’s just a minor setback.”

The Nationals spent the weekend taking advantage of a good Brewers club going through a rough stretch, extending Milwaukee’s losing streak to eight games before falling in Sunday’s finale. Now they’ll have to try to go up against a Braves team that’s absolutely on fire right now.

Atlanta enters the week on an 11-game winning streak, outscoring its opponents by 44 runs. The defending World Series champions were off to a ragged start to their season, but they’ve figured something out here recently and come to town on a roll.

Josiah Gray gets the start, and he’ll be looking to duplicate what he did at Truist Park back in April, when he held the Braves to one hit over five scoreless innings. The young righty also had a 10-strikeout game in Atlanta last summer, so he’s proven he can have some success against this very tough lineup.

The Nationals, who exploded for seven homers Friday and Saturday but were shut down Sunday, go up against Ian Anderson, who actually hasn’t faced them since he was a rookie in 2020. Davey Martinez is again going with Lane Thomas, who has gotten hot over the last few weeks, in center field leading off.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 86 degrees, wind 5 mph out to center field

When Victor Robles came up to bat in the bottom of the third Saturday afternoon, moments after teammate Luis Garcia had led off the inning with a single, anyone inside Nationals Park who has been paying attention this season knew what was about to happen.

Sure enough, as Brewers left-hander Eric Lauer began his delivery toward the plate, Robles squared around to bunt. And when he proceeded to pop up that bunt attempt, right to first baseman Rowdy Tellez for an easy out, the crowd moaned, annoyed both with the result of the play but perhaps also the fact it happened in the first place.

That’s not necessarily how the Nationals dugout reacted to the botched bunt attempt.

“Look, it’s got to be part of his game, right? We want him to bunt in certain situations,” manager Davey Martinez said Sunday morning. “I thought yesterday he had the right idea, but he caught the ball back and had his hands up close to his body. So he couldn’t really see the ball hit the bat. He’s got to understand that when he does do that, he’s got to get to the ball out front.”

Officially, it went down as Robles’ 12th sacrifice bunt attempt this season, only six of which have been successful. Those 12 attempts lead the majors. And as a matter of fact, only five teams have attempted more sacrifice bunts this year than Robles has attempted on his own.

The Nationals entered today’s series finale against the Brewers with a suddenly resurgent lineup and a piecemeal pitching plan that needed to come together if they wanted to pull off their first three-game sweep of the season.

Who would’ve thought the pitching part of the equation would be the least of their concerns?

While Paolo Espino, Evan Lee and two relievers teamed up to hold Milwaukee in check, the Nats lineup went silent during a 4-1 loss to spoil any hopes of a weekend sweep on South Capitol Street.

Espino and Lee combined for the equivalent of a “quality start,” allowing three runs over six innings without issuing a walk. But their teammates couldn’t produce enough at the plate, despite several early opportunities with runners in scoring position, and thus couldn’t duplicate the power display they put on the previous two nights, when they launched seven total homers in back-to-back wins.

"Our pitching was good," manager Davey Martinez said. "We just didn't come up with that big hit. Twice had bases loaded, only scored one run. We just couldn't get that big hit today."

Everything has felt normal for Stephen Strasburg since his season debut Thursday night, so the right-hander is good to remain on a five-day schedule and start Tuesday against the Braves at Nationals Park.

Strasburg emerged from his 83-pitch start in Miami and his subsequent workouts with no issues, giving club officials more reason to be optimistic he can proceed as a healthy member of the rotation after returning at last from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery.

“He’s got a good routine,” manager Davey Martinez said. “For him, it’s going to be every start, every five days in between, we just have to keep an eye on him and make sure nothing goes awry. So far, so good.”

The results from Strasburg’s start against the Marlins – seven runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings – weren’t encouraging, but both he and the team were highly encouraged by the way he felt physically throughout the game. Strasburg believed any struggles he had were a product of execution and/or pitch selection, not any residual effects of his injury.

There were signs the 33-year-old isn’t all the way back from the surgery, though. After retiring 10 of 12 batters during one stretch, he appeared tired in the bottom of the fifth, allowing five straight hits on loud contact. And his fastball velocity, which averaged 92-94 mph in his minor league rehab starts, was only 90-91 mph in his first big league game.

Paolo Espino has pitched in 20 games for the Nationals this season, totaling 26 2/3 innings. He’s produced a sparkling 2.03 ERA and 1.013 WHIP, striking out 20 while walking only four. He’s been one of the team’s most effective pitchers through 61 games. Except every one of his appearances has come either with the Nats leading or trailing by at least three runs. He hasn’t had a chance to pitch in a single close game yet.

That changes today, and it changes in a big way, because Espino will be starting the Nationals’ series finale against the Brewers, hoping to help lead his team to its first series sweep of the year. Davey Martinez chose the veteran right-hander over young lefty Evan Lee because he liked the matchup against Milwaukee, and because Espino has been so effective this season, even if it has come entirely in low-leverage situations.

We’ll see if Espino can translate those positive results into a much more prominent assignment, facing the team for which he made his major league debut in 2017. The Brewers have a potent lineup, and they’re desperate for success, having now lost eight in a row to fall out of first place in the National League Central.

The Nationals’ lineup has certainly been potent this weekend, blasting out 11 runs Friday and eight more Saturday, with the big three of Juan Soto, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell playing a starring role. That group will try to keep it going to against Milwaukee starter Jason Alexander, who makes his third career start. (If this pitching thing doesn’t work out for Alexander, perhaps he can always go back to that career in architecture he always wanted to pretend to have.)

MILWAUKEE BREWERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 77 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

This is what they envisioned all along: A well-balanced, sustained offensive attack, with power from Juan Soto, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell.

In the dream scenario for the 2022 season they conjured up months ago, the Nationals believed that was possible. It probably wouldn’t have been enough to lift this team back into a pennant race, not with all its other flaws as it embarked on an organizational rebuild, but if nothing else this team would be competitive, especially from an offensive standpoint.

That hasn’t happened with any regularity through the season’s first 61 games, but on more than a few occasions it has managed to all come together at once. And in today’s 8-6 win over the Brewers, the Nats may have come as close to realizing that dream scenario as they have all year.

With another sustained power display against a pitching staff that shut them down only a few weeks ago in Milwaukee, the Nationals won behind back-to-back-to-back homers from the three biggest bats in the heart of their lineup.

All this on the heels of an 11-run, 19-hit onslaught Friday night, making it an ultra-rare example of back-to-back big offensive showings from this lineup. Though they’ve scored 10 or more runs eight times this season, second-most in the majors, this was only the second time they’ve followed up by scoring more than five runs in their next game.

The Nationals need someone to start Sunday’s series finale, but they aren’t going to make any final declarations about the identity of that starter until they first play today’s game against the Brewers, recognizing anything can (and often does) happen to spoil best-laid plans.

“Let’s get through today,” manager Davey Martinez said with a laugh, “and then we’ll know more.”

The Nats’ hope and plan seems fairly clear: If they can avoid using him in relief today, they would like to have Evan Lee make Sunday’s start, only his second in the big leagues. The rookie left-hander allowed two runs in 3 2/3 innings during his June 1 debut in New York, and though he’s spent his time since then in the bullpen (making one relief appearance) he’s been prepped in a manner that would allow him to start Sunday if needed.

Lee threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief Tuesday in Miami, on what would essentially have been his next turn through the rotation. He then was seen warming up in the bullpen during the final inning of Thursday’s game against the Marlins, not because he was preparing to enter that game but because that essentially served as his between-starts throwing session.

“We tell him all the time with everything going on right now, especially this next week, anything can happen,” Martinez said. “He’s well aware of that, and making sure he stays sharp.”

Good news: The Nationals scored 11 runs Friday night to cruise to victory. Bad news: The Nationals scored 11 runs Friday night to cruise to victory, because so far this season that has spelled doom for their offense the next day.

Seven times this year the Nats have scored 10 or more runs. And in five of those cases, they’ve gone on to lose their next game, scoring a total of 11 runs in those games. So they’ll be looking to buck that trend later this afternoon when they host the Brewers in the second game of this weekend series.

The lineup today is facing Eric Lauer, who carved them up last month in Milwaukee. The left-hander tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits while striking out five on May 20. (That was the game Lane Thomas tried for an inside-the-park homer but was thrown out at the plate.)

Patrick Corbin also started for the Nationals during that series, falling victim to a pair of homers. Andrew McCutchen got him on his very first pitch in the bottom of the first. Then Luis Urías jumped on the first pitch he saw in the fifth inning for a homer of his own. Both are in the Brewers lineup today.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 73 degrees, wind 4 mph in from center field

You’ll have to excuse Sean Doolittle if he seems a little amped over something as trivial as playing catch as a major league pitcher. For a guy who had to go on the 10-day injured list after a strong start to the season and then went months without picking up a baseball, the left-hander had a lot of energy and a lot to say about his ongoing rehab process.

“We're in my second week of playing catch. ... Up to 75 feet right now. And just building back up,” Doolittle said in front of his locker in the Nationals clubhouse Friday afternoon. “I can't remember the last time I took two months off from throwing. But the elbow and the forearm have been feeling really good. All of the strength work has gone really well and now is the fun part. Getting to throw and play catch again, knock that rust off. We don't have a timetable or anything. But it's been going really well.”

Doolittle landed on the 10-day IL with a left elbow sprain on April 20, the day after he recorded two outs in relief of Josiah Gray during the Nationals’ 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks in the matinee of a D.C. doubleheader. A little over two weeks later, he was moved to the 60-day IL after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection that would keep him out for a longer period of time.

He had to stop throwing for what turned out to be about two months. He wasn’t allowed to do what he’s literally paid to do.

After starting the season with 5 1/3 scoreless innings, a 0.188 WHIP and six strikeouts to no walks over six appearances, was that particularly frustrating for him?