r/Nationals • u/NationalsBot NatsHD • 1d ago
Post Game Thread: Nationals 5 @ Dodgers 7 - September 6, 2026
Line Score - Game Over
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | LOB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 8 |
| LAD | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 8 |
Box Score
| LAD | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2B | Edman | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .277 |
| SS | Betts | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .246 |
| C | Smith, W | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .237 |
| 1B | Freeman, F | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .301 |
| LF | Hernández, T | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .257 |
| RF | Tucker | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .223 |
| 2B | Rojas, M | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .269 |
| 3B | Freeland, A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .223 |
| DH | Muncy | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .249 |
| 3B | Hernández, E | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .211 |
| PH | Feduccia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .241 |
| CF | Call | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .253 |
| LAD | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | P-S | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wrobleski | 3.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 73-50 | 3.84 |
| Stewart, B | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11-7 | 2.49 |
| Treinen | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16-8 | 3.38 |
| Miller, B | 3.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 53-30 | 3.00 |
| Henriquez, E | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 17-10 | 2.65 |
| WSH | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DH | Wood | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .268 |
| RF | Crews | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .217 |
| 1B | Chaparro | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .255 |
| PH | Ortiz, A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
| 2B | Abrams | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .264 |
| 3B | House | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .246 |
| LF | Lile | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .256 |
| C | Ford, H | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .200 |
| CF | Young | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .251 |
| SS | Nuñez, N | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .211 |
| WSH | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | P-S | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alvarez | 4.1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 78-48 | 3.60 |
| Lord | 1.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39-27 | 3.62 |
| Dion | 2.0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 40-25 | 3.89 |
Scoring Plays
Highlights
Decisions
| Winning Pitcher | Losing Pitcher | Save |
|---|---|---|
| Miller, B (1-0, 3.00 ERA) | Dion (1-2, 3.89 ERA) | Henriquez, E (2 SV, 2.65 ERA) |
Game ended at 1:06 AM.
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u/traviud Stay In The Fight 1d ago
I'm tired of this song and dance and want the season to be over, but I'm excited about 2027
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u/TheyCallMeTrips 1d ago
I'll be excited when this team changes owners. Till then, nothing will change
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u/traviud Stay In The Fight 1d ago
*Excited despite my better judgment
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u/TheyCallMeTrips 1d ago
Ah yes, I know this feeling all too well from being a lifelong Commanders fan
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u/Less-Committee-9026 1d ago
It’s super hard to believe that we don’t have the highest bullpen ERA in the majors this year
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u/YodaPM999 7 - Darnell Coles 1d ago edited 1d ago
This shit is legitimately starting to feel like divine intervention at this point.
Butera has tried so, so many different strategies to try and mitigate this bullpen problem. I've watched at least 30 different guys get the late innings to try and preserve a lead. Proven arms, trade acquisitions, waiver claims, you name it. He's tried using the quick hook and play matchup splits. He's tried using the long man, or pushing guys past their limit. All in search of something, anything that could work.
And yet... the results are mostly the exact goddamn same thing. Part of me wants to say that he could've tried going to Ribalta tonight. Buy you know damn well he would've made one, just one, bad pitch, and of course it'd be sent 450 feet over the fence. Because it's never a measly single or a weak flyball. Why? Because... uh, the 2026 Nats aren't allowed to get saves I guess.
Like, this isn't even just a bad bullpen. This is a fucking curse. We're watching everybody go out there and blow leads. Literally everybody. This team could summon 2015 Max Scherzer out of the bullpen, and I bet he'd somehow find a way to blow a lead at the exact perfect time this team needs a clutch save. Cuz it literally doesn't even matter who is out there or what situation they're in. They're gonna blow it.
This was a fun series regardless. I was proud to see us play three extremely close games in a playoff atmosphere against a legitimately great team. Unfortunately, it once again showed exactly why they sold at the deadline this year. They aren't there yet. But damn, they're a lot closer than any of us thought they'd be. And there's something to that.
Would've been nice to take at least one though. Feel bad for Blake. Feel bad for Dion. You know they're both beating themselves up over this. The hitters too. They fought really hard this weekend. Hope the effort continues for what's left of this season. I don't wanna see us start mozying to the finish line to get the year over with.
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u/igottadoittoem 1d ago
It’s annoying with the constant Butera hate about the bullpen when it doesn’t matter who’s in lol
Our best relievers blow games our worst relievers blow games.
Too nit-picky for me when there’s not a lot that can be done or a lot that he could have done to change anything.
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u/YodaPM999 7 - Darnell Coles 1d ago
I think a lot of frustrated fans on social media default to blaming the manager when something goes wrong. See it all the time. I'll casually visit another team's GDT just to check out the vibes. If they're losing, then I 100% guarantee you'll see people getting mad at their coaches for something.
The frustration is reasonable when you're watching Davey Martinez put Brad Hand in to blow his 8th save in the last 9 chances. It doesn't make sense when your manager tries 50 different bullpen combinations and it fails regardless of who's out there.
And any time you ask these people what he should've done, they always say "he should've used option B or C instead of option A!" Acting as if they wouldn't have been having a meltdown if he had made the move, only for that new player to blow it regardless.
Not saying Butera is perfect by any means. He's a rookie manager who's obviously made some head scratching decisions at some point in the 140+ games he's managed this year. But God damn, there's only so much he can do. Even his "correct" moves have backfired at times cuz baseball gonna baseball.
Like I said, I feel bad for the guy. It's pretty clear that he's trying to put these guys in situations to succeed. He's trying to mix things up and find something that sticks. He's doing everything one guy in his position could reasonably do to navigate this mess of a bullpen. It just... hasn't worked. And there doesn't seem to be an answer. At least not this season.
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u/SaoMagnifico Fight Finished 1d ago
Apparently Ribalta now has a forearm issue, Butera said in the postgame, because we can't possibly have a single glimmer of hope for this fucking useless relief corps.
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u/YodaPM999 7 - Darnell Coles 1d ago
Whatever. If it's serious, just shut him down and let the new guys get a shot at some closing experience. Tolman, Perales, Sinclair, that other lefty who threw three innings for us in his debut that I can't remember the name of right now... hell, give Will Dion more shots. Hey, maybe Waldron's knuckleball could be a lethal weapon in a leverage spot. Try all of 'em. Fuck it. There's literally nothing to lose at this point.
What are they gonna do, blow a save?
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u/Terminal_Flatulence Jimmy Lumber 1d ago
Paul Toboni should show ownership a compilation of all 30+ blown saves, it won’t change their spending but at least they’ll know what being a bunch of cheap bums gets you.
Just disheartening stuff, if they held 11 of these, we’d be talking about a .500 club.
I’d rather they not have a lead these last few weeks because I don’t want them to have the all-time blown saves record. Maybe it’s me being emotional, I’d just prefer this crappy record not be associated with the team I follow.
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u/FPG_Matthew 11 - Zimmerman 1d ago
Do (hopefully) long term players like Wood, Abrams, Lile, Cavalli look at games/series like this and think “man, we are so close, we just need a competent bullpen and we coulda taken 2 of 3 from the dodgers”
Or do they think “yea get me the fuck outta here I want as far away from this team as possible”
I hope it’s the former, cuz, call me crazy, I feel the former. THIS TEAM WAS CLOSE TO SWEEPING THE DODGERS. Night 1 was every bad break in existence happening against us. Night 2 was Beeter, and more bad breaks in the 9th. Night 3 was Butera taking Alvarez out early, and paying for it late with Dion in too long and blowing the lead
I think the boys did a really good job in plenty of aspects this series, but there were still mistakes. And when you face these dodgers, one mistake and you’re dead.
Will there be any fight left in these guys to face the Padres bright and early tomorrow? Or will they accept last place in the NL East again, hope for a worthy top draft pick, and start booking their trips to Cancun?
Shoutout anyone here for being a fan. It’s an ugly hobby to have sometimes. We pray it’s worth it again one day. A day where I can see my father cry tears of joy again as we take game 7 of another WS. Maybe just maybe it’ll happen and it’ll all be worth it.
For now, see you tomorrow
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u/SaoMagnifico Fight Finished 1d ago
Don't forget Rob Drake doing everything within his power last night to fuck us.
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u/cezanne_giotto 4 - Lile 1d ago
I’d like to see Butera get a better idea of how to manage a bullpen. I like Dion, and it’s fun to watch guys cook for multiple innings, but I think that should be reserved for starters, like Alvarez, and not relievers (usually). 2024 sucked, but I liked the consistency of the A pen and the B pen with Finny sometimes coming in to finish the 8th, but otherwise keeping those relievers in for their assigned spot. Idk if that’s outdated in 2026, but it’d be nice to see again since Butera’s strat obviously isn’t working if we just tied a blown save record
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u/igottadoittoem 1d ago
I mean there’s 2 answers for this,
Will Dion has been a multi inning reliever all year even in the guardians system.
The nats have called up a lot of guys who were starters in AAA so they are stretched out that have been going multiple innings.
Guys like Ribalta/Beeter etc. aren’t going 2 innings regularly. That’s why you have guys like Lord, Perales and Waldron getting multiple innings out of the pen.
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u/cezanne_giotto 4 - Lile 1d ago
I disagree that those are the only two answers. Being able to be a multi inning reliever does not equal having to always go multiple innings when on the mound
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u/igottadoittoem 1d ago edited 1d ago
I mean I never said it’s ideal having a bunch of unproven AAA guys coming in to anchor your bullpen but it is what it is at this point lol it’s not really the time to have “set bullpen roles” when you don’t really
Have a bullpen in general.Our best relievers have blown a lot of games on their own and it wasn’t because they were brought in for multiple innings.
Ribalta and Beeter have been our best guys all season and they have both struggled at times
It sucks Dion gave up that HR but it’s not on Blake lol, Dion who’s been a multi inning reliever (in his set role that you are talking about) and he struck out the side in his first inning just had a bad outing. I bet you he goes multiple innings again and is lights out.
I don’t think you understand how much of a luxury it is to have a guy like that that can give you length. It’s a plus
Out of all the things this is the biggest none issue about the team/management/anything at all lol
Also I wouldn’t look to Kyle Finnegan in any debate for a good bullpen lol. He’d be doing the same thing here, he blew a lot of saves. He was not a lights out pitcher at all.
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u/cezanne_giotto 4 - Lile 1d ago
I’m not saying Finny was lights out - he’s blown plenty with the Tigers this year. I was only saying that Finny was one of the few guys who would get more than one inning. It’s obviously a plus to have some multi inning guys, but seemingly all our pitchers are multi-inning guys who often go multiple innings. Now is the time to try whatever, though. They won’t, and it doesn’t matter, really. It’s a non-issue at this point, sure, but it’s not just bad bullpen arms that are causing a 37 blown saves season that the Nats will certainly surpass by season’s end; it’s also bullpen management.
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u/igottadoittoem 1d ago
I disagree completely on your last point.
Go look through the savant pages of all the guys we DFAd or sent down. When you have that many guys pitching to 5-9 ERAs and their savant pages back up that they just flat out don’t have the stuff. It’s not going to look pretty.
And guess what unless you are a Mason Miller type reliever, you’re gonna get beat sometimes. Guys like Beeter, Ribalta, Dion, Tolman etc all have great stuff and have shown flashes but they aren’t going be perfect. None of them have a ton of MLB experience.
It’s way more on ownership than anything else, hell you can even look at Toboni with the Ferrer trade. I still like that trade though. But blaming Butera for this bullpen is lazy imo.
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u/cezanne_giotto 4 - Lile 1d ago
I’m not blaming Butera on this bullpen. I’m saying both are at fault. It’s ok. We’ll agree to disagree.
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u/GriffinQ 1d ago
Going to the game tomorrow.
If we win, you’re all welcome to buy me drinks. If we lose, I refuse any and all blame since we’ve already been doing a lot of that.
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u/KappaSmurf01 1d ago
How much more proof do we need that the Nationals are a complete fucking joke than this
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u/Ok_Assumption_5366 29 - Wood 1d ago
Three words:
FUCK. THIS. BULLPEN.
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u/Killatrap 50 - Jimmy Lumber 1d ago
will dion is great, no king rules forever… but yeah by the 37th time it doesn’t matter who does it lmao
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u/igottadoittoem 1d ago
I mean Lord and Dion are both pitchers with under 4 ERAs and Dion in general has great stuff.
It wouldn’t look as bad if we weren’t throwing out Kranicks and Cosgroves for months but sometimes your best guys get beat.
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u/TrafficOk8332 3 - Crews 1d ago
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u/SaoMagnifico Fight Finished 1d ago
And who are we gonna bring in who is gonna get the fucking $400M Los Angeles Dodgers out in the eighth inning? It's mission impossible with the staff we have right now.
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u/TemporaryIguana Let Teddy Win! 19h ago
👎