Nationals' Recent Skid Shows Just How Much Further Team Has to Go in Rebuild

The 2025 season was set to be a very pivotal campaign for the Washington Nationals as they continued their lengthy rebuild. Several key former prospects were slated to become everyday players, and with their arrival, the team appeared to have some hope for the first time in a while.

As June approaches the midway point on the calendar, it's become very clear that these talented youngsters have shown that the future is bright for the Nationals. However, it has also become evident that the team still has a way to go before they're ready to truly compete once again.

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This stark reality has been best illustrated by the recent skid Washington has endured over their last 10 games, a stretch in which they've gone just 2-8 against some pretty formidable competition.

Among this daunting list of challengers were two of the National League's elite sides; the Chicago Cubs and their hated division rival New York Mets.

The Nationals only managed to take one of the six games they played against these two elite squads, and were also held to just three or fewer runs in five of these matchups.

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Nobody was expecting Washington to compete for a World Series in 2025, but some of the team's early results hinted that they may have been closer to competing for a playoff spot than most realized.

All of that momentum seems to have been brought to a screeching halt over their last 10 games, though, and it's become more apparent than ever they still have much to improve upon.

The results they produced against some of baseball's best has shown just how big the gap between them and the MLB's upper echelons truly is, no matter how talented their young core is.

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The nucleus for the future has been assembled, and there's no question that brighter days are ahead.

That being said, the Nationals will have to endure some more growing pains before they can even think about playing baseball in October once again.

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