3 Statements Made by Nationals During Beltway Rivalry Series Win Over Orioles

The Washington Nationals came into their rivalry matchup against the Baltimore Orioles this weekend with some momentum after taking two out of three against the Cincinnati Reds in the series prior. But after getting destroyed in the finale of that set, it was anyone's guess as to how they would respond.

It's safe to say the Nationals responded in a positive way against the Orioles, though. Not only did Washington win a gutsy 3-2 game in the opener, but they dominated Game 2 by winning 13-3 to finally break their longstanding curse of failing to reach the .500 mark in the month of May.

Unfortunately, the Nationals couldn't complete a sweep against their rivals. However, they did make three statements during this series that should bode for them well going forward.

Nationals Are Able to Win Games When One Back of .500

Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz | Brad Mills-Imagn Images

This has been discussed a lot recently, but finally reaching a .500 record in May after coming up short 15 previous times is not something to gloss over. Failing to win those contests had taken a toll on the players, so being able to get over that hump was huge for their morale. Of course, there should be bigger goals than being a .500 ballclub, but that was a huge step in the right direction.

And after Washington lost the finale to Baltimore by a score of 7-3, they will be facing that same test once again when they welcome the New York Mets to town on Monday. Hopefully, the fact they were victorious in a game when they were one back of .500 will bring them confidence this time around, as their matchup against the Mets won't be easy despite New York's poor record to start the year.

The Offense Can Put Up Runs at Home

Washington Nationals center fielder Jacob Young | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Nationals have been much better on the road compared to at home this season. A lot of that has to do with the offense putting up more runs when they play away from Nationals Park. So as they entered a key stretch of seven games against the Orioles and Mets, there was some concern that the bats would continue that trend.

But that was not the case against Baltimore, as Washington scored 19 total runs. That came out to an average of 6.33 runs per contest, which is higher than the 5.26 mark they had coming into this set. What they had done prior to this series was nothing to scoff at, but when factoring in the struggles of their pitching staff at home, the Nationals need their offense to be explosive if they are going to consistently win games.

Now, coming off a series where the lineup performed well from top to bottom, they will look to carry that momentum with them during their next four games against the Mets.

Jacob Young Is Becoming an Everyday Player

Coming into the season, no one quite knew what role Jacob Young was going to have. It's clear that he is an elite defender. That's evident by being a Gold Glove finalist in 2024 and 2025 while accruing incredible marks of plus-34 in outs above average and plus-25 in defensive runs saved during those same campaigns. But he also had a career OPS+ that was well below the league average, which made it hard to position him as an everyday outfielder following the emergence of Daylen Lile.

However, with Dylan Crews in Triple-A trying to work on his own offensive issues, Young has emerged at the plate to become a real two-way player for the Nationals this season. While he still has an OPS+ that's below the league average and his batting average is just .224, he's providing value in other ways after he already set a career-high in home runs with five and is on his way to doing the same with RBIs now that he has 21.

Young's defense also continues to be elite. He has been worth five outs above average so far this year, which leads the team and is tied for ninth in Major League Baseball. If he can keep up this level of production, then he could find himself owning the center field spot in Washington for a long time.

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