Nationals 9, Cardinals 1: Abrams Hits 30-30 and Cavalli Hits 200

A 30th steal, a 200th strikeout, and a 9-1 that ended St. Louis

September 18, 2026 - St. Louis - CJ Abrams singled home a run in the first at Busch Stadium. Then he stole second. Leo Bernal's throw skipped, Dylan Crews came home, and Abrams became the 52nd player to join the 30-30 club. The ESPN recap said he is the second National to do it, after Alfonso Soriano in 2006. Pete Crow-Armstrong is the only other 30-30 player this season.

The Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1. The Associated Press recap said the loss mathematically eliminated St. Louis from the playoffs.

Clear. 89 degrees. Wind 2 mph right to left. First pitch 7:17 p.m. Attendance 25,855. The game lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes. Washington scored nine on seven hits. St. Louis scored one on seven.

Three in the first, four in the third, and Leahy never recovered

James Wood flied out. Daylen Lile walked. Crews singled him to third. Abrams lined to right, Lile scoring. 1-0. Then the steal, the throw, Crews, 2-0. Brady House grounded to short, Abrams scoring. 3-0. Kyle Leahy had not recorded an inning.

Cade Cavalli struck out the side in the bottom half. JJ Wetherholt. Iván Herrera. Alec Burleson. The night already had a shape.

The third finished Leahy. Crews hit his 12th homer to right, Lile scoring with him. 5-0. Yohandy Morales doubled to left, House and Jorbit Vivas scoring. 7-0. Leahy (10-5) lasted three innings. Five hits. Seven runs, six earned. Three walks. One strikeout. The ESPN recap called it a season high for runs allowed. Cooper Hjerpe threw four innings after him. Cade Winquest threw two scoreless. None of that put St. Louis back in the game.

Lile's sacrifice fly scored Jacob Young in the fourth. 8-0. Wood doubled Young home in the sixth, his 30th double. 9-0. Herrera grounded Church home in the eighth. 9-1. That was the Cardinals' night: seven hits, one run, and Bernal's 3-for-4 sitting on a card that did not matter.

The beanie, the binder, and strikeout No. 200

Hours earlier the Nationals had announced a four-year extension that keeps Cavalli in Washington through at least 2030. The ESPN recap had the number at $47 million. The MLB recap found him at his locker in a red beanie and a dark hoodie, flipping through a binder marked 24, tossing a baseball into the glove. Manager Blake Butera, per that recap, limited himself to a fist bump. "I usually don't talk to him when he pitches," Butera said. "The last thing I want to do is change anything to his routine that he's had so much success with."

Cavalli (13-5) threw five scoreless innings. Four hits. Zero walks. Six strikeouts. Seventy-three pitches. His last one was Wetherholt swinging to end the fifth, strikeout No. 200 on the year. The ESPN recap said he is the fifth Nationals pitcher to do that, after Patrick Corbin, Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer, and Stephen Strasburg. Brad Lord threw two scoreless with three strikeouts. Jack Sinclair allowed the one run. Josiah Gray finished the ninth.

That is a 9-1 that did not need a complete game. It needed five clean innings from a pitcher who treated the biggest contract day of his career like a Thursday in April.

Crews went 2-for-5 with the homer, two runs, and two RBI. Abrams finished 1-for-4 with the single, the steal, a run, and an RBI. Wood had the double and the walk. Young doubled, walked, and scored twice. Morales drove in two. St. Louis put the ball in play and still left Busch looking at a closed door.

A 9-1 that is also an ending

Washington is 72-82. This was not a race night for the visitors. It was a night that will live on Abrams' line (30 and 30) and Cavalli's (200, plus the years through 2030). St. Louis is 75-79 and done. Bernal had three hits. Herrera drove in the only run. The rest of the card was a season that ran out of math.

Saturday is Andrew Alvarez against Michael McGreevy. The series continues. The Cardinals' October does not.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Washington at 20 team fantasy points, first on a 15-game Friday. Cavalli had 19 pitching FP. Crews had 6 hitting FP. St. Louis finished at minus-8.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*