The Nationals bullpen makes the worst kind of MLB history in loss to Padres

SAN DIEGO — The self-inflicted losses sting the most, and the Nationals have become far too familiar with them.

Rookie Jared Simpson loaded the bases with three straight walks to open the eighth inning with the Nationals clinging to a three-run lead, and was subsequently removed, leaving Erik Tolman to clean up his mess. The Padres inched closer with an Austin Hays sacrifice fly, and Tolman just couldn’t put All-Star Manny Machado away.

With the count at 1-2, Machado didn’t bite on a ball outside of the zone and stayed alive by fouling off three consecutive pitches. But on pitch eight of the at-bat, Machado hit a groundball single up the middle to drive in two runs and tie it up. And that put the Nationals in the record books as the team with the most blown saves in a season at 38.

Tolman allowed the go-ahead run on a Luis Campusano single to right field to clinch the collapse in the Nationals’ 5-4 loss to the Padres.

“These are young guys that are getting this opportunity for the first time,” manager Blake Butera said. “Failures in life, we can either look at and put our head down and accept it, or we can face it head on and take something from it and learn from it. And that’s what I’m hoping we do.”

The Nationals will need a more reliable bullpen next season, when they will likely return a core group of position players that powered the offense and made the team one of the surprising contenders of the first half.

To see a thriving, functioning bullpen, the Nationals just have to take a gander at the opposing team. The Padres have a cadre of fire-throwing relievers that are dependable. Entering Tuesday, Padres relievers ranked fifth in ERA (3.36) and sixth in strikeout rate per nine innings (9.39).

“Looking at it from from outside, it looks like it’s obviously a well-put-together bullpen that has a lot of stuff, and they throw a lot of strikes,” Butera said. “It’s a lot of velocity. It’s a lot of stuff coming at you, and they’re in the zone of time.”

The Nationals bullpen, meanwhile, ranks 29th in ERA (5.09) and strikeouts per nine innings (7.53) following Tuesday’s loss.

Going forward, Simpson said, the key is trying not to let the inning snowball and get away from him.

“I figured out that I just need to find a cue once I’m feeling out of sync,” Simpson said. “Just get back to that for timing-wise, and get back in the zone and attack hitters.”

Butera said it was an uncharacteristic outing for the 26-year-old rookie, who didn’t concede a hit in his first two major league appearances.

Simpson and Tolman weren’t meant to serve as high-leverage arms this early in their career, but the dearth of quality options in the Nationals bullpen has put them in that unenviable role.

On the flip side, the two can learn from this experience for the next outing. But the Nationals can’t depend entirely on works-in-progress for next year’s bullpen. Going out and identifying arms with electric velocity has to be a priority. The great high-leverage arms have a way of not letting mistakes compound.

Butera brought up Dylan Crews’ ninth-inning single against All-Star closer Mason Miller in Monday’s game. Miller recovered and struck out CJ Abrams and induced a groundout.

When one looks back on the 2026 Nationals, the bullpen implosions will be front of mind. Missed opportunities and ineffectiveness robbed the team of what could’ve been a competitive wild-card pursuit.

Coming into the season, the Nationals didn’t have high expectations, especially in Year 1 of a new front office and coaching staff. But as the offense ascended into one of the league’s best, the team had plenty of chances to win ballgames, only to see leads evaporate.