As he explored his options this winter, Michael Soroka was struck by the Nationals’ interest in him. Interest that stemmed not as much from what he had done in the past, but from what they feel he’s still capable of doing in the future.

“It seemed like the best place to move forward with, for myself and for the organization,” the right-hander said Friday in an introductory Zoom call with D.C. reporters. “I’m excited to be a part of that. It’s an organization that’s going in the right direction.”

The Nats on Thursday made Soroka their first major league acquisition of the offseason, giving him a one-year, $9 million contract to join their 2025 rotation. It’s a gamble in some ways, because he hasn’t been a full-time, big-league starter since 2019 with the Braves (when he finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year and sixth for the Cy Young Award).

Soroka’s career has been on a winding path since, with two full seasons lost to a freak Achilles’ tendon tear (and re-tear), then a slow and at times ineffective return to the mound that culminated this season with an 0-10 record, 4.74 ERA and demotion from the rotation to the bullpen for an historically awful White Sox team.

The Nationals, though, saw what Soroka himself felt during the latter stages of a tough season in Chicago. Upon moving to a long-relief role, he enjoyed newfound success with some changes both to his mechanics and his pitch usage. In 16 relief appearances totaling 36 innings, he produced a 2.75 ERA, 1.222 WHIP and a whopping 60 strikeouts.

The Nationals have made their long-awaited first major league acquisition of the winter, signing right-hander Michael Soroka to a one-year, $9 million deal.

The signing, formally announced by the team this afternoon, is their first of an unusually quiet offseason to date but perhaps signals the start of a more active period before the holidays. The financial terms, confirmed by a club source, make the 27-year-old the highest paid player on the team for now.

Soroka burst onto the scene with the Braves in 2019, going 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA and 1.111 WHIP to earn an All-Star selection, plus votes for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards. His career has been ravaged by injuries since, beginning with a freak Achilles tendon tear that essentially kept him out of the big leagues for more than two full seasons.

The Braves traded Soroka to the White Sox last winter, and he attempted to revive his career in Chicago. It didn’t go well at first; he went 0-5 with a 6.39 ERA in nine early season starts for a team that would eventually set the major league record with 121 losses. But he was much more effective pitching out of the bullpen the remainder of the season, posting a 2.75 ERA in 16 appearances, most of them lasting multiple innings.

The Nationals intend to give Soroka a chance to start, according to a club source, which aligns with the money they guaranteed him. As was the case with Trevor Williams in recent seasons, though, the team could shift him to the bullpen at some point if he struggles in the rotation or if another starter emerges.

CHICAGO – The question was specifically about his strikeout with the bases loaded in the top of the third Wednesday afternoon, and he answered that part of the query with a compliment to White Sox starter Garrett Crochet.

But then Keibert Ruiz continued his answer and began speaking about himself in a broader sense, recognizing that one at-bat wasn’t an isolated incident but rather the latest in a lengthy list of at-bats that have not produced anything close to desired results.

“I know this is a tough situation for me,” the Nationals catcher said. “But I’ve just got to keep my head up, keep working hard and trust that everything’s going to be good.”

It most certainly is not good for Ruiz right now. Not at all. After his 0-for-4, three-strikeout showing Wednesday in a frustrating 2-0 loss, he’s staring at the following offensive slash line: .141/.186/.207.

He doesn’t qualify officially, because of the two weeks he missed dealing with a nasty case of the flu. But among the 270 major leaguers who have taken at least 90 plate appearances so far this season, Ruiz ranks dead-last with a .392 OPS.

CHICAGO – With the season now more than one-quarter complete, we pretty much know how most Nationals ballgames are going to go.

Their starting pitcher isn’t going to dazzle but is going to give them a chance, even if for only five or six innings tops. Their bullpen is going to be effective, especially when handed a lead. And their lineup is going to have chances to score runs, thanks in large part to nearly every player’s ability to steal bases. It just boils down to whether that group can produce the one or two clutch hits that actually score said runs.

When the formula works, it’s fun to watch. When it doesn’t work, it can be maddening. And today’s series finale against the White Sox, just like the nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader, most definitely fell into the maddening category.

Despite countless opportunities to break through at the plate, the Nationals could not convert and wound up suffering a 2-0 loss. Combined with Tuesday night’s 4-0 loss to old pal Erick Fedde, they dropped their second straight series to begin this three-city trip and will now need to find a way to take two of three in Philadelphia over the weekend to break out of that slump.

With a lineup lacking several starters who were given a rare day off, the Nats went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, slightly worse than the 0-for-8 they went Tuesday night.

CHICAGO – Ildemaro Vargas was asked if he could remember the last time he batted third.

“Little League,” the Nationals utilityman said, lowering his right hand to a couple feet off the ground as if to show how tall he was at the time. “Unbelievable!”

That streak ends today, because Vargas is batting third for the Nats in their series finale against the White Sox, the focal point of a highly unconventional lineup card Davey Martinez filled out this morning.

With his team playing its third game in 24 hours following Tuesday’s doubleheader, and with a tough left-hander (Garrett Crochet) starting for Chicago, Martinez decided to sit a number of regulars who rarely get a chance to sit. CJ Abrams, Luis García Jr., Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario will make up today’s bench.

Abrams, in particular, has been a workhorse. He missed three games in early April with a bruised finger, but otherwise has been in the Nationals lineup every day, starting each of the team’s last 31 games. The dynamic shortstop has perhaps started showing signs of wear and tear in recent weeks: After a dominant April that saw him slash .295/.373/.619, he’s cooled off significantly in May, slashing .196/.222/.235.

CHICAGO – The Nationals are playing decent baseball right now. They’re not, however, playing winning baseball. Since reaching the .500 mark on April 29 thanks to their sweep in Miami, they’ve gone 6-7. They’ve lost two in a row only once in that time, but they’ve also won two in a row only once. Every bit of positive momentum is halted by a subsequent loss.

Not that a win today would make that much difference, but it would at least give the Nats a series win over a White Sox club that admittedly has played better of late but still owns a wretched 13-30 record overall.

It would be especially nice if the Nationals could score some runs. And not just with one rally, but multiple rallies over multiple innings. During the aforementioned 13-game stretch they’re on, they’ve scored an average of 3.8 runs. And that includes the two breakouts against the Blue Jays, when they scored nine and 11 runs. More is needed today against left-hander Garrett Crochet, who has a 4.63 ERA but leads the league with 64 strikeouts.

Patrick Corbin gets the nod for the Nats, and though his season numbers (5.91 ERA) still don’t look good, he has been markedly better in recent outings (3.54 ERA his last four starts). The bullpen, thankfully, didn’t get overworked during Tuesday’s doubleheader. And with an off-day Thursday before the road trip continues in Philadelphia, Davey Martinez should have everyone at his disposal once Corbin departs.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 2:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 59 degrees, wind 14 mph out to right field

CHICAGO – Erick Fedde admitted this would be a big night for him. He was drafted by the Nationals in 2014, pitched for them 102 times from 2017-22, knew he deserved to be cut loose after all that and a 5.41 ERA.

Since then, Fedde has been a different pitcher. He rediscovered himself last season in the Korean Baseball Organization, winning league MVP honors after going 20-3 with a 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts. That earned him a two-year contract with the White Sox, for whom he has continued to pitch well.

So tonight’s start, the first time he’s ever faced the Nationals, was going to be memorable for the 31-year-old, no matter the outcome. But especially this outcome.

Behind seven scoreless innings from the most surprising ace in the majors, the White Sox coasted to a 4-0 victory to salvage a split of today’s doubleheader. The Nats never stood a chance against their old pitcher.

Fedde cruised the whole way, surrendering two singles, one double and nothing else to the 24 batters he faced in total. He struck out six, didn’t issue any walks and departed after 99 pitches that allowed him to improve to 4-0 with a 2.60 ERA for a Chicago club that has won only 13 games this season.

CHICAGO – And we’re on to Game 2 of today’s straight doubleheader, the Nationals and White Sox wrapping up a long afternoon and evening on the South Side. This one features an interesting pitching matchup.

Erick Fedde, the former first-round pick of the Nats way back in 2014 who never put it all together in six seasons with them, makes the start for the White Sox. After a year spent in South Korea, where he won the league MVP award, Fedde signed a two-year, $15 million with Chicago and has proceeded to go 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA in eight starts for his new club.

Mitchell Parker, meanwhile, makes his sixth career start tonight, seeking his first win since start No. 2 when he shut out the Astros over seven innings. The rookie left-hander has pitched well since then, he just hasn’t benefited from a lot of run support. (He’s not alone in that department.)

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX (GAME 2)
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 7:50 p.m. EDT (Approx.)
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 55 degrees, wind 17 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
3B Trey Lipscomb
RF Eddie Rosario
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
DH Jesse Winker
LF Ildemaro Vargas
CF Jacob Young

CHICAGO – Nasim Nuñez sat on the bench on a cold, windy Chicago afternoon for seven innings. Which is nothing new for the rookie infielder. The Nationals’ Rule 5 draftee is going to remain on the roster the entire season for one reason: He’s the ideal pinch-runner.

Nuñez has appeared in only 10 of the Nats’ first 40 games this year. Six of those have come as a pinch-runner. And none of the first five was as meaningful as this one, in which the 23-year-old’s baserunning skills directly set the stage for his team to produce a three-run rally in the top of the eighth and ultimately defeat the White Sox, 6-3, in the opener of today’s doubleheader.

Summoned off the bench to run for Joey Meneses, who had just completed a 4-for-4 afternoon, Nuñez took off on John Brebbia’s pitch to Luis Garcia Jr., watched third baseman Zach Remillard field a grounder and throw to first for the out, and then just kept on going.

"They told me I should go, and it was a perfect situation," he said. "When I got to second and looked up, the third baseman was kind of lackadaisical. He was slow. So the opportunity just presented itself."

Nuñez slid in safely at third base, having just advanced 180 feet on a groundout, and having done it in part while carrying his helmet after it came flying off his head.

CHICAGO – Jackson Rutledge was enjoying his off-day in Rochester, playing video games, when the call came Monday evening. He didn’t recognize the number, so he didn’t pick up at first. When he realized it was Red Wings developmental coach Billy McMillon, he realized he should probably call back.

Sure enough, Rutledge was informed the Nationals’ series opener against the White Sox had been rained out. The two teams would now be playing a doubleheader, and the right-hander needed to pack his things and prepare for a 6:30 a.m. flight to Chicago so he could serve as the team’s 27th man for the day.

Rutledge, who had just thrown 91 pitches Saturday in Scranton and had no reason to believe he’d be appearing in another game until later this week, was understandably caught off guard.

“A little bit of a surprise,” he said. “But I’m happy to be here.”

Truth be told, Rutledge probably figured all along he’d be the first starter called up from Triple-A if a spot in the Nationals rotation opened up. But when that very scenario occurred last month, with Opening Day starter Josiah Gray going on the 15-day injured list with a forearm strain, the call went not to Rutledge but to left-hander Mitchell Parker.

CHICAGO – Alright, let’s give this another try. After Monday’s series opener at Guaranteed Rate Field was rained out, the Nationals and White Sox will play two today. And it’s an old-school, traditional, single-admission doubleheader. Game 1 starts at 4:40 p.m. Eastern, with Game 2 set to start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the opener. If everything goes smoothly, we should wrap up around the same time as we would’ve all along. (Wishful thinking, obviously.)

Both teams are sticking with their pitching plan, so it’ll be Trevor Williams vs. Chris Flexen in the opener as was planned from the outset. Mitchell Parker faces former National Erick Fedde in the nightcap.

Both teams also get to call up a 27th man for the day, and the Nats chose to go with Jackson Rutledge. The right-hander’s season has gotten off to a rough start at Triple-A Rochester (6.67 ERA, 1.630 WHIP in seven games), and he just threw 91 pitches three days ago in Scranton. But he’s only here in case the team needs a few innings of relief in either game. In a perfect world, he won’t be needed and he’ll head back to Triple-A and prepare for his next start.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX (GAME 1)
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 4:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 57 degrees, wind 16 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
CF Jacob Young
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Nick Senzel
C Riley Adams
3B Trey Lipscomb
RF Victor Robles

CHICAGO – Erick Fedde holds no grudges against the Nationals. He can’t fault them for giving up on him after the 2022 season, the latest in a string of disappointing seasons for the organization’s 2014 first round pick.

“I definitely understand them moving on,” he said Monday. “I never pitched well.”

While that’s not entirely true – he did pitch well in brief stretches during his time in D.C. – Fedde’s overall performance with the Nats was nothing to be proud of. In 102 big league games (88 starts) over six seasons, he went 21-33 with a 5.41 ERA and 1.523 WHIP. He never came close to pitching like an ace. He was perpetually competing with the likes of Joe Ross and Austin Voth for the final spot in an otherwise star-studded rotation.

That kind of resume doesn’t exactly lead to enticing contract offers. And when nobody came calling with a major league deal after the Nationals non-tendered him in November 2022, Fedde decided the best place to go was across the Pacific Ocean. He signed a $1 million contract with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization, truly a life-changing decision.

“I think the biggest reason to go over there was I wasn’t going to be on the Triple-A/big league/DFA train that I’ve seen,” he said with a laugh. “Just somewhere I was going to get the ball every fifth day. I was going to have a chance to throw 175-plus innings. And work on some stuff.”

CHICAGO – The Nationals’ series opener against the White Sox was postponed due to heavy rain that descended upon the area this afternoon and doesn’t promise to let up all night.

The two teams will play a traditional doubleheader Tuesday, with the first game starting at 4:40 p.m. Eastern and the nightcap to follow 30-to-45 minutes after conclusion of the opener.

Though it was warm and muggy earlier in the day, the skies began to darken by midafternoon. The grounds crew at Guaranteed Rate Field preemptively rolled out the tarp and covered up the infield before either team could take batting practice, and for good reason: It started raining hard only a few minutes later.

Rather than wait it out for hours and hope conditions improved enough to get the game in tonight, officials called it off slightly more than an hour before scheduled first pitch at 7:40 p.m. Eastern. Neither scheduled starting pitcher began to warm up.

Trevor Williams, tonight’s originally scheduled starter, will now pitch Game 1 on Tuesday, opposed by right-hander Chris Flexen. Mitchell Parker will start as scheduled Tuesday, taking the mound for the nightcap against former Nationals righty Erick Fedde.

CHICAGO – It was a warm, muggy morning and early afternoon here in the Windy City, but it has turned dark and, well, windy in the last 30 minutes. There’s a storm approaching, and they just rolled the tarp out to cover up the infield at Guaranteed Rate Field. This could be a problem throughout the evening.

If they’re able to play, the Nationals open a three-game series with the White Sox, hoping for better results against these guys than they had over the weekend against the darker colored Sox from Boston. They’re going to need to do more offensively, for sure, and a return to earlier form from CJ Abrams would sure help.

The Nats will also hope Trevor Williams can keep doing what he’s done all season. The right-hander has allowed a total of two runs over his last four starts, and he still hasn’t served up a homer in seven starts this year.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 7:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 66 degrees, wind 7 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
CF Jacob Young
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Nick Senzel
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Trey Lipscomb
RF Victor Robles

After he takes the mound one more time next week, what will Josiah Gray consider when he evaluates his 2023 season?

Will the Nationals right-hander look at his breakthrough first half, the 3.41 ERA that earned him the first All-Star nod of his career? Will he look at his second half struggles, the 5.13 ERA that wiped up much of what he had accomplished earlier?

Or is there something else that rises above the rest to paint a more accurate picture of Gray’s season?

“I think the first goal is to stay healthy,” he said. “But then you want to perform. You want to go out there every outing and put the team in a position to win. The last two outings, I’ve been able to do that.”

Gray has performed much better his last two starts. He struck out 10 without issuing a walk one week ago in Pittsburgh, then he allowed one run over five innings Wednesday afternoon in a blowout victory over the White Sox.

There have been precious few of these – genuine laughers – during the course of the season, certainly over the last month-plus as the Nationals have needed to scratch and claw their way to any win they could secure.

The Nats hadn’t won a game by more than four runs since Aug. 11 against the Athletics. They hadn’t won a game by more than six runs since July 22 against the Giants. They hadn't won a game by 10 or more runs since April 29, 2022.

So consider this afternoon’s 13-3 thumping of the White Sox a much-needed, well-deserved walk in the park. A team that has looked like it’s running on fumes down the stretch of the season finally had an opportunity to enjoy a victory that was firmly in their grasp the entire way.

"It's great anytime we can score some runs early, score a lot of runs and pitch well," first baseman Dominic Smith said. "Those games are fun. Those are my favorite games."

In the process today, the Nationals secured their 18th series victory of the season, six more than they managed during their nightmare of a 55-107 campaign in 2022. With nine games left on schedule, but all coming against the teams with the two best records in baseball in the Braves and Orioles, it was imperative to lock up wins No. 67 and 68 against the White Sox now to make the path to 70 by season’s end a bit more palatable.

The Nationals will skip Trevor Williams’ next turn in the rotation, but the struggling right-hander will make another start during the season’s final week.

Manager Davey Martinez said he wanted to give Williams a breather after a string of subpar outings but did not want to shut him down entirely or move him to the bullpen.

“I spoke to him, and he wants to finish the year off,” Martinez said. “I thought the best thing was to skip him one, and then let him have one more.”

Williams lasted only two innings in his most recent outing in Milwaukee, throwing a whopping 70 pitches in the process. He hasn’t completed five innings in any of his last three outings, and his ERA now stands at 5.55, with a league-leading 34 homers surrendered.

Williams’ 29 starts are his most since 2018 with the Pirates, his 141 innings his most since 2019.

Who knows what the final week-plus of the season has in store for the Nationals, but we do know this: Today is probably their last best shot at winning a series. A victory today over the White Sox would complete their 18th winning series of the year, six more than they won last year. That would be a nice improvement.

To pull it off, they need the good version of Josiah Gray to show up this afternoon. That’s the version the Nats got last week in Pittsburgh, when Gray struck out 10, didn’t issue a walk and allowed two runs over 6 1/3 innings. He still didn’t emerge with the win, though, and he actually hasn’t won a game since July 22. It would be nice to end that streak today.

The Nationals lineup needs to show more patience today than it showed Tuesday night, when everybody seemed to be swinging at the first pitch and making outs. Well, that can’t be the case today against Michael Kopech, who leads the American League in walks. Plain and simple, the Nats have to work the count today. There’s no excuse not to.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 3 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
2B Luis García
3B Ildemaro Vargas
LF Jake Alu
CF Jacob Young

It was only 25 light throws from 45 feet, the kind of mundane activity anyone who has ever picked up a baseball has engaged in countless times. For Cade Cavalli, Tuesday’s activity was anything but mundane.

For the first time since he underwent Tommy John surgery in March, the Nationals’ top pitching prospect played catch. And while this was merely the first of many thresholds still to cross before he returns to a big league mound, the significance was not lost on the right-hander.

“I have been visualizing that moment since pretty much the time I tore (my elbow ligament),” he said. “And now that it’s here, it was very surreal. It felt great. It did feel weird the first couple of throws, trying to find that slot again. But once I found it and felt comfortable in it, it was awesome. I don’t know how else to describe it but awesome. It was a great feeling.”

Cavalli has spent the majority of this season rehabbing at the Nationals’ spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Fla. It’s a lonely, tedious experience, especially those first several months that include zero baseball activities.

When the time finally came to let him throw for the first time, the club decided to bring Cavalli to D.C. and have him throw in the outfield prior to batting practice Tuesday afternoon, with assistant athletic trainer Jon Kotredes on the receiving end of the throws.

The most important development of tonight’s ballgame on South Capitol Street was Jackson Rutledge’s second career start, one that saw the rookie right-hander reach the seventh inning on 78 pitches and allow only two runs.

The most satisfying moment of tonight’s game, though, came on one big swing from Joey Meneses, which ensured Rutledge’s quality start wouldn’t be for naught.

Meneses’ pinch-hit, three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh provided the clutch hit the Nationals had been seeking all night and ultimately propelled them to a 4-3 victory over the White Sox.

"It was beautiful," manager Davey Martinez said. "One thing I know about Joey: You put runners on base, there's a good chance he's going to hit it hard."

Shut down throughout the evening by José Ureña, who spent the summer pitching for Triple-A Rochester before getting released and picked up by Chicago, the Nats finally did something at the plate once they had the chance to face the White Sox bullpen.