Nationals’ Rebuild Appears To Be Starting Over After Years of Struggles

Are the Washington Nationals starting up their rebuild again?

Aug 6, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals interim manager Miguel Cairo (22) looks out from the dugout against the Athletics during the first inning at Nationals Park. | Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals were able to win their most recent series against the San Francisco Giants, but this is a team that has a lot of issues.

As expected at the trade deadline, the Nationals were one of the top sellers, moving most of their veterans on expiring deals. Since 2019, Washington has been one of the worst teams in baseball, and despite a couple of attempts to burst out of their rebuild, it hasn’t happened.

Coming into the 2025 campaign, there was some reason to be optimistic about the outlook of the team. A couple of their top prospects were called up at the end of 2024 and got their feet wet in the Majors.

However, this season has resulted in being more of the same for the Nationals. Despite James Wood emerging as a true young star, there isn’t much else to be optimistic about.

Bradford Doolittle of ESPN recently wrote about the rebuild for the Nationals taking quite some time and showing no signs of coming to an end.

“They have some clear reasons to be excited, led by James Wood. But they've been trying to piece together a rebuild for a long time and show no signs of coming out of it.”

If not for the potential that Wood has, it would be doom and gloom for Washington this year. Their young outfielder has been able to establish himself as a budding star in the league in 2025, making him a lone bright spot.

Is The Rebuild Starting Again?

Aug 9, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Washington Nationals left fielder James Wood (29) reacts after swinging at a pitch against the San Francisco Giants in the second inning at Oracle Park. | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

So far, he has slashed .257/.357/.487 with 25 home runs, 77 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. The 22-year-old is already leading the Nationals in most of the major offensive categories, with CJ Abrams leading the team in batting average.

With the team heading toward another last-place finish in the NL East, there are multiple reasons why the rebuild is taking so long.

First, the franchise has been extremely hesitant to spend money, it seems. While they have been burned on a couple of bad contracts, ownership hasn’t invested in free agents to help spark things.

Furthermore, some of the young talent that they have been stockpiling in trades hasn’t developed into much. This is likely one of the main reasons why the team elected to make changes both at manager and in the front office.

With things not going well, the direction of the team is very much uncertain. This feels like a team that is once again at the infancy stages of their rebuild, and that is concerning, with it being multiple years in.

While they do have a massive bright spot in Wood, there isn’t much else to get excited about for Washington.