Photo Credit: Michele for TalkNats

As we reflect back on the year of 2025, we hope that it was personally a great year for you and yours. On the baseball side, what started with promise — ended with just 66 wins and a slide backwards from 2024’s win total of 71 wins. The rebuild moved backwards. Tomorrow starts a new year, both figuratively and literally. What is nice about baseball is that each new season is sort of a do-over. If only we got those chances in real life to wipe the slate clean and begin again at 0-0.

Tomorrow, we get to say “last year” and “last season” as the page is turned. Baseball has a way of giving hope with each new season. Every team hopes they can be like X or Y team that successfully went from last place to the playoffs in the span of just one season. Look no further than Paul Toboni‘s Red Sox team that went from worst-to-first from the 2015-to-2016 seasons. He has seen it with his own eyes as to what is possible. And guess what, the Toronto Blue Jays did it last year going last-to-first and made it to one play of winning the World Series. While improbable, it is certainly possible — because it has been done before.

Two weeks ago, Toboni hired a GM with Ani Kilambi coming over from the rival Philadelphia Phillies. New faces and new voices are aboard with the Washington Nationals. This is part of the new beginnings for the new year.

Some of us would just be happy being the 2022 version of the Baltimore Orioles. A team that did practically nothing on new acquisitions that year with a ridiculously low payroll of $65.47 million payroll that was 29th in baseball, yet they won 83 games that year. A team with only four players that made over $1 million at the time, and one of them was Chris Davis who they were paying in retirement. And they were the 4th most profitable team in baseball, making nearly as much as their payroll, per Forbes, at $64.7 million. They had 34 players that season who were aged 27 and younger. Of course in 2025, the Orioles sunk to last place, and they had their own version of a housecleaning. This offseason, they have been spending money.

In witness of that 2022 success in Baltimore was their first-year hitting coach, Matt Borgschulte, who is now with the Washington Nationals. And Borgsy was in Baltimore during their 3-year winning span from 2022-2024. Do coaches matter? They sure do. As soon as he left, the Orioles dropped to last place. Maybe all of that was coincidental. Some think everything is coincidence.

Does any of this mean the Nats can go from 66-wins to a winning season in 2026? No. But we know that it is possible. This is about meeting and exceeding potentials. Maybe mostly everything would have to go in the best direction. That’s the beauty of a new year. The slate is wiped clean. Can CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews, Harry Ford, Luis Garcia Jr., Brady House, Daylen Lile, and James Wood meet or exceed the expectations?

In TalkNats yesterday, this was written: “sometimes when your roster looks its best, it disappoints. And the opposite can be true that when your roster doesn’t appear to be good, it over-achieves. Right now, the Nats roster does not look good, if we can be honest.” And FanGraphs has the Nats at 75 wins as of today in their projections with a .462 winning percentage. That is a losing record at 75-87. Not great, but certainly better than 2025. That would be progress if that happens.

By the way, that 2021 Orioles team was 52-110, and they improved to 83-79 in one season. That was a 31-win improvement. Look at their roster from that season. Their highest paid player was Jordan Lyles at $7 million and was signed to a 1-year deal. Catcher Adley Rutschman had a breakout season and a +5.6 WAR in his rookie campaign. Several players stepped up. None of them were big veteran star names. And the following year their core got even better with the addition of Gunnar Henderson who turned in a +4.7 WAR in his rookie season.

To borrow a good quote, let’s look to former Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo who nailed it at January’s Hot Stove luncheon.

“You have to do what you have to do to sustain greatness. … by having a core group of guys who will be with you through those years. … When your [prospect] stars become [MLB] stars — that’s when you take-off.”

— Rizzo said in January 2025

Besides Wood and Lile, those prospect stars didn’t take-off. It was more like the rocket took off in all its glory and then blew up in a catastrophe in front of us. For some of us, 2025 was a train wreck. In most respects, those young prospects of Crews, House, and Robert Hassell III disappointed. Some days felt like the Nats were pitching the JV team against the varsity. The pitching staff took a massive step backwards. And with it all, the rebuild took a step forward, and two large steps backwards.

This is why Rizzo, and the entire coaching staff is gone except for assistant pitching coach Sean Doolittle. Much of the minor league coaching staffs are gone along with the player development staff that was led by Eddie Longosz. Some described the turnover as a bloodbath. Others would say it was long overdue. Sometimes change is good.

That leads to what were the best moments of the 2025 season for the Washington Nationals? Some might say the Wood walk-off home run on June 19. Some might say it was MacKenzie Gore and Wood being named as 2025 All-Stars. Others might say the multiple Jacob Young home run robberies. While this seems dark, others might say it was the firings of Rizzo and ex-manager Dave Martinez on that July 6 day. The team won 66 games. Surely, there were dozens of other great moments.

Personally, I will always have appreciation for what Rizzo did for this team, and of course Riz and Davey hoisting the World Series trophy in 2019. They say you are hired to be fired. And few leave on their own terms. At some point, hopefully we get to honor the past successes and as each year passes, forget about the negative vibes. Time moves forward. Clean the slate.

There is just over 40-days until Spring Training camps open. That gives Toboni about 30-days to finish his roster. As fans, we are basically powerless to do anything to change the course of the team. All we are as fans in the stands is encouragement for good plays, and of course, financial support to boost the needed revenues at the turnstiles to hopefully get that money spent in turn on the product.

Happy New Year! Here’s to a great 2026!

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