Bringing the Fireworks to the Capital: Phillies vs. Nationals Series Preview, June 22–25
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner attempts to catch the baseball as Washington Nationals Joey Wiemer reaches second base in the third inning on Monday, March 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. Turner was charged an error on the play. (Yong Kim / The Philadelphia Inquirer)
The Philadelphia Phillies just dropped two statement wins on the New York Mets and outscored them 21-5 across two games to close out the series. The offense looked right for the first time in a while. The celebration doesn’t last long because Washington is waiting next, and they are the kind of team that can and will score runs in bunches.
The Nationals come into this four-game home series at 40-38, tied with the Miami Marlins for third in the NL East standings. They are scoring over five runs per game, making them one of baseball’s top offenses. This isn’t the rebuilding club everyone expected. The Phillies do not have the luxury of a soft landing after the Mets series.
The Phils are 2.5 games up on Washington heading into this four-game road series. Granted, the Phillies are coming off an emotional Mets series win, but the rotation is a little shaky at the moment with Andrew Painter getting optioned to Triple-A and Aaron Nola not finding his groove yet. When you add in the fact that the Nationals are better than their record suggests, this feels like a much bigger test than most Phillies fans probably expected. If the Phils don’t take the Nationals seriously, all of the momentum built can evaporate fast.
Keeping the Offensive Confidence is Key for the Phillies
The Phillies outscored the Mets 21-5 over the final two games of this series and did it with every spot in the order contributing. Saturday’s 15-3 win was as complete an offensive performance as this roster has put together in years. The team posted a 1.307 OPS, went 17-41, and had seven different players drive in a run. Kyle Schwarber went 4-for-5 with three home runs and six RBI. Bryce Harper went 4-for-5 and completed the first cycle of his career. That was just two hitters. The rest of the lineup did not hide behind them.
Sunday’s 6-2 win was quieter but no less controlled. Harper homered again. Schwarber added another home run and three more RBI. The Mets went 0-7 with runners in scoring position and never threatened. Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Justin Crawford, and Bryson Stott all contributed across the two games. This was not a two-man show carrying dead weight. The full lineup was locked in.
That is the ceiling of this offense, and it is legitimate. The problem is the Phillies have shown that ceiling in flashes all season without sustaining it. Washington’s pitching is not the Mets’ pitching. Foster Griffin opens Monday, Zack Littell and Miles Mikolas follow on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, and Cade Cavalli, who has held opponents to three earned runs or fewer in eight straight starts, takes the mound Thursday. The Phillies need to bring what they had this weekend into a ballpark where it will be significantly harder to produce.
READ MORE ON THE OFFENSE HERE:
The Nationals are for Real, and Dylan Crews is the Wild Card
Washington entered 2026 as a team building toward something. Somewhere along the way, the building became the thing itself. James Wood leads all of baseball with a .932 OPS. Wood has 20 home runs, a .398 on-base percentage, and a 58.6 hard-hit rate that ranks among the best in the sport. CJ Abrams hits cleanup with 17 home runs. Luis Garcia Jr. has 10, Curtis Mead has 11, and Mead had never hit more than three in any professional season before this year.
Dylan Crews is the hardest player in this series to figure out. Washington’s center fielder started the season in Triple-A and has been inconsistent since his recall, hitting .197 with a 58 wRC+. If you only look at the batting average, you’ll miss the progress he’s making. He is making harder contact, cutting his strikeout rate, and squaring up pitches at a rate his batting average does not reflect. Facing a rotation that is still sorting itself out after Painter’s demotion is exactly the kind of opportunity a hitter like Crews needs to break through.
The Phillies’ run differential sits at -4 on the season. Washington is at +12. They score more, allow more, and play like a team that genuinely expects to win every night. This is not a rebuilding club happy to be competitive, and the Phillies can’t come into Nationals Park fresh off an emotional Mets series and expecting the Nats to make it easy.
The Phillies Need Answers on the Mound
The front office optioned Painter to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after he got hit hard in the series finale against Miami, and that roster move immediately exposed the lack of depth on this pitching staff. In the Mets series, that hole in the rotation was a “tomorrow problem,” but “tomorrow” is Game 1 of this series. The Phils can’t afford to roll out an untested spot starter against a Nats lineup that scores over five runs a game and expect to win every night, especially against the Nationals. The Phillies are leaning on a highly questionable bottom half of the starting rotation right when the divisional schedule starts getting unforgiving.
Nola remains the most persistent concern on the mound because his command has completely failed him this season. He brings a 3-4 record and a 5.86 ERA into Game 3, and he simply can’t locate his pitches to put hitters away consistently. If you’ve watched Nola pitch for years, you know exactly what he looks like when his mechanics are right, and he isn’t right at the moment. He’s leaving pitches in the middle of the zone, and he hasn’t been effective all year, and he’s given up 15 home runs because of it. Washington won’t let him settle into the game to find his rhythm.
Jesus Luzardo offers the only real consistency in the middle of the staff right now, and he takes the ball for Game 2 on Tuesday. Luzardo has to go deeper than five innings to protect a bullpen that’ll carry a massive workload over the next four days, and they haven’t been too good at that recently. This rotation simply has to execute if the Phils want to make noise in the division. You can hit all the home runs you want, but you won’t survive the dog days of summer if your starting pitchers put you in an early deficit every night. Are the Phils actually ready to string together quality starts, or are they just hoping the offense can outscore their current pitching question marks?
Pitching Matchups
Game 1: TBD vs. Foster Griffin (LHP, 7-2, 3.32 ERA)
Game 2: Jesus Luzardo (LHP, 6-4, 4.35 ERA) vs. Zack Littell (RHP, 6-6, 5.45 ERA)
Game 3: Aaron Nola (RHP, 3-4, 5.86 ERA) vs. Miles Mikolas (RHP, 2-6, 5.47 ERA)
Game 4: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 9-3, 1.80 ERA) vs. Cade Cavalli (RHP, 4-4, 3.98 ERA)
Game Times and Broadcasts
Monday, June 22, 6:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP
Tuesday, June 23, 6:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP
Wednesday, June 24, 6:45 p.m.ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP
Thursday, June 25, 6:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP
By the Numbers
- Record
- Phillies: 42-35
- Nationals: 40-38
- Run Differential
- Phillies: -4
- Nationals: +12
- Runs Scored Per Game
- Phillies: 4.27
- Nationals: 5.33
- Runs Allowed Per Game
- Phillies: 4.32
- Nationals: 5.18
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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