Nationals' Cade Cavalli Flirted With No-Hitter Against Cubs During Career-Best Outing
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Less than 24 hours after seeing his fellow pitchers give up 12 runs, Cade Cavalli took the ball for the Washington Nationals on Thursday.
As the ace of this rotation, his job is to keep things rolling if his team is performing well. And if they are in a slide -- like was the case after two straight losses against the Chicago Cubs where a total of 20 runs were scored during those contests -- it's up to him to put an end to things.
Cavalli certainly accomplished that on Thursday.
The right-hander dominated a lethal Cubs lineup, as he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. But after he recorded the first two outs of that frame and got Michael Busch into an 0-2 count, Chicago's first baseman hit a bloop single to left field that ended Cavalli's no-hit bid.
Still, this was easily the best performance of Cavalli's major league career. Not only did he carry a no-hitter deep into the ballgame, but it was also the first time he recorded an out in the eighth inning during an MLB contest.
Cavalli finished the outing with a final line of no runs allowed and just one hit across eight innings pitched with 10 strikeouts and two walks. This was not only an exciting performance from the 27-year-old, but it was the latest reason why Nationals fans should have a ton of faith in the future of this starting unit with Cavalli leading it.
Cade Cavalli Living Up to Hype
It was a winding road for Cavalli -- and Washington -- to get to this point. The 2020 first-round pick seemed destined for stardom early in his career, as he made his MLB debut in 2022. But after he was shut down for the rest of that year due to shoulder inflammation, he suffered an elbow injury prior to the 2023 season that caused him to undergo Tommy John surgery. That resulted in the right-hander spending a lot of time on the shelf.
In fact, Cavalli didn't return to the big league mound until Aug. 6, 2025, which was over 1,000 days between MLB starts. That shows just how much it took for him to even get back to this point, which is impressive in and of itself. But when he returned, he quickly reminded everyone why he was considered one of the best pitching prospects in the minors when he was coming up the ranks. That culminated in some breakout expectations for him heading into this season, especially when he was elevated to Washington's No. 1 after MacKenzie Gore was shipped out of town.
There were some struggles from Cavalli early on, but he has largely been excellent throughout the year. Following his career-best outing on Thursday, he now sits with an ERA of 3.36 across 26 starts and 136 2/3 innings pitched.
Cavalli not only looks like an ace on the mound, he has the ability to perform like one, too. And by dominating a high-end offensive ballclub like the Cubs in the fashion that he did, the sky looks like the limit for what he can become in the near future.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai