Mark Zuckerman

Well, we've just about reached the home stretch of a most unusual, and most disappointing, season. This hasn't played out how the Nationals hoped, not even close. They're 18-29 with 13 games to go, so they'd have to win out just to finish with a winning record for the ninth consecutive year. That seems ... unlikely to happen. Plenty has happened, though. Most of it not very good. Some of it encouraging, though. Have we seen enough to get a sense of what might be in store in 2021? That's...

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As vets struggle, rookie Nats relievers making their case

September 16, 2020, 1:42pm

Nationals

As vets struggle, rookie Nats relievers making their case

If you're looking for silver linings in this mostly disappointing baseball season, it's not hard to find them in the Nationals bullpen. Just maybe not from the well-known names you were expecting when this season began two months ago. General manager Mike Rizzo built a relief corps that was supposed to be carried on the shoulders of three veterans with considerable late-inning experience: Daniel Hudson, Sean Doolittle and Will Harris. Now, as the season winds down and thoughts start to turn...

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Nats trying to figure out pitching plan for doubleheaders

September 16, 2020, 8:34am

Nationals

Nats trying to figure out pitching plan for doubleheaders

Though they haven't finalized plans quite yet, the Nationals have a sense of how they hope to get through their upcoming stretch of eight games in five days. The likely answer: Wil Crowe, Ben Braymer and a lot of relievers. With three doubleheaders in five days (Friday and Sunday against the Marlins, Tuesday against the Phillies), the Nationals will need eight different starting pitchers. Given the current lack of healthy depth at their disposal, they don't really have eight viable...

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Game 47 lineups: Nats at Rays

September 16, 2020, 7:00am

Nationals

How do the Nationals avoid a repeat of Tuesday night's lifeless, 6-1 loss to the Rays? They need to get a much better pitching performance and they need to hit. Obviously. On the mound, it's up to Austin Voth to somehow make the leap into a guy who can actually get hitters out twice in a game. We know he can do it the first time through the order. It's time for him to show he can do it the second time as well. At the plate, it's up to this lineup to not get freaked out by the Rays'...

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Another short start for SÃ¡nchez, another loss for Nats (updated)

September 15, 2020, 5:49pm

Nationals

Another short start for SÃ¡nchez, another loss for Nats (updated)

Much as he probably wishes he could give a couple of his struggling starters the season's final two weeks off, the cold, hard truth is that Davey Martinez has no choice but to keep giving them the ball every five days. The Nationals' schedule to close out this agonizing season - 15 games in 13 days, including an upcoming stretch of eight games in five days - simply won't allow for anyone to shut it down early, not unless there's an injury involved. And even if there was, the Nats would be...

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Rainey is latest Nats reliever to land on IL with flexor strain

September 15, 2020, 1:15pm

Nationals

Rainey is latest Nats reliever to land on IL with flexor strain

Tanner Rainey, one of the Nationals' brightest lights during a mostly dismal season, may not pitch again this season. Rainey, who already had been sidelined over the weekend with forearm soreness, was placed on the 10-day injured list today with a right flexor strain. Though manager Davey Martinez didn't completely rule out the possibility of the reliever returning, with only 13 days remaining in this short season there's hardly enough time (or motivation) to make it back. "Right now,...

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Game 46 lineups: Nats at Rays (Rainey to IL)

September 15, 2020, 11:32am

Nationals

Game 46 lineups: Nats at Rays (Rainey to IL)

The Nationals' final road trip of 2020 begins tonight in St. Petersburg, Fla., where they'll face the Rays in the first of a quick two-game series. It's a rematch of last week's two-gamer in D.C., both of those games won by the Nats. But the challenge may be greater this time. For one thing, the Nationals just lost their best reliever. Tanner Rainey has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right flexor strain, a move that is retroactive to Sept. 12. Rainey had pitched very well...

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Nats' final road trip of 2020 begins with another roster change

September 14, 2020, 1:30pm

Nationals

Nats' final road trip of 2020 begins with another roster change

This one's hard to believe, but it's true: The Nationals today begin their final road trip of the season. With their first and only trek to Florida to face the Rays and Marlins, the Nats are wrapping up the most difficult part of their shortened schedule from a health-and-safety standpoint. They've managed to travel to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Atlanta so far and avoid any positive coronavirus tests. Now they finally venture south to the Sunshine State. The Nationals were...

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Roster attrition leaves Nats in tough spot with two weeks to go

September 13, 2020, 7:41pm

Nationals

Roster attrition leaves Nats in tough spot with two weeks to go

Though they don't want to admit it publicly, the Nationals have reached the point in their season in which the playoffs are no longer a realistic goal. Sunday's 8-4 loss to the Braves left them at 17-28, a whopping 10 games behind Atlanta in the National League East and five games behind the Giants for the NL's eighth and final postseason berth. To finish .500, the Nats would need to somehow go 13-2 down the stretch. A sub-.500 record might still be good enough to squeak in as the final wild...

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Martinez leaves Scherzer in, pays the price in 8-4 loss (updated)

September 13, 2020, 12:12pm

Nationals

Martinez leaves Scherzer in, pays the price in 8-4 loss (updated)

Max Scherzer expended a lot to get through five innings today against the toughest lineup he's faced in 2020. Though the Nationals ace had some of the best pure stuff he's had all season, the Braves wore him down (like they've done to so many opposing pitchers) and left him with a pitch count of 104 as he walked off the mound at the end of the fifth. And once his team scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead, Davey Martinez could've made the decision to pull Scherzer and...

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Rizzo "optimistic" about a new deal with Martinez

September 13, 2020, 9:01am

Nationals

Rizzo "optimistic" about a new deal with Martinez

The Nationals and Davey Martinez have been in active discussions about a new contract, and general manager Mike Rizzo is "optimistic" a deal will be struck to keep his World Series-winning manager with the organization beyond the 2021 season. "We've been in conversations with his representation, and I feel optimistic that we will get something done," Rizzo said today during a Zoom session with reporters before the Nats' series finale against the Braves. "It's something that I want to...

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Game 45 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

September 13, 2020, 6:41am

Nationals

When the 2020 regular season ends two weeks from today - How crazy is that? - and we try to find answers for what went wrong for the Nationals, it might be easy to point out the heartbreakers they lost to the Braves as especially low points. To be sure, there have been some really tough losses in there, a couple of blown saves by Daniel Hudson and a couple more one-run losses this week. And yet, if they can win this afternoon behind Max Scherzer, the Nationals will have split the season series...

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After disastrous ninth, Nats find a way to win in 12th (updated)

September 11, 2020, 6:58pm

Nationals

After disastrous ninth, Nats find a way to win in 12th (updated)

They already played this game Thursday night. Seriously, tonight's contest on South Capitol Street felt like a perfect carbon copy of the one that preceded it, the Nationals jumping out to an early five-run lead, their starter fading in the middle innings, their bullpen asked to hang on for dear life the rest of the way. It didn't work out in the series opener against the Braves. It did work this time. But only after a ghastly blown save in the top of the ninth forced a game-winning rally in...

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For HernÃ¡ndez, difficult journey to majors was worth it

September 11, 2020, 11:50am

Nationals

For HernÃ¡ndez, difficult journey to majors was worth it

Baseball clubs sign 29-year-old Cuban defectors with the intention of playing them in the major leagues as soon as possible. The Nationals, though, knew they weren't getting a sure thing when they signed Yadiel HernÃ¡ndez four years ago for the relatively benign sum of $200,000. The Nats liked the outfielder's left-handed swing and hoped he might make it someday. But they weren't touting him to be an immediate contributor the way other Cuban players who received millions of dollars were...

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Game 43 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

September 11, 2020, 10:45am

Nationals

After a difficult night at the ballpark, the Nationals return for the second game of this four-game weekend series against the Braves, hoping for better results this time. As always, they'll have to find a way to keep Ronald AcuÃ±a Jr. and Freddie Freeman in the yard. The good news: Erick Fedde managed to keep Freeman in the yard last week when he faced him in Atlanta. The bad news: AcuÃ±a led off the game with a homer off him, the first of three homers Fedde surrendered in 3 2/3...

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Doolittle's return halted by oblique injury

September 10, 2020, 9:25pm

Nationals

Doolittle's return halted by oblique injury

Sean Doolittle spent weeks trying to rediscover the form that made him one of the best relievers in baseball. And then just as he seemed to find it, the Nationals left-hander suffered an injury that could bring an abrupt end to his season. Doolittle injured his right oblique muscle throwing a pitch in the top of the ninth during Thursday's 7-6 loss to the Braves, manager Davey Martinez revealed after the game. Though the club didn't know the severity of it in the immediate aftermath,...

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Nats again can't keep Braves in the yard in 7-6 loss (updated)

September 10, 2020, 5:47pm

Nationals

Nats again can't keep Braves in the yard in 7-6 loss (updated)

There appear to be two ways to beat the Braves, neither simple. You can try to outslug one of the most powerful lineups in baseball. Or you can try to keep Ronald AcuÃ±a Jr. and Freddie Freeman in the ballpark. Again, neither of these is a simple task, as the Nationals have painfully learned over the last week. And because they once again couldn't keep AcuÃ±a and Freeman in the yard, and couldn't turn a good night at the plate into a great night at the plate, they suffered another loss to...

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Martinez, Nats coaches to wear No. 21 in honor of Clemente

September 10, 2020, 11:44am

Nationals

Martinez, Nats coaches to wear No. 21 in honor of Clemente

During his 16 seasons as a major league player, Davey Martinez wore five different jersey numbers: 1, 3, 14, 17 and 30. And during his decade-plus as a coach and manager, Martinez has worn No. 4. Tonight, when he steps out of the dugout at Nationals Park and lines up for the national anthem before their series opener against the Braves, he'll finally have the No. 21 on his back. With Major League Baseball celebrating Roberto Clemente Day and granting permission for players and other uniformed...

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Game 42 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

September 10, 2020, 10:57am

Nationals

How do you stop a team that just scored 29 runs last night? By sending your winless No. 5 starter with an 8.26 ERA to the mound, obviously. On paper, tonight's matchup does not appear to favor the Nationals. Austin Voth is pitching, still seeking his first win in his eighth start of the season. And he's facing a Braves lineup that just set a modern National League record last night with 29 runs in a blowout win over the Marlins, a game in which they actually didn't score in either the first...

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What to make of the Nationals' sudden resurgence

September 09, 2020, 6:57pm

Nationals

They fell to 12 games under .500, their low point in what to date had been a dismal season that was slipping away before their eyes. And then something inexplicable flipped the switch and they started winning and started looking like they were actually enjoying themselves again for the first time all year. It happened in late May 2019, and we know how that turned out in the end. Now it's starting to happen in early September 2020, and the Nationals can't help but wonder how it will end this...