Just How Bad Is This Nationals’ Offensive Cold Streak? Worse Than You Can Imagine

The Washington Nationals' young, exciting offense has fallen short of expectations, and it's not getting any better.

Apr 27, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez (4) before the game against the New York Mets at Nationals Park. | Brad Mills-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals entered the 2025 season as one of the more exciting young teams in the MLB. The formula was simple: as long as they could get pitching that was not historically atrocious, the high-ceiling offense from CJ Abrams, James Wood, Luis Garcia Jr, and Dylan Crews could take care of the rest.

But not only have the Nationals produced one of the worst bullpens in baseballaccording to FanGraphs, but now that bats are not producing the way they need to even if the pitching was just slightly better.

With Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves, not only does Washington extend their losing streak to seven games, but it's their fifth straight game scoring three runs or less. They've also had three or fewer runs in six of their last seven games, with their last time breaking that margin being their 8-6 win over the Cleveland Guardians on May 7.

May 6, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals designated hitter James Wood (29) and shortstop CJ Abrams (5) wait for a pitching change during the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Nationals Park. | James A. Pittman-Imagn Images

This offensive slump may come as a surprise given some of the individual numbers players are putting up. Abrams is batting .303 on the season with an .880 OPS and eight stolen bases. Wood has an OPS of .899 and is tied for eighth in the MLB with eleven home runs.

They have several complimentary players having very complete seasons - Alex Call slashing .312/.423/.390, Amed Rosario slashing .293/.312/.440, and Keibert Ruiz slashing .290/.338/.370,

With so many players having career years or close to it, you would think an offensive lull like this would be nearly impossible for Washington. But it's real, and at 17-26, there's not too much time to get things in shape before conversations about selling pieces come up.

The Nationals had just five hits in their loss to Atlanta. Abrams started off the game with a home run and Rosario singled in the fourth to give Washington their only two runs of the game. Drake Baldwin homered off of Michael Soroka in the fourth to tie the game and rest went downhill from there.

Mitchell Parker is set to go for tonight against Bryce Elder and can ideally calm the storm to give his teammates a chance.