2015 Washington Nationals season

2015 Washington Nationals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Lerner Enterprises
Manager(s) Matt Williams
Local television MASN
WUSA (CBS affiliate)
(Bob Carpenter, FP Santangelo, Johnny Holliday, Ray Knight)
Local radio WJFK 106.7 FM
Washington Nationals Radio Network
(Charlie Slowes, Dave Jageler)
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The 2015 Washington Nationals season will be the Nationals' eleventh season as the baseball franchise of Major League Baseball in the District of Columbia, the eighth season at Nationals Park, and the 47th since the original team was started in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Offseason

Spring Training

The Nationals held their 2015 spring training in Viera, Florida, with home games played at Space Coast Stadium.

Regular season

Opening Day

The Nationals opened their season on April 6, 2015 at Nationals Park against the New York Mets. As multiple starters were still recovering from offseason surgeries or injuries sustained during Spring Training, the Nationals were forced to get creative with their lineup in order to fill the holes: Michael Taylor stood in for the recovering Denard Span in centerfield, and Tyler Moore was placed in left field while Bryce Harper moved to right as Jayson Werth was still rehabilitating his injured shoulder. Yunel Escobar, originally slated to play at second base, was bumped to third as Anthony Rendon continued nursing an MCL sprain. The sudden vacancy at second was filled by the veteran Dan Uggla, who had impressed the coaching staff during Spring Training.

The Nationals were mostly quiet on offense throughout the game except for Harper, who went 2-4 on the day. Harper opened up the score by smashing a solo home run over the right-field wall in the fourth inning, giving his team a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, a pair of errors by the shortstop Ian Desmond in the sixth and seventh innings allowed the Mets to score three runs, causing the Nationals to lose the game 3-1. The Mets' starting pitcher Bartolo Colon was credited with the win, and reliever Buddy Carlyle notched the first save in his career. Nationals' starting pitcher Max Scherzer was credited with the loss, despite having an ERA of 0.00 as all three Mets runs came indirectly from Desmond's two errors.

Opening Day Starters
Name Position
Michael Taylor CF
Yunel Escobar 3B
Bryce Harper RF
Ryan Zimmerman 1B
Wilson Ramos C
Ian Desmond SS
Tyler Moore LF
Dan Uggla 2B
Max Scherzer SP

Season standings

National League East

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Mets 15 8 0.652 — 10–1 5–7
Atlanta Braves 10 12 0.455 4½ 4–6 6–6
Miami Marlins 10 12 0.455 4½ 6–6 4–6
Washington Nationals 10 13 0.435 5 5–5 5–8
Philadelphia Phillies 8 15 0.348 7 6–6 2–9

National League Wild Card

Division Leaders W L Pct.
St. Louis Cardinals 15 6 0.714
New York Mets 15 8 0.652
Los Angeles Dodgers 13 8 0.619
Wild Card teams
(Top 2 qualify for 1-game playoff)		 W L Pct. GB
Chicago Cubs 12 8 0.600 +1
Pittsburgh Pirates 12 10 0.545 —
Colorado Rockies 11 10 0.524 ½
Cincinnati Reds 11 11 0.500 1
San Diego Padres 11 12 0.478 1½
Arizona Diamondbacks 10 11 0.476 1½
Atlanta Braves 10 12 0.455 2
Miami Marlins 10 12 0.455 2
Washington Nationals 10 13 0.435 2½
San Francisco Giants 9 13 0.409 3
Philadelphia Phillies 8 15 0.348 4½
Milwaukee Brewers 5 17 0.227 7

Record vs. opponents

2015 NL Records

Source: NL Standings Head-to-Head
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL LAD MIA MIL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL WSH AL
Arizona — 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–3 1–2 4–3 0–0 0–0 1–1
Atlanta 0–0 — 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–2 0–0 2–4 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1
Chicago 0–0 0–0 — 4–1 2–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–2 1–2 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0
Cincinnati 0–0 0–0 1–4 — 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–1 0–0 0–0 3–0 0–0 0–0 1–5 0–0 0–0
Colorado 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 — 0–3 0–0 3–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–2 4–1 0–0 0–0 0–0
Los Angeles 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–0 — 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–2 1–4 0–0 0–0 3–0
Miami 0–0 2–4 0–0 0–0 0–0 0-0 — 0–0 0–4 2–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–0 1–2
Milwaukee 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–3 0–0 0-0 — 0–0 0–0 1–5 0–0 0–0 2–4 0–0 0–0
New York 0–0 4–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–0 0–0 — 3–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 1–2
Philadelphia 0–0 2–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–3 — 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–4 1–2
Pittsburgh 3–0 0–0 2–4 0–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 5–1 0–0 0–0 — 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2
San Diego 2–1 0–0 2–1 0–0 2–2 2–4 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 — 3–1 0–0 0–0 0–0
San Francisco 3–4 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–4 4–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–3 — 0–0 0–0 0–0
St. Louis 0–0 0–0 1–1 5–1 0–0 0-0 0–0 4–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 — 2–1 0–0
Washington 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0-0 0–3 0–0 1–2 4–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 — 1–2

April

The Nationals struggled to stay afloat in their first month of the season. The team managed to bounce back from a poor Opening day performance with a win over the New York Mets in game 2, earning Jordan Zimmermann his first win and Drew Storen his first save of the year. However, with its normal top 3 men in the lineup still not ready, the offense struggled to score runs as the team lost the opening series at home to the Mets, and had similar results in the following series against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox. Even when they scored multiple runs, poor fielding would often sabotage the team's chances of victory. The Nationals ended the month with a league-worst 24 recorded errors, 9 of them attributed solely to shortstop Ian Desmond.

Jayson Werth and Denard Span eventually finished their minor-league injury rehab assignments and joined the team. However, more players would join the disabled list over the course of the month: stalwart reliver Craig Stammen tore a flexor tendon in his pitching arm and would need surgery to repair it, abruptly ending his 2015 season. Felipe Rivero, called up to add depth to the bullpen, would only make one appearance in a loss to the Phillies before going on the injury list himself with gastrointestinal bleeding. Reed Johnson, signed late in spring training to provide bench depth, would strain his calf while avoiding a pickoff throw to first base. Meanwhile, Casey Janssen, Nate McLouth, and Anthony Rendon all stayed on the disabled list throughout the month, with changing timetables for their return.

The Nationals appeared to hit their lowest point as they suffered a six-game losing streak, starting from an April 22 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. On April 28, pitching prospect A.J. Cole made an unexpected major-league debut against the Atlanta Braves, as the nominal starter Max Scherzer injured his thumb. Cole was quickly chased off the mound after two innings, allowing nine runs off nine hits and one walk, with one strikeout. Despite being down 9-1 after two innings, the team fought back and won the game 13-12, capped off with a 3-run homer by second baseman and former Brave Dan Uggla in the ninth inning. The effort broke the Nationals previous record comeback from June 17, 2006, when the team came back from a 9-2 deficit to beat the Yankees 11-9.

The Nationals also set another record the very next game, being the first team to post back-to-back 13-run games after repeating their offensive performance and demolishing the Braves 13-4 in the rubber match of the series.

Game log

Legend
 Nationals win
 Nationals loss
 Postponement
BoldNationals team member
2015 Game Log

Current roster

Washington Nationals roster
Active roster Inactive roster Coaches/Other

Pitchers
Starting rotation

Bullpen

Closer

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaches



25 active, 15 inactive

7- or 15-day disabled list
† Suspended list
# Personal leave
Roster and coaches updated April 29, 2015
Transactions • Depth chart
→ All MLB rosters

Player statistics

Both tables are sortable.

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; AVG = Batting average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; SB = Stolen Bases

*Player played for multiple teams; batting statistics reflect time on Nationals only

Complete batting stats can be found here .

Pitching

Note: G = Games played; GS = Games Started IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; HLD = Holds; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO= Strikeouts; WHIP = Walks and Hits Per Innings Pitched


Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League
AA Harrisburg Senators Eastern League
A-Advanced Potomac Nationals Carolina League
A Hagerstown Suns South Atlantic League
Short-Season A Auburn Doubledays New York–Penn League
Rookie GCL Nationals Gulf Coast League
Rookie DSL Nationals Dominican Summer League

References

    External links

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2015 Washington Nationals season.