Dylan Crews celebrates in the dugout after hitting a three-run home run as teammates throw sunflower seeds. Brad Mills / Imagn ImagesJune 15, 2026 Updated 9:29 pm EDTWASHINGTON — This was the Washington Nationals experience, distilled into one game that meant a lot more than an outside observer might imagine.For the first time in seven years, since Game 162 of the 2019 season, the Nationals (38-35) are three games over .500 after dispatching the Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Monday night.The fashion with which they accomplished the feat was oh, so fitting.They put away the game in the fifth inning as Dylan Crews hit a three-run laser by pulling the ball in the air — something this organization had not aggressively and effectively taught their former No. 2 overall pick to do in years’ past. Andrew Alvarez had allowed only one run but was pulled before he could face the Royals’ lineup a third time through, getting an analytically-minded quick hook that would have been rare to find around these parts in a previous season. Brad Lord — drafted and developed by the last regime — followed him amicably as late-round picks have tended to do for the Nationals these days.James Wood had his OPS inch closer towards 1.000. Luis Garcia Jr. gave the Nationals the lead with a two-run single in a five-run fifth. Clayton Beeter, the man who closed games for the Nats last year, pitched the eighth. Because, unlike previous seasons, they do not have a defined closer.It’s easy to forget now, as the Nationals hover around the final wild-card spot, how different things are. At this time last year, Washington was in the middle of an 11-game losing streak. It was at this time last year that it seemed as though the Nationals could not extricate themselves from any of their woeful lows.Heck, it was just on Wednesday that the Nats led the San Francisco Giants by eight runs in the eighth, on the precipice of moving three games over .500, and blew it. They were blown out again on Friday, and it seemed the Grim Reaper might finally lay his scythe into the club.They have won their last three games by 18 runs.