The Giants were one bad inning away from sweeping their three-game series in Pittsburgh and on that note we should probably hold out a very slim hope that these last seven or so weeks will be an exciting one for our favorite squadron. No, they are unlikely to make it into the postseason, but if they were to, say, sweep the Washington Nationals this weekend, it might beat back the darkness of the offseason for just a bit longer.

We’re years beyond the Even Year Magic stuff, but if you subtract our specific fandom out of it, from a sports standpoint, it’s fun to think about a team that failed to live up to expectations selling off some significant pieces on their roster only to then propel themselves back into the playoff race. Again, it’s not likely to happen here — but what if?

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The Washington Nationals are now six seasons beyond their first World Series win and haven’t had a winning season since. Maybe we should feel lucky that the Giants have had three winning seasons since their last championship? After all, it could be worse. The Nats finally fired their championship manager Davey Martinez after 90 games this season along with longtime exec Mike Rizzo. The firings didn’t make the Nationals any better. They’re just 8-16 under interim GM Mike DeBartolo and manager Miguel Cairo (yes, the utility infielder from your foggy memory). They have a long way to go in what seems like a perpetual rebuild.

The most interesting thing that’s happened to them recently was simply luck of the draw. The Milwaukee Brewers were visiting Washington and were featured on the Apple TV+ Friday night game, which led to this interview with Brewers’ manager Pat Murphy in which he reveals that he stuffs pancakes in his pocket for an in-game snack:

The Brewers are a 70-win team, so this sort of silliness could simply be a fun chapter in a championship season for all we know. Milwaukee also has the chance to do the Giants a real solid this weekend by winning or sweeping their series against the New York Mets, currently the 3rd Wild Card which the Giants trail by 5 games.

The Nationals traded away two of their peskier hitters (from the Giants’ perspective), Alex Call and Amed Rosario and three relievers: Kyle Finnegan, Andrew Chafin, and Luis Garcia; so, theoretically, the Nationals are even more vulnerable than at any other point this season.

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Their young players who they hope to be the anchors of the next great team have struggled as well. Since July 1st, CJ Abrams, James Wood, and Luis Garcia Jr. have all been well below league average offensively, sporting wRC+s of 80, 78, and 49, respectively. Once-heralded prospect Robert Hassell III was optioned down back in June after posting a .497 OPS through his first 21 games. He was recalled 6 games ago and is slashing .400/.438/.867 in his last 16 plate appearances, so that’s something. Otherwise, their offensive contributors these days are veterans Josh Bell (148 wRC+ since July 1st) and Paul DeJong (100 wRC+).

On the pitching side, on top of trading away some veteran relievers, they sent away their best starter since July 1st: Michael Soroka. MacKenzie Gore might’ve been moved, too, but their presumptive ace has had a pretty bad season overall. In his first 13 starts (75.1 IP) he struck out 108 and had just a 2.87 ERA (2.62 FIP). His last 10 starts? 50.2 IP, 40 strikeouts, 6.39 ERA (5.32 FIP).

As disappointing as they’ve been for most of 2025, the San Francisco Giants are a better team than the Washington Nationals. So, a sweep is plausible. The only reason why it’s a necessity is for the “there’s still a chance!” playoff hopeful sickos out there (I might be one of these). This is the easiest series the Giants will have for the rest of the month. For that reason, we should welcome a sweep. Working against them? Well, they’re just 6-15 across their last few homestands. They were swept in historic fashion in their most recent six-game stand. The Giants simply don’t like playing in front of their hometown fans. As I’m one of those fans, I understand.

But Carson Whisenhunt has an interesting start ahead of him. The Nationals aren’t quite a Triple-A team, but they’re pretty close. If he can hold his own against him, then he’ll have another data point to strengthen the case that he belongs in the big leagues. Justin Verlander has been the team’s second-best pitcher since July 1st and he’ll start the Sunday finale. Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee, and Rafael Devers have all been hitting, with Dominic Smith providing some timely knocks — is this the series where Matt Chapman gets it going?

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Series overview

Who: Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Friday at 7:15pm PT, Saturday & Sunday at 1:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None

Projected starters
Friday: Jake Irvin (RHP 8-6, 4.89 ERA) vs. Matt Gage (LHP 0-0, 0.0 ERA; opener)
Saturday: Brad Lord (RHP 2-6, 3.42 ERA) vs. Carson Whisenhunt (LHP 1-0, 4.35 ERA)
Sunday: MacKenzie Gore (LHP 4-12, 4.29 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (RHP 1-8, 4.29 ERA)

Where they standNationals: 45-69, 5th in NLE; 17.5 GB WCGiants: 58-57, 3rd in NLW; 5.0 GB WCPrediction time

SB Nation does not have a native polling tool following the transition to the new publishing platform, so rather than use a third-party tool, I’ll just ask you who you have as your pick to click (batters = 3+ hits in the series, pitchers = a quality start or 2+ appearances with 0 or 1 run allowed). I’ll go first.

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Nationals: Josh Bell and MacKenzie Gore. Why? Bell has a career .807 OPS at Oracle Park and the Giants are dreadful against left-handed pitchers.

Giants: Heliot Ramos hasn’t homered in over a month (July 5th in Sacramento), so I just think he’s due. He has an .851 OPS in 6 games this month, too. On the pitching side, I’ll say Ryan Walker; so, two scoreless appearances.