Washington Nationals Bullpen's Struggles to Perform Prompts Growing Concern

The bullpen for the Washington Nationals has emerged as a massive problem as the franchise tries to turn around its season.

May 1, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Kyle Finnegan (67) throws a pitch during the ninth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

It has been a frustrating start to the season for the Washington Nationals, who once again are struggling to be competitive.

This winter, the Nationals were actively trying to improve a team that has struggled and been rebuilding for several years. With some veterans coming in the expectation was that there would be some improvement in 2025.

So far, despite the additions, Washington has yet to see that improvement.

While there have been some bright spots for the franchise in terms of young players getting better, that have been some key areas on the team that have struggled.

Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to potentially be another losing season for the Nationals, as this rebuild appears to be a couple of years away from being completed.

So far, one area has emerged as a major weakness for the team, and there doesn’t appear to be a fix coming this campaign.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Nationals bullpen being their biggest weakness and that there is reason to panic about it not improving.

“Nine different pitchers have logged at least five innings of relief for the Nationals this season, seven of whom have an ERA of 5.87 or worse. More than half of the bullpen is well north of 7.00," he wrote.

With the worst bullpen ERA in baseball, it isn’t hard to figure out why Washington is below .500 and struggling this year.

Due to the bullpen being such an important part of the game these days, the Nationals having the worst in baseball is far from ideal.

This is a unit that has some talent, but that talent is underperforming.

Currently, the lone bright spot for the team has been closer Kyle Finnegan. In 13 games, he has totaled a 2.84 ERA and 10 saves. The 33-year-old was an All-Star last campaign, but a brutal second half of the season resulted in a strange offseason.

The Nationals elected to non-tender his contract, making him a free agent. However, the market seemed quiet for him, and he came back to Washington.

So far, the results have been more like in the first half of last year, which has been good for the franchise. Unfortauntely, getting the ball to him with leads has been a challenge.

While the bullpen has been bad, there is reason to believe that the unit could get worse come the trade deadline.

Even though they didn’t trade Finnegan last year at the deadline, it’s hard to imagine that they would make that same mistake twice. If he is going to be an All-Star caliber pitcher, the team must move him if they are out of contention.

Overall, the bullpen has been a massive disappointment and it’s hard to imagine they will be getting much better.