The Cubs lost three of four to the Nationals in Washington in May, including a walkoff loss May 4 on a home run by Alex Call off the only pitch Brad Boxberger threw.
The Cubs are 28-32 since that game, which isn’t great, but the Nats have fallen into last place in the N.L. East by going 24-37 since that series.
For more on the Nats, here’s Patrick Reddington, who runs our SB Nation Nationals site Federal Baseball.
Washington’s GM Mike Rizzo (who grew up 6½ miles west of Wrigley Field on Waveland Avenue) said late last month the Nationals were expecting “an active, aggressive trade deadline,” yet again this season after a full-on sell-off of expiring deals (and a few years of control of Trea Turner) in 2021 and the Juan Soto (and Josh Bell) trade last year, and manager Davey Martinez acknowledged the impending deadline was on the minds of some of his players earlier this month.