Storms rolled into Washington Friday evening and took the Cincinnati Reds‘ game against the Nationals with them, pushing back first pitch at Nationals Park about an hour before the scheduled 6:45 p.m. ET start.
With 15 minutes to go before the original start time, the Nationals still had not announced any estimate of a new start time, according to the team’s Game Delay and Postponement Information site.
But at 7:01 p.m., the Nationals announced “Tonight’s game will begin at approximately 7:45 p.m.”
The Nationals confirmed the initial delay at approximately 5:41 p.m. ET, writing, “The start of today’s game has been delayed due to inclement weather. We are monitoring the situation and will provide an update as more information becomes available,” according to the team’s official announcement.
“Thunderstorms are currently focused north of the Beltway. A shower or two could still pass through or near Nationals Park, but probably won’t be heavy, and should be mainly before 8 p.m.,” wrote Capital Weather meteorologist Dan Stillman at 6:30 p.m..
The AccuWeather forecast for Nationals Park showed a thunderstorm watch in effect through 9 p.m., but also showed the stormes easing about an hour in advance of the watch’s expiration.
| CINCINNATI REDS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Chase Petty (RHP, #61) • 1-2, 4.50 ERA, 14 K | ||||||||
| August 7, 2026 • Nationals Park, Washington, DC • 6:45 PM EDT (Delay) | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Elly De La Cruz | SS | S | 19 | 53 | 21 | .276 | .857 |
| 2 | Sal Stewart | 1B | R | 25 | 87 | 12 | .257 | .820 |
| 3 | JJ Bleday | LF | L | 20 | 47 | 6 | .230 | .814 |
| 4 | Tyler Stephenson | C | R | 10 | 33 | 0 | .252 | .757 |
| 5 | Eugenio Suárez | DH | R | 14 | 40 | 0 | .202 | .668 |
| 6 | Héctor Rodríguez | CF | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .286 |
| 7 | Noelvi Marte | RF | R | 6 | 15 | 6 | .197 | .580 |
| 8 | Ke’Bryan Hayes | 3B | R | 4 | 7 | 1 | .139 | .436 |
| 9 | Matt McLain | 2B | R | 9 | 27 | 13 | .190 | .620 |
| Lineups subject to change. Game subject to weather delay. | ||||||||
What the Reds-Nationals Rain Delay Means
A delay is not a postponement. Under baseball’s rules, a delay keeps the game on today’s schedule, with the tarp coming off and play resuming from the exact spot where it stopped once the weather clears, and tickets purchased for tonight remain valid regardless of how long the wait runs, according to SeatGeek’s breakdown of MLB rain-delay policy. A postponement is a different animal entirely — the game gets wiped and rescheduled, often as part of a doubleheader, and authority over that call rests first with the home club before shifting to the umpiring crew once lineups are exchanged.
Neither the Reds nor the Nationals are chasing October. Cincinnati sits at 56-58, fourth in the National League Central, while Washington sits at 56-61, fourth in the NL East, according to theScore’s matchup page for Friday’s game. Both clubs are past the point of postseason relevance and into evaluation mode, sizing up young talent and workload management over the season’s final two months.
| WASHINGTON NATIONALS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Cade Cavalli (RHP, #24) • 8-5, 3.52 ERA, 133 K | ||||||||
| August 7, 2026 • Nationals Park, Washington, DC • 6:45 PM EDT (Delay) | ||||||||
| # | Player | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | CJ Abrams | DH | L | 28 | 88 | 21 | .287 | .913 |
| 2 | Abimelec Ortiz | 1B | L | 1 | 1 | 0 | .250 | .833 |
| 3 | Brady House | 3B | R | 8 | 27 | 1 | .228 | .683 |
| 4 | Daylen Lile | LF | L | 14 | 56 | 11 | .242 | .705 |
| 5 | Dylan Crews | RF | R | 9 | 25 | 7 | .221 | .671 |
| 6 | Harry Ford | C | R | 1 | 4 | 1 | .188 | .708 |
| 7 | Nasim Nuñez | SS | S | 1 | 33 | 40 | .233 | .589 |
| 8 | José Tena | 2B | L | 5 | 20 | 3 | .235 | .686 |
| 9 | Jacob Young | CF | R | 9 | 39 | 13 | .242 | .707 |
| Lineups subject to change. Game subject to weather delay. | ||||||||
How the Delay Affects Reds, Nationals Starting Pitchers
Chase Petty was set to start for Cincinnati carrying a 1-2 record and 4.50 ERA, opposite Washington’s Cade Cavalli, who entered at 8-5 with a 3.52 ERA. A long enough delay puts both arms in jeopardy of a shortened outing or scrapped start entirely, since managers typically won’t let a starter sit through an extended wait and then push through a full workload once play resumes. That dynamic accelerates bullpen usage for both sides, a real cost for two non-contending clubs trying to protect pitching depth already thinned by injuries on both rosters.
The severe thunderstorm watch blanketing the D.C. region ran until 9 p.m., with forecasters warning of gusts up to 65 mph in any storm that fired up. “There is a slight risk for damaging wind gusts up to 65 mph with any of the storms that develop,” 7News meteorologist Jordan Evans said, as quoted by WTOP’s coverage of the region’s storm threat. Evans added that the storms should clear the area after sunset.
Skies were expected to stay unsettled well past first pitch. Showers and thunderstorms remained likely mainly before 9 p.m., with an overnight low near 73 and a 60% chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service’s forecast for Washington. Saturday brings another round of heat and humidity, with highs near 91 and a 40% chance of afternoon storms arriving after 3 p.m. Fans and both clubs are watching the same radar, waiting for a green light that determines whether tonight’s game gets played as scheduled or bleeds into the weekend.
Why is the Reds-Nationals Game Delayed Today? When Will it Start?