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October 3, 2025 / Nat Anacostia

‘See you later, alligator’: Nats September in review

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At least September wasn’t as bad as August. After ending August with an eight-game losing streak and going 9–19 for the month, the Nationals took seven of their first eight games in September and finished the month with a 13–13 record. And one of their rookie outfielders, Daylen Lile, emerged as a remarkable hitter, gaining national attention. September wasn’t a great month for the Nats, by any means, but it was one with several very hopeful signs.

The month began with the Nats at home starting a three-game series against the Marlins, having just been swept by the Rays. MacKenzie Gore had gone on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, so the Nats called up left-handed pitcher, Andrew Alvarez, to make his major league debut. The Nats had drafted the 26-year-old pitcher in the 12th round in 2021. It turned out that he would be the one to stop the team’s losing streak, as he pitched five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, and the Nats shut out the Marlins 2–0. Alvarez became only the second Nats starter (along with Mitchell Parker) since Stephen Strasburg (in 2010) to win his major league debut. The Nats went on to win the next two games against the Marlins, sweeping the series and giving the team a 3–3 record on the home stand. Alvarez would remain in the rotation for the rest of the month.

Their next road trip began in Chicago with a three-game series against the Cubs, who were leading the race for the first wild-card slot. The Nats lost their first game but won the next two. Game 2 was a pitching duel that the Nats won by a 2–1 score. In game 3, the Nats were trailing 3 to 1 going into the top of the ninth inning but scored 5 runs to take a 6–3 lead, and they held on to win it in the bottom of the ninth.

During the Chicago series, we learned that former Nationals manager Davey Johnson had died on September 5 at age 82. As manager from 2011 to 2013, Johnson played a crucial role in shaping the first Nats team to win the division in 2012.

The road trip concluded in Miami with a 4-game rematch against the Marlins. The first game was a 15–7 blow-out victory by the Nats. They won the second game as well, giving them four consecutive wins and a 7–1 record in their first eight games of the month. But they lost the last two games of the series, including a 5–0 shutout loss in the final game to Ryan Weathers and three Marlins relievers. The Nats’ record on the road trip was 4–3.

At home again, the Nats faced the Pirates and won the first game by a 6 to 5 score, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take the lead, but nearly gave it back in the ninth. The Nats lost the second game, but in the finale, they scored in the bottom of the eighth to take a 1-run lead, which they held for the win. Then came a four-game series against Atlanta, which the Braves swept. The Nats were blown out in an 11 to 3 loss in the first game. Game 3 was a pitching duel that remained scoreless after nine innings (with Chris Sale pitching 8 scoreless innings for Atlanta and MacKenzie Gore going 5⅓ for the Nats). But in the top of the tenth, the Braves scored 5 runs and won 5–0. The Nats were 2–5 on the home stand.

Their final road trip took the Nats first to New York to play the Mets, who held a 2-game lead in the race for the final wild card. The Mets won the first game, but then it was the Nats’ turn to play the spoiler. In game 2, the Nats surrendered 3 runs in the eighth and ninth innings to make the game a 3–3 tie but scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th while holding the Mets scoreless to win the game. In Game 3, the Nats again played the spoiler, beating the Mets 3 to 2 behind a 3⅔ inning save by Mitchell Parker and some amazing defense by Jacob Young. While the Nats were taking two of three games against the Mets, the Reds had won all three of their games to move into a tie with the Mets for the wild card. The Reds, furthermore, held the tie breaker against the Mets, so the tie effectively represented a lead over the Mets. A week later, with the two teams still tied, the Reds would claim the final wild card. While the Nats were not the only spoilers for the highly compensated Mets team (who went 7–14 over their last 21 games), our guys did help bring them down.

The Nats next went to Atlanta to play three games against the Braves. The Nats lost the first two games and won the third game, with the last two games each determined by a one-run margin. The Nats record on the road trip was 3–3.

On September 24, news broke that the Nats were finalizing a deal with Paul Toboni, a 35-year-old senior vice president and assistant general manager with the Red Sox, to serve as the new president of baseball operations for the Nats. His signing was officially announced on October 1. Toboni brings a background in both scouting and analytics and is a highly regarded young baseball executive.

Returning home, the Nats finished the season with a three-game series against the White Sox. Behind in the first game, the team battled back, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 9–8 lead, only to give up 2 runs in the top of the ninth and lose the game 10–9. In the second game, the Nats scored 3 runs in the bottom of the seventh and one run in the bottom of the eighth to take a 6–4 lead, and were able to hold on to the lead, winning 6–5. In the last game of the season, the Nats were shutout 8–0, getting only 1 hit in 6 innings against starter Shane Smith, after which three Sox relievers combined for three scoreless, hitless innings.

The final series featured a celebration of the career of broadcaster Bob Carpenter, who had provided Nationals play-by-play broadcasts on MASN TV for 20 years, as he concluded his 42-year career as a baseball announcer. I know that I and many other fans will miss his broadcasts. He was also honored for being an extremely nice and generous man. In addition, former Nats center fielder Michael A Taylor, playing for the White Sox, announced his retirement and was given a standing ovation in his final game, coming at the end of his 12th season as a major league player. He’ll be remembered both for his defensive work as an elite center fielder and for his postseason performance with the bat—over 16 postseason games from 2016 to 2019 with the Nats, he hit .316/.395/.632 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI.

The Nats finished the 2025 season with a disappointing 66–96 (.407) record, last in the National League East, next to last (ahead of only the Rockies) in the NL, and third from last in MLB (ahead of the Rockies and the White Sox). The Nats were 30 games behind the division champion Phillies and 10 games behind the fourth-place Braves. They wound up winning 5 fewer games than last season.

Roster moves

I’ve already mentioned that pitcher Andrew Alvarez made his major league debut on September 1. His battery mate in that game, CJ Stubbs, also made his major league debut that day. The 28-year-old long-time minor league catcher, brother of Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, was a 2019 10th-round draft pick by the Astros. After six years in the Astros system, this year he signed a minor league contract with the Nats. He is the only Nationals catcher to have caught a shutout in his debut. But his stay with the team was short-lived, as he was optioned back to Rochester the next day.

On September 2, the Nats signed 32-year-old free agent catcher Jorge Alfaro. From 2016 to 2023, Alfaro appeared in 496 games for the Phillies, Marlins, Padres, Rockies, and Red Sox, but had spent most of the 2025 season playing in Nashville for the Brewers’ AAA team. Alfaro debuted with the Nationals on September 3 and played in 14 games for the Nats by the end of the season.

On September 17, 26-year-old right-handed relief pitcher Sauryn Lao debuted for the Nationals. He had previously pitched in two major league games for the Mariners and was selected off waivers by the Nats on September 3. The Dominican player was originally signed as a corner infielder by the Dodgers in 2016. In 2023 he switched to pitching and last winter was signed as a minor league free agent by the Mariners.

On September 23, 29-year-old right-handed relief pitcher Julian Fernandez debuted for the Nationals. He had previously pitched 6 games for the Rockies in 2021 and 1 game for the Dodgers earlier this year and had also spent time in the minor league systems of the Giants, Marlins, and Blue Jays. The Nats selected him off waivers on August 17.

On September 11, MacKenzie Gore came off the 15-day injured list and returned to the rotation. The team temporarily switched to using a 6-man rotation, but after making three September starts, Gore returned to the injured list again on September 23 with right ankle impingement. Mason Thompson joined him on the injured list with right biceps tendinitis. On September 14, Cole Henry‘s season came to an early end when he went on the injured list with a back strain. Top pitching prospect Jarlin Susana had surgery to repair his right lat muscle, a procedure that could delay his return to pitching next spring.

Monthly Record:

13–13 (.500)

Pythagorean Record:

10–16 (4.46 R/G – 5.69 RA/G). The Nats had a 6–2 record in one-run games during September.

September MVP:

  • Daylen Lile (.391/.440/.772, 6 HR, 7 3B, 20 R, 19 RBI, 100 PA, 230 wRC+, 1.5 fWAR). Lile led MLB in slugging percentage (.772), hits (36), triples (7), and total bases (71) for the month, and led the NL in all those categories as well as OPS (1.212), batting average (.391), and wRC+ (230). He was named as BOTH National League Player of the Month AND National League Rookie of the Month. Sarah Langs informs us that he was the first player with 7+ triples and 6+ home runs in a calendar month since Willie Mays in June 1957. Fangraphs did a very nice, laudatory post on Lile.

Starting pitcher of the month:

  • Andrew Alvarez (1–1, 3.09 RA/9, 5 GS, 23⅓ IP, 7.7 K/9, 1.114 WHIP, 0.7 RA9-WAR, 0.6 fWAR). A very nice performance for his first month in the major leagues.

Relief pitcher of the month:

  • Clayton Beeter (0-1, 1.80 RA/9, 11 G, 10 IP, 16.2 K/9, 1.200 WHIP, 2.21 RE24, 6 shutdowns, 2 meltdowns, 0.5 RA9-WAR, 0.4 fWAR).

Worst month:

  • Riley Adams (.132/.207/.151, 0 HR, 4 R, 2 RBI, 58 PA, 5 wRC+, –0.5 fWAR).

Best start:

  • Andrew Alvarez (September 13, 5–1 loss to the Pirates at home) pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5 for a game score of 70. When he was replaced, the Nats were ahead 1 to 0, but the relievers gave up 4 runs in the eighth and another in the ninth to lose the game.

Worst start:

  • Jake Irvin (September 5, 11–5 loss to the Cubs in Chicago) gave up 7 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in 3⅓ innings with 2 strikeouts for a game score of 20.

Tough losses:

  • MacKenzie Gore (September 11, 5–0 loss to the Marlins in Miami) pitched 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4 for a game score of 53.
  • Brad Lord (September 23, 3–2 loss to the Braves in Atlanta) pitched 6 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4 for a game score of 59. When he was replaced, the Nats were trailing 2 to 1.

Cheap win:

  • Cade Cavalli (September 8, 15–7 win over the Marlins in Miami) pitched 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 1 for a game score of 47. When he was replaced, the Nats were ahead 11 to 2.

Biggest shutdown:

  • Mitchell Parker (September 21, 3–2 win over the Mets in New York). With the Nats ahead 3 to 2, Parker got the call to replace starter Jake Irvin in the bottom of the sixth with one out and runners on first and second. Parker got out of the inning with a pop fly and a strikeout. He came back in the bottom of the seventh and got a lineout, a strikeout, and, after giving up a two-out single, a fly out. In the eighth, he got two more fly outs, gave up another two-out single, and ended the inning with a groundout. Back on the mound for the bottom of the ninth, Parker needed help from his center fielder when Jacob Young robbed a potential home run from Francisco Alvarez for the first out. Next came another fly out and a lineout, and Parker had completed a remarkable 3⅔ inning save, the longest in Nationals history, holding onto a one-run lead the whole time. (Win probability added/WPA +.585).

Worst meltdown:

  • Jose A. Ferrer (September 26, 10–9 loss to the White Sox at home). When Ferrer got the call to get the last three outs in the top of the ninth, the Nats had just scored 4 runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 9–8 lead. Ferrer got a groundout for the first out, then he made an error in trying to field a dribbler, putting a runner on base. The next batter, Colson Montgomery, hit a 2-run home run, putting the White Sox ahead 10 to 9. Ferrer got out of the inning without allowing any more runs, but the damage had been done, and the Nats went on to lose the game. (WPA –.637).

Walk off:

  • None

Clutch hits:

  • Josh Bell (September 7, 6–3 win over the Cubs in Chicago). The Nats were trailing 3–2 with no outs in the top of the ninth, runners on first and second, when Bell came to the plate. Bell launched a towering fly ball that cleared the fence in left-center field and gave the Nats the lead. (WPA +.493)
  • Daylen Lile (September 20, 5–3 win over the Mets in New York). The game was tied 3–3 in the top of the eleventh, with one out and a runner on first. Lile crushed a line drive that bounced of the fence in deep center field. Sprinting to get a triple, he was waved home and scored a two-run inside-the-park home run, giving Washington the lead. (WPA +.474)

Choke:

  • Dylan Crews (September 15, 11–3 loss to the Braves at home). Trailing the Braves 2–1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Nats had loaded the bases with one out. Crews swung and barely tapped the ball in front of home plate. Braves catcher, Drake Baldwin, fielded the ball, stepped on home plate for a force out, and threw to first base to complete a double play, shutting down the Nats’ rally. (WPA –.197).

Memorable fielding plays:

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