Nationals list Tuesday's starter as TBA ahead of Phillies series, bullpen game possible

The Washington Nationals have not named a starter for Tuesday's game at Citizens Bank Park, per beat reporter Mark Zuckerman, with the slot listed as TBA and a bullpen game a real possibility depending on how the next 48 hours unfold.

What happened

Per Zuckerman, the Nationals have Tuesday's starting pitcher listed as TBA for the opener of their series in Philadelphia. Zack Littell, Jake Irvin, and Foster Griffin are slated to follow in the remaining games of the series. Nationals manager Blake Butera suggested Tuesday could be structured as a bullpen game, though Zuckerman noted that activity around the trade deadline could force changes to those plans before the first pitch is thrown.

That last caveat is doing a lot of work. The trade deadline has a way of reshuffling pitching plans with little warning — a starter moved, a reliever changing addresses, a roster spot suddenly needing to be cleared — and the Nationals are not immune to any of those possibilities. What the club will actually send to the mound Tuesday remains, for now, genuinely open.

Why it matters

A TBA slot is not unusual on its own. Clubs use them to preserve flexibility, manage workloads, or simply because a decision hasn't been made yet. What makes this one worth watching is the explicit mention of a bullpen game as the likely shape of the outing, combined with the deadline caveat. Those two variables together mean the Nationals' Tuesday pitching plan is less a firm arrangement than a working hypothesis.

Is there a named starter for the rest of the series?

Per Zuckerman's report, yes — for the games that follow Tuesday. Jake Irvin and Foster Griffin are listed for the subsequent games in the Philadelphia series, with Zack Littell also slated to appear. The verified schedule shows Tuesday's probable as TBA against Aaron Nola, and Wednesday's probable as Carson Palmquist against Jesús Luzardo. The Littell, Irvin, and Griffin assignments, as reported by Zuckerman, would slot around and after those games, though the deadline caveat applies to all of them.

A bullpen game against Aaron Nola, one of the better starters in the National League, is not the most comfortable arrangement a pitching staff can find itself in. Whether that's the final plan or a placeholder while the front office works the phones is precisely what remains unresolved.

Where the club stands

Washington is 4th in the NL East at 77-85 (.475), 17 games behind the division leader and 11.0 games out of a Wild Card spot. The Nationals are eliminated from both the division and Wild Card races and are riding a one-game winning streak heading into this stretch.

Before the Philadelphia series begins, Washington plays Sunday at Atlanta's Truist Park, where Cade Cavalli is listed as the probable starter against JR Ritchie. The Philadelphia series then opens Monday with Andrew Alvarez going against Aaron Nola, followed by Tuesday's TBA slot and Wednesday's Carson Palmquist against Jesús Luzardo.

That is a demanding stretch of pitching matchups regardless of how the rotation shakes out. Nola on Monday and Luzardo on Wednesday bracket whatever Washington sends to the mound Tuesday, which makes the shape of that middle game — bullpen or otherwise — a meaningful operational question even if the standings context has shifted away from urgency. A club eliminated from both races is operating with a different set of priorities than a contender, and decisions about who is or isn't available for a Tuesday bullpen game in Philadelphia get made with a different calculus than they would in a pennant race.

What we don't know yet

The identity of Tuesday's starter, or whether there will be one at all, is unresolved. Butera's suggestion of a bullpen game is a possibility, not a plan — and Zuckerman was explicit that the trade deadline could change things before the series even begins. It is not known which relievers would be used in a bullpen game scenario, how many innings each of Littell, Irvin, and Griffin is expected to cover in their respective outings, or whether any roster moves between now and Tuesday would alter the available arms.

The deadline itself is the largest unknown. Any transaction involving a pitcher — in either direction — could ripple directly into the pitching schedule Zuckerman reported. The Nationals have acknowledged as much by leaving the slot open rather than naming someone. Leaving a box blank on the schedule is, in its own way, a statement about how much remains in flux.

General roster mechanics are worth keeping in mind here: a 26-man active roster runs through the end of August, and any move that touches the 40-man roster — whether a pitcher departs or a new arm is added — creates downstream effects on who is available and when. The Nationals haven't specified which scenario they're preparing for, which is rather the point.

What to watch

The Tuesday starter slot is the obvious thing to monitor as the deadline approaches. If Washington makes a move involving a pitcher before Tuesday's first pitch, that transaction will almost certainly clarify — or further complicate — what the bullpen game plan actually looks like. Zuckerman's report is the current best information available, and it is explicitly provisional.

Beyond Tuesday, the assignments for Littell, Irvin, and Griffin across the Philadelphia series are worth tracking as the deadline passes and the roster settles into its post-deadline shape. For a club eliminated from playoff contention, how those innings get distributed over the next week will say something about how Washington is thinking about the back end of its 2026 season — and which arms it wants to keep throwing.