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.

PHILADELPHIA – No matter what the Nationals did on the mound tonight, they had to get more production at the plate. Even on a good pitching night, three runs is usually not enough to beat this daunting Phillies lineup that scored 13 last night.

The Phillies entered tonight averaging 7.0 runs per game over 47 games against the Nats since the nightcap of a doubleheader on July 29, 2021. So without an absolute gem from the Nats pitching staff, the offense would need to score a lot more.

After suffering through six strong innings from Zack Wheeler last night, the Nats had the pleasure of facing Aaron Nola in the second game of this four-game set. Although they had more chances against this veteran right-hander and their own pitchers did a much better job containing the Phillies hitters, the results looked similar. That was until the ninth inning, when the Nats rallied to score two runs to tie the game.

That rally was in vain, though, because the Phillies scored the walk-off run in the bottom of the ninth to win 3-2 and send the boisterous crowd of 41,067 home happy.

Facing closer Kyle Finnegan, Brandon Marsh, who came in as a defensive replacement in the top of the ninth, hit a deep single to right field. But Alex Call’s throwing error allowed him to reach second easily. Then pinch-hitter Cal Stevenson put down a perfect bunt that wasn’t fielded by Finnegan nor third baseman José Tena due to some miscommunication in a loud Citizens Bank Park.

PHILADELPHIA – With Alex Call’s resurgence at the plate since his call-up from Triple-A Rochester, Nationals manager Davey Martinez has toyed with the idea of platooning him and CJ Abrams in the leadoff spot.

The right-handed Call would lead off against left-handed starting pitchers and the lefty Abrams would lead off against righties.

But tonight, Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola provides the rare exception to that rule. Call will lead off with Abrams hitting second as Martinez tries to exploit Nola’s breaking ball: a knuckle curve he throws 31.8 percent of the time.

“Nola has been tough,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “He's got the good breaking ball. Alex works good at-bats. See if we can get him on base for the other guys up there. But this is just one of those rarities. I do like Alex against lefties up there. But this is one guy that I really feel like the righties could have a little bit better chance just because of that big breaking ball and big changeup he has.”

Nola is 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.147 WHIP in 24 starts. But he has almost even batting average splits against righties and lefties. In fact, right-handed hitters are getting on-base at a slightly better rate (.288) than left-handers (.284).

PHILADELPHIA – “This one I'm going to flush.”

That was manager Davey Martinez after last night’s 13-3 loss to the Phillies. And yeah, let’s forget about that one.

The Nationals look to bounce back tonight with Patrick Corbin on the mound. There are only a handful of starts left for the veteran left-hander in a Nats uniform, so we don’t need to revisit all of the numbers. But it is worth noting he held the Phillies to four runs over six innings with six strikeouts in a tough-luck 4-0 loss on April 5. He doesn’t have a lot of success at Citizens Bank Park, however, with a 6.50 ERA in nine starts.

After struggling with Zack Wheeler last night, the Nats get a chance to face Aaron Nola tonight. The veteran right-hander is 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA on the year. He held the Nats scoreless over 5 ⅔ innings in that same April 5 game in D.C. Then he kept them to two runs in seven innings here on May 19.

Also, the Nats announced earlier this afternoon that Jordan Weems has cleared outright waivers and they have assigned him outright to Triple-A Rochester.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals have made progress this year, no doubt.

For the most part, the young pitching staff has made strides. CJ Abrams was an All-Star. Jacob Young is the favorite to win the National League Gold Glove Award in center field. Luis García Jr. and Keibert Ruiz are having strong second halves. And a crop of newly acquired young talent is getting their shot at the major league level.

Plus, the Nats now boast a top-five farm system, per Baseball America, that has depth at the lower levels of the minor leagues and top prospects nearing their big league debuts.

But although they were on pace to eclipse their 71 wins from last year for much of this season, after last night’s brutal 13-3 loss to the Phillies they have the same record after 122 games as they had in 2023: 55-67.

And last night’s loss underscored the next step the Nats need to take to get where they want to be.

PHILADELPHIA – Mitchell Parker has been the Nationals’ biggest surprise this season. Entering the year, he was a middle-of-the-pack prospect who was called upon to make his major league debut three weeks into the season.

And here he is in mid-August with the second-best ERA in the Nats rotation. That was, however, until tonight.

Parker entered his 22nd major league start with a 3.83 ERA after allowing just two earned runs (four total) in 17 ⅓ innings over his last three starts. But he had yet to face the dangerous bats in the Phillies lineup during his rookie campaign.

The results in the first matchup weren’t pretty as the young left-hander was knocked around over three-plus innings and the Nats defense played sloppy in an eventual 13-3 rout at the hands of a division rival.

"As we talked about earlier today," manager Davey Martinez said after the loss, "two things that can't happen: We can't give away outs and we can't make pitching mistakes. Today, we did both.”

PHILADELPHIA – José Tena has returned to the Nationals lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Phillies after missing the two-game set against the Orioles with a thumb injury.

The 23-year-old infielder, who the Nats acquired from the Guardians in the Lane Thomas trade, couldn’t handle a sharp grounder hit right at him in the fourth inning of Sunday’s loss to the Angels. He was struck while trying to turn a double play and had to depart the game with a towel wrapped around his bleeding right thumb.

X-rays were negative, with no broken bones, but the cut on Tena’s thumb was significant enough to keep the young third baseman out of the lineup for the two games in Baltimore.

But now Tena, who became the first player in franchise history with a walk-off hit in his team debut on Saturday, returns to the field at third base while batting eighth at Citizens Bank Park.

“He's good. He's gonna play today,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame meeting with the media. “He felt better yesterday, so he's in the lineup today. We'll see how he does.”

PHILADELPHIA – After splitting a quick two-game set in Baltimore, the Nationals continue their trip up I-95 to face the Phillies for four games at Citizens Bank Park.

The Nats only have one win in six chances against their division rivals, which came all the way back on April 7 in D.C. They were swept in three games in their more recent meeting here in May. But while the Phils still hold one of the best records in the major leagues, the second half hasn’t been too kind to them as their schedule gets harder to finish the season.

The Phillies entered the All-Star break at 62-34 (.646), but they have gone 8-16 (.333) to start the second half, including losing four of their last five entering tonight. They still have a six-game lead in the National League East, but the Nats can make things more difficult for them with a strong showing this weekend.

Mitchell Parker will try to put that in motion when he takes the mound for his 22nd start. The left-hander has started to regain his groove in the second half, allowing just two earned runs (four total) in 17 ⅓ innings over his last three starts. The 24-year-old has never faced the Phillies, so it will be interesting to see how he handles some of the big bats in their lineup.

On the other hand, the Nats have seen plenty of Zack Wheeler. The right-hander is in the middle of an All-Star season with an 11-5 record, 2.78 ERA and 1.002 WHIP. He gave up two runs in 7 ⅓ innings in a win over the Nats on May 17.

BALTIMORE – The smile on Orlando Ribalta’s face was still there Wednesday afternoon, some 19 hours after he made his major league debut in the ninth inning of the Nationals’ 9-3 victory over the Orioles.

It was far from a perfect debut; he retired only two of the five batters he faced and had to be pulled when his pitch count got too high. But the experience nonetheless was one Ribalta will never forget.

“I obviously had a lot of adrenaline going, but I know it’s part of the environment, being the first time,” he said. “It was the best thing. It was really cool.”

Promoted from Triple-A Rochester along with first baseman Andres Chaparro, Ribalta was thrown right into the proceedings, handed the ninth inning with the Nats holding a comfortable lead. Davey Martinez hoped the 26-year-old right-hander could record the final three outs of the game, but the manager ultimately had to summon Derek Law to finish it off.

Ribalta, whose head admittedly was spinning under the circumstances, will continue to get opportunities now that he has arrived in the big leagues. The Nationals hope to learn more about the physically imposing reliever over the season’s final seven weeks, determining if he looks like he could be part of the 2025 bullpen or not.

BALTIMORE – The Nationals have not yet closed the gap with the Orioles that has existed for multiple seasons now. One of these teams is headed for its second straight October appearance. The other is spending the next seven weeks identifying which players will be part of a team attempting to win in 2025 and which players will not.

But the gap is shrinking, and the four head-to-head matchups between the two interleague rivals this year underscored that. After getting swept by Baltimore last season and scoring a grand total of one run in the process, the Nats split the Battle of the Beltways this season and actually outscored their opponents by five runs along the way.

Tonight’s finale was right there for the taking, as well, and could’ve given the Nationals their first series victory over the Orioles since 2018. But a lack of offense doomed them on a night when DJ Herz pitched well but took a hard-luck, 4-1 loss at Camden Yards.

Herz allowed just two runs over six strong innings, both runs scoring on one swing in the bottom of the first. His teammates couldn’t match those numbers, though, one night after busting out for nine runs on 15 hits during a lopsided victory.

Tuesday’s big win, coupled with a 3-0 victory back in May in D.C., allowed the Nationals to go 2-2 against Baltimore for the season. And the two losses were highly competitive: a 7-6, 12-inning loss in May, then tonight’s tightly contested affair.

BALTIMORE – Davey Martinez gathered his entire coaching staff together on the Nationals’ off-day and told the group he had an announcement to make: Every one of them was being invited back for the 2025 season.

Prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Orioles, all of them – pitching coach Jim Hickey, hitting coach Darnell Coles, bench coach Miguel Cairo, first base coach Gerardo Parra, third base coach Ricky Gutierrez, catching and strategy coach Henry Blanco, bullpen coach Ricky Bones, pitching strategist Sean Doolittle and assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson – signed their new contracts. And this afternoon, Martinez made it public, ensuring his full staff not only will return for another season but was made aware long before the current season ends.

“I really wanted to get it done now,” Martinez said. “This way, there’s a little bit of unity, and all the guys know they’ll be back, instead of doing it at the end of the year. I really feel like this is a good corps, and we work really good together. And they’re doing a great job with the kids. For me, it was important to get it done as soon as possible.”

This was a significant departure from the 2023 season, when Martinez (who signed his contract extension in late-August) didn’t make decisions on his coaches until October, making several changes to what had been a tight-knit staff.

With all of the current coaches on one-year deals, speculation had been growing there could be more changes coming this fall, most notably at the hitting coach position. Ultimately, Martinez – with the blessing of general manager Mike Rizzo and Nationals ownership – gave a vote of confidence to everyone, and didn’t make anyone – including the players – have to sweat out the season’s final seven weeks before learning who would be back in 2025.

BALTIMORE – Like most Maryland kids, James Wood grew up going to Orioles games at Camden Yards. And like most Maryland kids, he also grew up picking steamed blue crabs.

On Tuesday night, the Olney, Md., native got to relive both childhood memories in the Nationals’ 9-3 rout of the Orioles in Baltimore.

“It was definitely cool coming to Baltimore because, a lot of times, this is where I would watch games growing up,” Wood said after last night’s game. ”It was just a lot of fun out there. I was just enjoying it.”

What was not to enjoy? Wood finished his first game at Camden Yards 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. His four hits had exit velocities of 99.5, 102.7, 105.8 and 105.9 mph to keep him in the 95th percentile in the major leagues.

After Wood started his night 4-for-4 – already his second four-hit performance in his first 37 big league games – his mom, Paula, tweeted a picture of a young James and his grandfather watching a game at Camden Yards.