The Rotation That Carried a Losing Team Is Now Washington's Foundation

Cade Cavalli finished the year at 13-6 with a 2.82 ERA across 35 starts — numbers that would stand out on a contender, let alone a team that finished 71-80. The extension Washington handed him locks in the one arm that made this rotation worth watching all season. Foster Griffin, the other bright spot, went 13-4 with a 3.10 ERA and earned an All-Star nod for his trouble. Those two have been the whole argument for optimism in a year that didn't offer much else.

The rest of the staff told a different story. Miles Mikolas posted a 5.82 ERA in 27 starts. Jake Irvin was at 5.07. Andrew Alvarez was quietly effective in a swingman role but never settled into a full-time spot in the rotation. The bullpen leaned on Zack Littell for a heavy workload and got inconsistent results. Washington's pitching depth was thin all year, and the injury list — five starters or rotation-adjacent arms on the 60-day IL at various points — made it thinner.

So the Cavalli extension is less a celebration than a statement of intent: this is the guy we're keeping, and now we build outward from him. My read is that the more pressing question heading into the offseason isn't whether Cavalli is the right anchor — he clearly is — but whether Washington can find a third reliable starter to put between Griffin and the drop-off. That gap was real in 2026, and it'll matter more once this team is supposed to compete.