2020 Washington Nationals season


The 2020 Washington Nationals season is the Nationals' 16th season as the baseball franchise of Major League Baseball in the District of Columbia, the 13th season at Nationals Park, and the 52nd since the original team was started in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The team will enter this season as the defending World Series champions.
On March 12, 2020, MLB announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks in addition to the remainder of spring training being cancelled. Four days later, it was announced that the start of the season would be pushed back indefinitely due to the recommendation made by the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for eight weeks. On June 23, commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a 60-game season. Players reported to training camps on July 1 in order to resume spring training and prepare for a July 23 Opening Day.

Offseason

Team news

The day after the Washington Nationals won the 2019 World Series on October 30, 2019, in Houston, Texas, nine members of that championship team officially filed for free agency: pitchers Jeremy Hellickson, Daniel Hudson, Fernando Rodney, and Jonny Venters; infielders Asdrúbal Cabrera, Brian Dozier, Howie Kendrick, and Anthony Rendon; and outfielder Gerardo Parra. On November 1, the Nationals announced they would not exercise their share of the 2020 mutual option for first baseman Matt Adams, making Adams a free agent as well. The Nationals also declined club options over first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and catcher Yan Gomes, who also became free agents, on November 2. They exercised club options to keep pitcher Sean Doolittle and outfielder Adam Eaton under contract for the 2020 season. Hellickson chose to retire instead of pursuing another career opportunity, citing a nagging shoulder injury.
Considerable media speculation swirled around whether the Nationals would re-sign Rendon, who was a finalist in National League Most Valuable Player balloting, and Strasburg, who was the World Series MVP. Washington general manager Mike Rizzo expressed public interest in bringing back both players, who rejected one-year qualifying offers from the Nationals. However, in an early-December interview with Donald Dell, Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner said the club "can only afford to have one of those two guys", downplaying the possibility that both could fit into Washington's 2020 payroll. On December 9, 2019, at the annual winter meetings in Strasburg's hometown of San Diego, the Nationals announced they had come to terms with Strasburg on a new, seven-year pact, reported to be worth $245 million, a record for a free agent pitcher. At the press conference making the announcement, Rizzo also confirmed that the Nationals had re-signed Kendrick to what was reported as a one-year major league deal. Kendrick's signing was officially announced the following day, along with the re-signing of Gomes to a two-year deal. The team also re-signed Zimmerman and Cabrera to one-year major league deals and brought back Hudson on a two-year guarantee. Rendon ultimately signed with the Los Angeles Angels on a seven-year deal.
The Nationals were also linked in media reports to other free agents, including first baseman Justin Smoak, third basemen Josh Donaldson and Maikel Franco, along with starting pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Zack Wheeler.
Eight Nationals were eligible for salary raises through the arbitration system during the offseason: pitchers Roenis Elías, Koda Glover, Javy Guerra, Joe Ross, and Hunter Strickland; infielders Wilmer Difo and Trea Turner; and outfielder Michael A. Taylor. The Nationals signed Strickland and Difo to new one-year contracts. Hours before the deadline for teams to tender new contracts to arbitration-eligible players, on December 2, Glover announced his retirement from professional baseball at age 26. The Nationals tendered contracts to all eligible players except Glover and Guerra, who were non-tendered. The Nationals agreed to one-year contracts for each of their tendered players, avoiding arbitration.
Within days, the Nationals signed a new reliever, former Oakland Athletics minor league closer Kyle Finnegan. Finnegan was the first free agent signing of the offseason announced by the team, on December 8, 2019. The Nationals added to their bullpen again on January 3, 2020, announcing they had signed veteran Will Harris to a three-year contract. On January 29, the team acquired reliever Ryne Harper from the Minnesota Twins.
The Nationals added new blood to their position player roster as well, announcing the signings of infielders Starlin Castro to a two-year deal and Eric Thames to a one-year deal on January 7 and January 8, respectively.

Transactions

The Nationals are holding spring training at their facility at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida, which they share with the Houston Astros. It is their fourth year at the facility.
On February 12, the Nationals announced they had invited the following players on minor league contracts to participate in major league spring training: left-handed pitchers Fernando Abad and Sam Freeman; right-handed pitchers Dakota Bacus, Bryan Bonnell, Wil Crowe, Paolo Espino, Jhonatan Germán, Javy Guerra, David Hernandez, Kevin Quackenbush, and Derek Self; catchers Welington Castillo, Taylor Gushue, and Jakson Reetz; infielders Luis García, Drew Ward, and Jacob Wilson; outfielders Yadiel Hernández and Mac Williamson; infielder/outfielders Emilio Bonifácio and Brandon Snyder; and outfielder/left-handed pitcher J. B. Shuck.
On March 12, the remainder of spring training was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Nationals had a record of 6–11–2 before this happened. When the new schedule was announced for the 2020 season, it included three new exhibition games against the Phillies and Orioles, which count as Spring Training games.

Regular season

Opening Day

Opening Day lineup

Juan Soto tested positive for COVID-19 and thus was placed on the IL.

Game recap

Season standings

National League East

National League Wild Card

Record vs. opponents

Major league debuts

Current roster

Statistics

Batting

'
Players in bold' are on the active roster.
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Walks; SO = Strikeouts; Avg. = Batting average; OBP = On Base Percentage; SLG = Slugging Percentage; SB = Stolen bases''
Player

Pitching

'
Players in bold' are on the active roster.
Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
Player

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Farm system

Class A-Advanced

After playing for 36 seasons at Pfitzner Stadium in Woodbridge, Virginia, the Nationals′ Class A-Advanced affiliate, most recently known as the Potomac Nationals, moved during the 2019–2020 offseason to a new stadium in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that would open in April 2020. On October 5, 2019, the team announced that it had changed its name to the Fredericksburg Nationals for the 2020 season and that its marketing nickname for the team – "P-Nats" when the team was the Potomac Nationals – had changed to "FredNats."