WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – We’ve reached the final week of spring training. Seven days from now, the Nationals will board their charter flight and head north to Washington for a final exhibition game against their own prospects before flying to Cincinnati for Opening Day. So we’re getting down to the nitty gritty now, as established players fine-tune everything and the competition among players fighting for roster spots gets serious.

There are two turns left in the rotation, and two of the starters will be pitching today. MacKenzie Gore gets the nod in the big league game against the Mets, looking to duplicate what he did five days ago against the same opponent (one run, two hits in 5 2/3 innings), and maybe throw a few more pitches to approach the 90 mark. Patrick Corbin, meanwhile, is pitching in a minor league game this morning, getting his work on a back field.

The lineup includes most of the regulars. Of note: Eddie Rosario is making another start in center field, something Davey Martinez said would be happening as the Nats try to decide if the veteran can handle the position well enough to make the occasional start out there. Drew Millas also gets a chance to catch Gore and play alongside the regulars.

And you can watch it all this afternoon on MASN, with Bob Carpenter and Kevin Frandsen on the call. Enjoy!

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 1:05 p.m.
TV: MASN, MLB.tv (outside D.C. market)
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 10 mph out to center field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – An admitted perfectionist, MacKenzie Gore is the kind of guy who tends to get caught up with the things he didn’t do well on a particular night and forget about the things he did do well.

So it was appropriate to wonder tonight if the Nationals left-hander might be hung up on the ragged top of the fourth he experienced against the Mets instead of focusing on the top of the first, second, third, fifth and sixth innings, all of which went splendidly for him.

The good news: Gore was in a much better mood than you might have surmised based on his history.

“It was good,” he said. “Look, the stuff, we’re going in the right direction.”

Gore was quite good tonight, tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and setting the tone on a night the Nats pitching staff combined to two-hit the Mets in a 4-1 exhibition victory. He retired the first nine batters he faced on a scant 32 pitches. He became not only the first member of the staff to complete five innings this spring but re-took the mound for the top of the sixth because his pitch count was so low.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – We tend to think of spring training as a daytime exercise, with players reporting to the ballpark at the crack of dawn for workouts, playing a few innings in the early afternoon and then heading out early enough to play nine holes before sunset. But this final stretch of Nationals camp includes a ton of night games: Seven of them over the next 12 days (including three of the next four) to be precise.

Tonight the Nats host the Mets under the lights in West Palm Beach, with MacKenzie Gore on the mound. The left-hander makes only his third official start of the spring, his first in 11 days. (In between, he threw on a back field.) Gore should be good for at least four innings tonight, and he’ll be facing a Mets lineup that includes Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Starling Marte.

Most of the Nationals’ regulars are in the lineup, many of them playing for the second straight day. That includes Eddie Rosario, who after debuting as DH on Monday will start in left field tonight. Joey Meneses gets the nod at first base, with Joey Gallo assuming DH duties. Riley Adams, remarkably, is catching his first home game of the spring. And Trey Lipscomb gets a chance to start at second base surrounded by veterans, an interesting twist.

We’ll also see Matt Barnes coming out of the bullpen to make his Nationals debut, two weeks after he agreed to a minor league deal with the team.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph in from right field

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The Nationals and Mets will face off for the second time this spring and the first time at Clover Park, about 45 minutes north of CACTI Park.

Jake Irvin will make his first Grapefruit League start tonight after his first two outings came out of the bullpen. The right-hander struggled in those two appearances, giving up seven hits and eight runs (seven earned) in just 3 ⅔ innings. He’s hoping that getting back into his starting routine and utilizing his new cutter against left-handed hitters will get him back on track.

Today is also MacKenzie Gore’s scheduled day in the rotation. But he started a minor league game back in West Palm to allow Irvin to start against the Mets. Gore faced many of the top minor leaguers, including Elijah Green and Yohandy Morales, and did not hold back. According to manager Davey Martinez, he was pumping 97-98 mph with his fastball.

Joey Gallo is back in the lineup after being sidelined for almost a week with a tight left quadriceps muscle. He will serve as the designated hitter for the time being while the Nationals remain cautious with the veteran before putting him back in the field.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Gametime: 6:10 p.m. EST
TV: MLB.tv (Mets’ feed)
Radio: None
Weather: Partly cloudy, 74 degrees, wind 6 mph from right to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
CF James Wood
1B Joey Meneses
DH Joey Gallo
SS Ildemaro Vargas
3B Carter Kieboom
C Drew Millas
LF Jacob Young
2B Darren Baker

RHP Jake Irvin

METS
LF Brandon Nimmo
SS Francisco Lindor
RF Starling Marte
1B Pete Alonso
3B Brett Baty
C Francisco Alvarez
DH Mark Vientos
2B Joey Wendle
CF Harrison Bader

LHP Jose Quintana

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – MacKenzie Gore isn’t quite established enough to ignore spring training results, but neither is he devoid of any track record and thus feels the need to make a statement when he takes the mound this time of year in Florida.

Gore is unquestionably part of the Nationals’ Opening Day rotation, perhaps someday in the near future the guy leading that rotation into a season. So these spring training outings are about two things: building his arm up and emerging healthy.

“I feel good, that’s the biggest thing,” the 25-year-old left-hander said this afternoon. “Not as sharp today, but it was good. We got into some situations and could see what we wanted to use. But I feel good, that’s really the most important thing.”

Oh, by the way, Gore was also successful in the results department, tossing three scoreless innings on 43 pitches during what became a 10-8 loss to the Astros.

Only two Houston batters reached base against Gore: Jake Meyers via a leadoff walk in the second, Grae Kessinger via a leadoff bloop single in the third. Neither advanced beyond first base, with Kessinger wiped out by an inning-ending double play in the third.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s been an encouraging start to the spring season for the Nationals, who have won four of their first six games, gotten some pretty good pitching and seen their top young prospects deliver in their first big league camp. At some point, though, you’d also like to see their projected regulars start producing a little more at the plate.

It might be a tough challenge for that to happen today, with two-time All-Star Framber Valdez on the mound for the Astros. Let’s see how CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz in particular handle that assignment in the bottom of the first.

MacKenzie Gore makes his second start of the spring, and his first one was a good one. The left-hander was sharp over two innings against the Marlins, striking out four. Jake Irvin is also scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen, going two or three innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: nationals.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 15 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Nick Senzel
LF Jesse Winker
1B Juan Yepez
2B Trey Lipscomb
DH Travis Blankenhorn
CF Victor Robles

JUPITER, Fla. – James Wood, a pleasant young man of few words, was surprised to see reporters waiting to speak to him after today’s game at Roger Dean Stadium, less than 24 hours after the same group interviewed him following the Nationals’ exhibition opener in West Palm Beach.

Sorry, kid. But when you homer in each of your first two Grapefruit League games, you get interviewed.

Wood followed up his impressive debut Saturday night with another impressive feat this afternoon. His 422-foot homer to dead-center in the top of the fifth was the top highlight of the Nats’ 6-3 victory over the Marlins, a second straight titanic blast to make the 21-year-old prospect the clear early story of the spring.

“It’s good to see a kid get off like that early in camp,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He does everything the right way. … I’ve got no complaints. I love watching him play. He’s going to be special.”

Given his first opportunity to start in right field after coming off the bench the previous night against the Astros, Wood went 1-for-2 with that two-run homer and a walk. He also recorded an outfield assist, a rare 9-6 force out when Miami’s Jonathan Davis (leading off first base) froze on a line drive single in the third and was thrown out.

JUPITER, Fla. – The first game of the spring is always a big event, everyone excited to get started and watch real baseball. Now, though, the grind begins.

The Nationals play their first road game this afternoon, making the short 15-minute drive north to Jupiter to face the Marlins. They’ll do so with a very different lineup from Saturday night’s opener.

Joey Meneses is the only returning starter, getting a chance to play first base after serving as designated hitter Saturday. James Wood, who homered off the bench, gets a chance to start in right field. And fellow prospect Trey Lipscomb also starts at second base, a nice opportunity for him to show what he can do. Riley Adams will do the catching after Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas worked Saturday night.

MacKenzie Gore makes the start for the Nats, hoping to complete his two innings in a much more efficient manner than Patrick Corbin did in the opener. As was the case Saturday, there will be another starter coming out of the bullpen today, with Jake Irvin following Gore and scheduled to pitch two innings himself. Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey are among the relievers on tap.

And another note: Jen Pawol, hoping to become the first female umpire in MLB history, will be calling balls and strikes today after handling the bases Saturday night.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A whole lot of Nationals pitchers are going to get a chance to take the mound during the first weekend of Grapefruit League play. Including a bunch of starters.

Manager Davey Martinez revealed the team’s full pitching plan for the first two games of the exhibition season, and among the notable details is the presence of five starters who each are slated to throw innings over the course of the weekend.

Patrick Corbin gets the ball first for Saturday night’s opener against the Astros. He’ll then hand it off to a pair of young right-handers who ended last season in the Nationals rotation: Jackson Rutledge and Joan Adon. If all goes according to plan, those three will eat up six innings, leaving only three more for a relief corps that will include Jordan Weems, Richard Bleier, DJ Herz and Robert Gsellman.

MacKenzie Gore starts Sunday’s game against the Marlins in Jupiter, and like the others he’ll be scheduled for two innings and 35 pitches. Gore will be followed by projected Opening Day rotation member Jake Irvin before Martinez starts handing the ball to relievers Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Amos Willingham, Joe La Sorsa and Luis Perdomo.

Why use the starters to this extent right from the outset of the Grapefruit League schedule?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – These early days of spring training are supposed to be reserved for pitchers and catchers. Position players technically don’t report until Tuesday.

Stroll through the Nationals clubhouse, though, or walk around their practice fields, and you can’t help but notice how many position players already are here.

Of the 29 position players invited to big league camp this spring, all but two were on the field today for informal workouts. Only prospects Dylan Crews and Darren Baker have yet to be seen, and if they show up Saturday they’d still be reporting three days early.

This isn’t a byproduct of any message from club officials, subtle or unsubtle. It’s been up to the individual players to arrive at their own preferred pace, and nearly all of them chose to arrive early.

“The message is to make sure they’re ready go for spring training,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I always tell them: Be in shape as if you’re coming in to play a game. And they took it to heart. A lot of them – because the weather’s so good – they came here early and started to work out. When I came here, we already had 15-16 guys working out. I thought that was pretty impressive. I’m happy they’re here. I’m happy they’re working this early.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – When MacKenzie Gore returned home in October and contemplated his season, the Nationals left-hander focused on the two extremes he experienced.

“Some good and some bad,” he said. “I’ve really just got to figure out why I was good at times, and why I wasn’t. Fix that and go into this year.”

Gore truly did pitch at both ends of the spectrum in 2023. He was either really good, or he was the opposite. Rarely did his outings fall somewhere in the middle.

Perhaps the best statistical evidence of that: In his 17 wins and no-decisions, Gore posted a 2.58 ERA and 1.282 WHIP. In his 10 losses, those numbers skyrocketed to 7.71 and 1.612.

“Just trying to figure out how to have less of those big starts where it’s like six runs or more,” he said. “It definitely helps you have confidence that it’s in there. It’s just: Can you do it for 25 starts, or whatever it is?”

We’re not quite there yet, but spring training is drawing near. Pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach in a mere 19 days, and at long last the 2024 Nationals will begin to take shape.

There will be more optimism surrounding this year’s team than there was a year ago, with the organization hoping to take another step forward after improving from 55 to 71 wins. But how much better should we believe the Nats actually are?

Nobody’s going to try to claim this roster stacks up with the best rosters in the National League. The key question is: How does it stack up to last season’s roster?

Over the next few days, we’ll attempt to answer that question, position by position. We’ll start today with the pitching staff. So, do the 2024 Nationals look better, worse or the same?

NO. 1 STARTER: Slightly better
Though Patrick Corbin started Opening Day yet again, by season’s end it was clear Josiah Gray was the team’s best starter. Not that Gray resembled a true ace, far from it. He finished 8-13 with 3.91 ERA and 1.459 WHIP. But he cut down dramatically on his home run rate from the previous year and increased his strikeout rate. He also showed an ability to finish strong after a rough stretch during the second half. What can we expect from the 26-year-old this season? More progress should be expected. Gray is learning who he is and who he isn’t as a big-league pitcher. He set out to reduce his homer rate last winter and was successful. If he can be successful reducing his walk rate in 2024, he’ll wind up having a better season.

It’s easy to look at the Nationals right now, silent for more than a month, and stress over what they still need to acquire this winter.

The Nats still need a left fielder. They still need a designated hitter. They may need another starting pitcher. And though several other positions are filled, there are still major question marks about several of those, with few sure things to put your mind at ease.

There’s a lot the Nationals don’t have yet, and it’s certainly fair to worry about that. It’s also fair to look at what they do have in place and take some comfort there.

The cupboard isn’t entirely bare. It’s most definitely better stocked now than it was a year or two ago when the rebuild was still in its early stages.

This is especially true at some of the most important positions on the field, starting with shortstop. CJ Abrams was a big question mark entering 2023, and halfway through the season there remained some real questions about him. But his performance over the second half of the year, at the plate, in the field and on the bases, erased a lot of those questions. Abrams looks like a keeper, and there are few positions around the diamond you’d rather say that about than the one he plays.

Happy New Year to everybody out there. With 2023 officially behind us, it’s time to look ahead to 2024. (My references to “last season” and “this season” will officially change as well.)

It was an encouraging year in many ways for the Nationals, though not nearly enough ways to leave everyone satisfied. The good news: There’s plenty to hope for in the new year, with a lot of potentially positive developments on the horizon.

With that in mind, let’s run through some reasonably optimistic outlooks for 2024 for the following notable parties …

KEIBERT RUIZ: A continuation of what he did in the second half at the plate, and some major improvement behind the plate.

JOEY MENESES: A chance to play first base on a regular basis and – with a healthy knee – a return of the power stroke he showed off during his out-of-nowhere rookie season.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We conclude the series today with the development of several key young players at both the major- and minor-league levels …

The Nationals won 71 games this year, and they happily accepted the praise that came with the 16-game improvement that represented from the previous year. But at no point during the season did anyone in a position of power within the organization believe the team’s final record would be the best indicator of their success or failure. The best indicator: How many of their young cornerstone players took a step forward and further established themselves as part of the long-term plan.

In that regard, the most important development of 2023 wasn’t the 71-91 record. It was the development of CJ Abrams into a dynamic leadoff man and capable shortstop. It was the development of Keibert Ruiz into a more selective – and often clutch – hitter. It was the development of Josiah Gray into an All-Star. It was the development of MacKenzie Gore into a potential future ace. And it was the development of several top prospects in the minors who are now poised to make their major-league debuts sometime in 2024: Dylan Crews, James Wood, Brady House and more.

“I think we’re in a good place,” general manager Mike Rizzo said at season’s end. “I like where our young core major leaguers are, and I like the developmental year that the minor leagues had. I think that we’re on track to turn this thing around in the near future.”

None of these players, to be sure, has reached his full potential yet. Each of them still has something significant to improve upon before he truly can be deemed part of the plan. But it’s hard to dispute that each of them did take a step forward in 2023, and that’s why the Nationals are encouraged.

The 2023 Nationals clearly were a better team than the 2022 Nationals were, and you don’t have to dig real deep for the confirmation of that. Any team that improved by 16 wins, from 55 to 71, did something right.

Ask those in charge of the organization about the improvement, though, and they’re quick to point out the lack of total satisfaction with the end result, no matter how much better it was than the previous year.

“We’re not proud of 71 wins, believe me,” general manager Mike Rizzo said earlier this month. “It was a step forward, and more importantly, our young players made progress. … (But) our goal is never to win 71 games. Our goal is to win a division, to win a world championship. And I feel that we took a step in the right direction last year toward doing that.”

How then does a team take the next step? How does a 71-win team become a winning team?

“We’re going to try and facilitate another roster that allows us to take another step forward and get into the action with a terrific division that we have to deal with,” Rizzo said. “We understand the challenges in front of us, and I think we’re a capable group. You’ve seen in the past what we’ve done, and I think that we’re going to be able to do it in the future.”

NASHVILLE – The Nationals don’t have to add a starting pitcher this winter. They could easily enter the 2024 season with Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Patrick Corbin and Trevor Williams in their rotation, with Cade Cavalli set to return from Tommy John surgery in June and several other prospects at Triple-A Rochester ready to be called upon if needed.

Mike Rizzo isn’t hiding the fact, though, that he’d like to acquire another starter. It may not be priority No. 1 on his offseason shopping list, but it’s definitely on the list.

“Everyone needs starting pitching in the whole sport,” the general manager said Monday. “We’re no different. You can never have enough of it, and we’re in search of it.”

Free agent starters, of course, don’t come cheap. The best ones cost more than $100 million. The average ones can cost in excess of $50 million. Even the worst of them can still come with a price tag of $10 million per year, based on what struggling veterans Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson recently received from the Cardinals.

So if the Nationals do delve into the market this winter, they likely won’t be acquiring anything more than a back-of-the-rotation arm, someone who will be asked to eat innings and take some pressure and workload off the organization’s younger pitchers.

PLAYER REVIEW: MACKENZIE GORE

Age on Opening Day 2024: 25

How acquired: Traded with CJ Abrams, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022

MLB service time: 2 years

2023 salary: $723,300

If, way back on Opening Day, they knew they would make it through the entire season using only eight starting pitchers, the Nationals would’ve been ecstatic.

Only twice before in club history had so few starters been needed, and each time (2012, 2014) the team won a division title. Surely, this was a sign the 2023 rotation was destined for greatness.

That’s not exactly how it played out. The Nats rotation still ended the year with a 5.02 ERA and 1.501 WHIP, ranking 25th in the majors in each category. The group also finished near the bottom of the sport in walks (27th), strikeouts (25th) and homers (29th).

But while better overall performance certainly would’ve been nice, the mere fact the Nationals rotation proved so durable was significant.

“It was a very healthy year for our pitching staff, which was great,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “It’s a testament to the training staff and the medical staff and to the pitching coaches, and to the way (manager Davey Martinez) handled them.”

MacKenzie Gore’s season has likely to come to an end three weeks early after the Nationals placed the left-hander on the 15-day injured list with a pair of blisters on his middle finger that has impacted at least two of his recent starts.

Gore was hampered by the ailment during Friday night’s 8-5 loss to the Dodgers, in which he gave up three homers and was pulled after 89 pitches in only four innings. It was the second time this summer he had a start cut short by a blister, and it’s something that has plagued him in the past as well.

“It’s kind of always been a thing,” he said after the game. “It’s no excuse, but it’s frustrating. It is a real thing.”

Though he wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility, manager Davey Martinez made it clear it’s highly unlikely Gore will return to pitch before season’s end. He won’t be eligible to come off the IL until Sept. 24, at which point there’s only one week of games left.

“We’ll keep an eye on him, but I’d hate to start him up again,” Martinez said. “We’re getting close to the innings. Honestly, we’re beyond the innings we thought we’d get (coming into the year). But right now, I’m not going to rule anything out. Give me a few days. I want to sit down and have a conversation with him. But I think he’ll be shut down.”