With the season about to wrap up, the Washington Nationals have decided to shut down Cade Cavalli for the season. He only had one more scheduled start, but the Nats are going to close the book on their ace. It is a decision I understand even though I don’t love it and think it is a bummer for the fans.
Even though the fight to avoid last place this weekend is something to watch, there is not a ton to play for this season. We all know Cavalli’s injury history, so I understand proceeding with caution. He has thrown way more innings than he ever has before in 2026.
This season Cavalli has thrown 169.2 innings. That is a major leap from the 122.2 innings he threw last year. Cavalli’s career high before this season was the 123.1 inning he threw all the way back in 2021. The logic behind this decision is quite clear, but it is still a bummer.
I know that I wanted to see Cavalli take the ball one more time at Nationals Park. Even if he only threw 4 or 5 innings, I would have loved to see him take the ball. It would have sent a nice message to Nats fans that want to see their newly extended pitcher in action one more time.
My dad has complained about how the Nats are constantly waiting for tomorrow instead of battling today. The trade deadline was an example of this and so is the Cavalli shutdown. Personally, I am more understanding of the bigger picture, but I get where he is coming from.
Cavalli has made it this far, would one more start really put him over the edge? While there is not a ton at stake for the team, there were still some individual goals out there for Cavalli. If he tossed 1.2 more scoreless innings or threw 5 innings of one run ball, he would have finished his season with an ERA under 3. That would have been quite the milestone for the right hander.
He also had the chance to reach 175 innings if he threw 5.1 more innings. That will not happen now. Hopefully he can achieve those goals next year. The book is now closed on Cavalli’s season and the numbers are very impressive. Cavalli finished the year with a 13-5 record and 3.02 ERA in 169.2 innings.
If you want more advanced stats, Cavalli had a 3.25 FIP, a 3.13 xFIP and 3.9 fWAR. The 28 year old struck out 28.3% of hitters while only walking 6.8%. Whatever way you slice it, Cade Cavalli had an elite season in his first full big league campaign.
Despite falling short of a few milestones, there is one big one that he did hit. In his last start against the Cardinals, Cavalli got his 200th strikeout of the season. Only 9 pitchers have hit that mark this season at this point. Cade is the first Nat to strike out 200 hitters since 2019.
Overall, this was a phenomenal year for Cade Cavalli. He established himself as the Nats ace and got rewarded with a contract extension. It is a bummer that we will not see him one more time. However, that is just the way modern baseball works I suppose. Shutdowns have become normal, and the Nats played a big role in popularizing that with the Strasburg situation back in the day.
As we move forward, I hope Cade Cavalli can make meaningful starts in September and into October. He has shown an ability to get stronger as the year goes on, with a sub-2 ERA after the All-Star Break. There will be no more Cade days in 2026, but hopefully we can see Cavalli starts in October in 2027 and beyond.
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