It will be interim GM Mike DeBartolo who leads the club through this defining stretch and even runs the Nats' draft room on July 13 and 14. All of these challenges and crosscurrents combine for a series of obvious questions: where do the Nationals stand right now as an organization and what they must do to get back to the long stretch of success that culminated in the championship campaign of 2019?

One week before they select the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 MLB draft, the Washington Nationals fired president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez, a rare housecleaning on the eve of arguably the most important time of year for baseball-operations departments.

There is no tried and true way to "win" the MLB draft. Every team always says it simply picks the best player available, and even those typically need years of training and reps before reaching the majors.