It’s award season in Major League Baseball as the World Series gets underway tonight. Some outlets and awards have announced their winners and finalists ahead of the Baseball Writers' Association of America announcing the finalists for their awards after the Fall Classic.

Last week, Rawlings announced the three finalists at each position in both leagues for the Gold Glove Awards. Yesterday, Louisville Slugger announced the finalists for the Silver Slugger Awards.

As it pertains to the Nationals, Victor Robles and Juan Soto are Gold Glove finalists, and Luke Voit, Josh Bell and Soto are Silver Slugger finalists. But for the Gold Gloves, Soto represents both the Nats and Padres, whereas for the Silver Sluggers, Voit represents just the Nats, and Bell and Soto represent just the Padres.

Confusing, right?

Also pertaining to the Nationals this year – and perhaps the next couple of years – is how these awards are credited to players who have been traded during the season, like Soto, Bell and Voit.

Davey Martinez knew what he was getting into during the 2022 season, his fifth as manager of the Nationals. In the first full year of the Nats’ rebuild, he wouldn’t have the most talented roster in the major leagues and they wouldn’t win a lot of games. But he at least expected his players to give their best efforts and make fundamental plays every night.

The effort was always there. The same cannot be said about the fundamentals.

It was a roster filled with inexperienced players and journeyman veterans during a season in which development was the focus. Still, it seemed like the Nationals too often had difficulty with even the most basic plays, especially on defense and on the basepaths. Common signs of a rebuilding team.

The Nationals finished the season with a -39 defensive rating and -47 defensive runs saved as a team, both second-worst in the majors per FanGraphs. However, they did fare slightly better in ultimate zone rating, another widely used defensive metric, at -8.8, which ranked 21st in the majors.

So how can the Nats improve defensively in 2023? Aside from the obvious solutions of practicing in spring training, making routine plays, acquiring better defenders to fill out the roster and perhaps even pitching better, they could benefit simply by players playing in their proper positions for the majority of the season.

With the all-important and definitely real prize of the MASN Cup on the line, the Nationals could neither hold a close lead nor produce a late rally against their rivals from Baltimore.

After splitting two games at Camden Yards in June and dropping the Washington opener here last night, the Nationals fell to the Orioles 6-2 before an announced crowd of 32,497 to lose this year’s edition of the Battle of the Beltways.

Things went off the rails for the home team in the seventh while holding a 2-1 lead.

Mason Thompson, whose 0.60 ERA to begin the night was impressive even though it didn’t come in many high-leverage situations, entered in relief of starter Patrick Corbin for the start of the frame.

After back-to-back singles to Jesús Aguilar (with Terrin Vavra pinch-running) and pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins, Thompson faced Gunnar Henderson, one of baseball's top prospects.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals have very tough questions to face with Patrick Corbin. As if that wasn’t already the case, the situation seems to be getting worse and worse every time the veteran lefty takes the mound.

For the second time in his last three starts, Corbin only recorded two outs in the first inning before being pulled from the game. He was charged with six runs in two-thirds of an inning against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on July 27.

Tonight he was charged with six runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning at Citizens Bank Park in an eventual 11-5 loss to the Phillies.

Luke Voit’s first home run with the Nationals (and team-leading 14th of the season), Tres Barrera’s two-run double and Victor Robles’ infield RBI single in the sixth, and Lane Thomas’ sacrifice fly in the seventh produced the only runs. Voit’s longball went 379 feet to right-center field.

“He's having really good at-bats,” manager Davey Martinez said of Voit. “Like I said, when we got him, I knew that he can hit. He's fit nicely in our lineup and he's proving that now.”

PHILADELPHIA – Let’s play a little more “Get to Know You” with the new guys, shall we?

Luke Voit and MacKenzie Gore are the only two of the six-player return for Juan Soto and Josh Bell in Tuesday’s trade to join the Nationals so far. They each took separate red-eye flights Wednesday night to meet the team at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday afternoon.

They both met with the local media for an extended period of time, although they were at their respective lockers in the visitors' clubhouse instead of a formal press conference like the one rolled out for Soto and Bell in San Diego.

Yesterday, Voit and Gore talked about their experiences getting traded only a couple of days ago. It was the third time for the first baseman and the first time for the young left-hander. They also addressed what they expect to bring to the Nationals organization in terms of leadership and as a new top prospect.

But what about their actual play? What kind of players did the Nationals get and what can fans expect to see on the field?

PHILADELPHIA – This is the path the Nationals have chosen. There’s no going back.

Juan Soto and Josh Bell are Padres, taking their offensive prowess with them to the West Coast. What’s left is a more depleted lineup that often struggled even with the sluggers on their side.

Tuesday night’s improbable win against the Mets was a nice story. A small victory in an otherwise difficult day for the franchise.

But then reality set back in on Wednesday in the form of a 9-5 loss to the Mets that was only close because of the Nats’ five-run rally in the ninth.

And here we are again, this time at Citizens Bank Park in the opener of a four-game series against the Phillies. With Luke Voit and MacKenzie Gore (two of the six players the Nationals got back in the trade) joining the team in the clubhouse, another page in this new era of Washington baseball flipped. And the result was pretty much the same.

PHILADELPHIA – The aftermath of the trade deadline is sometimes just as chaotic for players as the actual trades. Once the deals are done, players have to pack up their belongings, say their goodbyes and sometimes uproot their families to move to another city and get acclimated to a whole new clubhouse.

That was the case for Luke Voit and MacKenzie Gore, two of the six players the Nationals received for trading Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the Padres on Tuesday. The pair not only had to deal with all of the logistics of being traded, but they also had to travel across the country (each by way of different red-eye flights) and meet their new team on the road in a different city.

Voit wasn’t the Nationals’ first choice as the veteran to be included in the trade. With the five prospects already agreed upon and Bell packaged with Soto, the Nationals originally sought veteran first baseman Eric Hosmer to fill the void at first base. But Hosmer exercised the no-trade clause in his contract as the Nationals were one of the 10 teams he would need to give permission to be traded to.

That didn’t derail the deal, however, as the Nats were satisfied in pivoting to Voit to complete the trade and Hosmer was sent to the Red Sox. Voit found out before the Padres’ unusual doubleheader at Petco Park against the Rockies on Tuesday.

“Obviously, a little bit surprising,” Voit said in front of his new locker with a No. 34 above it. “Obviously, you never know what can happen in this game. There was kind of a weird trade going on, with the no-trade clause with Hos. I obviously didn't expect to get traded and then right before our doubleheader, I found out like 10 minutes before the game. You know what, it's a fresh start. It's a lot of new faces. I'm excited about a new opportunity.”

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals hit the road for the second half of this week-long stretch against divisional opponents. Tonight’s opener of a four-game series will be the first of 11 games remaining between the Nats and Phillies this season.

The Nats are 2-6 against the Phils through their first eight matchups and are 9-38 against the National League East.

Luke Voit and MacKenzie Gore, two of the six players received in Tuesday’s Juan Soto-Josh Bell trade with the Padres, are meeting the Nats in Philly today, with Voit making his first start with his new team. The veteran first baseman slashed .225/.317/.416 with a .733 OPS, 13 home runs and 48 RBIs in 344 plate appearances with the Padres.

Gore is on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. He will meet with the training staff and be examined by team doctors so they can formulate a rehab plan.

Paolo Espino makes his third start against the Phillies and second at Citizens Bank Park this season tonight. Espino is 0-3 with a 3.78 ERA this season and 0-3 with a 4.95 ERA in nine starts. He gave up four runs in 3 ⅔ innings in a start here on July 5.