Washington Nationals Continue to Fail Their Ace, Something Must Change

Since the jettison of Max Scherzer ahead of the 2021 MLB trade deadline, and with the littany of injuries to Stephen Strasburg leading to his early retirement, it has been some time since the Washington Nationals had a legitimate ace.

It took a few years, but with how MacKenzie Gore has performed in 2025, they may finally have someone who can lay claim to that title.

Gore enters Saturday with a 3.47 ERA across 62 1/3 innings with 93 strikeouts and a 117 ERA+ across 11 starts. The young lefty leads baseball in strikeouts and K/9 (13.4), while being tied for the Major League lead in starts. The only issue Gore has faced so far this year, has been a lack of run support.

Lack of Run Support Hurting Washington Nationals Ace MacKenzie Gore

It played out once again in his Friday start. Gore pitched six strong innings against the San Francisco Giants, allowing only one run while striking out nine. The bullpen would allow more runs, but Washington lost the contest only 4-0.

It has been a growing trend of late, and while it may not be as bad as, say, Jacob deGrom with the New York Mets in 2018, it has still not been ideal. For the year, the Nationals have provided Gore with only 3.9 runs of support in his starts. In May alone, it has been only 2.5.

Gore has been a fantastic revelation for Washington's pitching staff this year, finally starting to reach the potential the team saw in him when they acquired the lefty as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres. While his 3.47 ERA is good, he has been even better than that with a FIP of 2.82. Gore can not do it all on his own, however.

Outside of CJ Abrams and James Wood at the top of the lineup, and sporadic flashes of brilliance from other batters this year, offense has been a struggle for the Nationals. But if there were ever any games the unit needed to come together and be at their best, it would be every fifth day with Gore taking the mound.

Providing the lefty with more run support would go a long way to making his stat line more presentable and propelling Gore deeper into the National League Cy Young picture.