Philadelphia Phillies (0-2) vs. Washington Nationals (3-0)

When: Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, 6:05 PM

TV/Radio: 106.7 The Fan

The Washington Nationals will look to stay hot when they take on the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday evening.

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The Nationals are coming off a 16-8 win against the Miami Marlins on Sunday after wins over the Astros and Cardinals in Saturday’s double header.

For the first time this spring, Jake Irvin is expected to take the mound for Washington with the 29 year old looking to capitalize on a fresh start ahead of his fourth season. Irvin finished 9-13 with a 5.70 ERA across 33 games and 180 innings pitched, allowing a career-high 38 home runs and 114 earned runs while throwing 32 fewer strikeouts compared to 2024 over the same number of games.

The Nationals are expected to face Alan Rangel, who played in Triple-A through the first half of the 2025 season where he posted a perfect 4-0 record despite a 5.02 ERA, along with 64 strikeouts over 57 innings pitched. He then made his major league debut after being called up in July where he posted one save and a 2.45 ERA across five games, allowing only one home run while tossing eight strikeouts.

Who is able to stay hot will be the big storyline as first year manager Blake Butera looks to stay perfect through spring training, but there are some players already sticking out across the league. Following his two home runs in Sunday’s win, Brady House joins Pete Alonso and Aaron Judge as the only two players across baseball with two home runs through the opening weekend of spring training – he’s also the only one to do it in one game. His four RBIs in the game are enough are enough to tie nine other players for the second-most as he finished 2-for-4 in the win.

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Tucker Biven is only among a handful of pitchers to allow two home runs in one game after a disastrous ninth inning that led to a seven-run ninth inning.

Still, Monday will give another opportunity for the roster to begin separating themselves in the first of two games against the Phillies this week. But it’s an encouraging start for a young team filled with fringe players looking to find roles on the 40-man roster as the front office gets to restock the Triple-A roster ahead of Opening Day.

Like Sunday and Tuesday’s return game against the Cardinals, the game will only be available via radio with Nationals.TV offering limited viewings through spring training.