Blake Butera

Decision cost by category

Record

71-76

wins-losses

Games

153

with decision data

Lineup

3.79 R 0.03 R/G

Bunts

2.56 R 0.02 R/G

IBBs

2.43 R 0.02 R/G

Relievers

36.46 R 0.25 R/G

Season to date · categories cover different scopes and aren't summed into a total — reliever selection is high-leverage spots only; the Relievers leaderboard shows a rolling 30-day window.

Cost by category

Washington Nationals cost themselves 3.79 R from lineup decisions, 36.46 R from high-leverage reliever selection, 2.56 R from bunts, 2.43 R from intentional walks.

LINEUP DECISIONS · 3.79 R RELIEVER SELECTION · 36.46 R BUNTS · 2.56 R INTENTIONAL WALKS · 2.43 R

Season to date · shown per category, not summed — reliever selection is high-leverage spots only (the Relievers board uses a rolling 30-day window).

How this compares — league ranking

Lineup decisions

Blake Butera ranks 18th of 30 managers in MLB.

1 Dave Roberts LAD 2.08 R
2 John Schneider TOR 2.33 R
3 Craig Stammen SD 2.34 R
…
18 Blake Butera WSH 3.79 R
…
28 Carlos Mendoza NYM 5.24 R
29 Joe Espada HOU 5.45 R
30 Will Venable CWS 5.73 R

Bunt decisions

Blake Butera ranks 13th of 30 managers in MLB.

1 Aaron Boone NYY 0.36 R
2 Don Kelly PIT 0.90 R
3 A.J. Hinch DET 0.93 R
…
13 Blake Butera WSH 2.56 R
…
28 Pat Murphy MIL 4.74 R
29 John Schneider TOR 5.31 R
30 Kevin Cash TB 6.33 R

Intentional walks

Blake Butera ranks 9th of 30 managers in MLB.

1 Joe Espada HOU 0.71 R
2 Clayton McCullough MIA 1.37 R
3 A.J. Hinch DET 1.44 R
…
9 Blake Butera WSH 2.43 R
…
28 Pat Murphy MIL 5.29 R
29 Dave Roberts LAD 6.33 R
30 John Schneider TOR 6.59 R

Game-by-game breakdown

Last 7 in tenure · Δ R/G

Sep 16 vs PHI L Zack Wheeler 0-3 +5.47

⚐ Lineup mishaps cost ~3.24 R

Sep 15 vs PHI W Cristopher Sánchez 6-3 +2.26

⚐ Pulled too late cost ~2.26 R

Sep 13 vs LAA W Grayson Rodriguez 6-5 +0.42 Sep 12 vs LAA W Walbert Ureña 6-5 +0.57 Sep 11 vs LAA W Yusei Kikuchi 4-3 +0.97 Sep 9 @ SD L Walker Buehler 2-9 +3.97

⚐ Lineup mishaps cost ~2.36 R

Sep 8 @ SD L Casey Mize 4-5 +1.08

⚐ Pulled too late cost ~1.08 R

Most costly decisions

Flagged · click for detail

SEP 16 · vs PHI +5.47 R/G

Lineup mishaps cost ~3.24 R

vs Zack Wheeler · L 0-3

SEP 9 · @ SD +3.97 R/G

Lineup mishaps cost ~2.36 R

vs Walker Buehler · L 2-9

SEP 15 · vs PHI +2.26 R/G

Pulled too late cost ~2.26 R

vs Cristopher Sánchez · W 6-3

SEP 8 · @ SD +1.08 R/G

Pulled too late cost ~1.08 R

vs Casey Mize · L 4-5

Tenure summary

Blake Butera manages the Washington Nationals, with their current tenure beginning March 26, 2026.

Through 153 games of decision data, their tactical decisions cost the team an estimated 8.78 R across lineup construction, bunt strategy, and intentional walks. Lineup decisions accounted for 3.79 R of that — the largest single category.

The team's 71-76 record places them 5 games under .500. Butera has called 19 sacrifice bunts (2.56 R in expected runs). Intentional walks have been issued 14 times for an expected cost of 2.43 R.

Deep analytical views

The overview above is the SEO surface. Each link below opens the interactive analyzer for that decision type — sortable lists, per-game breakdowns, and the underlying numbers.

Keep reading

How this is calculated

Stats reflect only Blake Butera's tenure as Nationals manager — events from before the start date or after the end date are excluded. Lineup cost is the difference between an optimized batting order and the one actually used, summed across regular-season games. Bunt and intentional-walk costs come from per-decision run-expectancy deltas. Pitching cost is the sum of pull-timing and reliever-selection runs lost. Costs are shown as a season total and a per-game rate (R/G); rankings compare this tenure's per-game rate against the league-wide distribution of current and recent manager tenures. RunsLeft does not assign letter grades — the costs and rankings are descriptive analytics.

Read the full methodology. Career managing history coming in v2 with Lahman integration.