Mark Zuckerman

Top five offseason storylines for the Nationals

October 15, 2016, 9:05pm

It happened much sooner than anyone around here wanted, but it's now officially the offseason in D.C., and there's nothing anybody can do to change that. This figures to be quite a compelling offseason for the Nationals, who will be motivated to do what they can to put themselves in a better position to advance deeper into October in 2017 than they did in 2016. At the same time, most of the necessary pieces are already in place. General manager Mike Rizzo doesn't have to do a whole lot this...

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Looking back at what went right during the NLDS

October 14, 2016, 7:44pm

Nationals

Looking back at what went right during the NLDS

There's been plenty of teeth-nashing, head-banging and face-palming in the last 36 hours over everything that went wrong for the Nationals in Games 4 and 5 of the National League Division Series. That's fine. Losses like this need to be analyzed and rehashed, with an eye on what could have been different. Let's take a moment this morning, though, to do the opposite exercise. Instead of looking at what went wrong in the NLDS, let's take a brief look at what went right. You may be surprised...

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Ramos has surgery for torn ACL, Nats say rehab is 6-8 months

October 14, 2016, 12:33pm

Nationals

Ramos has surgery for torn ACL, Nats say rehab is 6-8 months

Wilson Ramos had surgery to repair the torn ACL in his right knee today, a procedure that may not allow the soon-to-be free agent catcher to be ready for the start of the 2017 season. Ramos also had repairs done to the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus in his knee, the Nationals said. Rehab from the surgery, performed by orthopedist Robert Najarian, is expected to take six to eight months. The 29-year-old catcher was enjoying the best season of his career when he hurt himself leaping to...

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Revisiting all the key decisions in the Nationals' Game 5 loss

October 14, 2016, 7:54am

Nationals

The sting hasn't worn off yet, and it probably won't for quite some time. The Nationals are dispersing around the country today, going home for the winter instead of going to Chicago for a shot at the pennant. Game 5 of the 2016 National League Division Series was an all-timer, one they'll be talking about for years. Whether the Nationals themselves or their fans will ever be able to appreciate that remains to be seen. Certainly it's not something anyone wants to contemplate today. So much...

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Nationals left to process another early October exit

October 13, 2016, 11:00pm

Nationals

Jayson Werth has been through this before, more times than he'd like to remember. No two postseason elimination games are quite the same, and every season-ending loss hurts in its own way. This one, though, this one was ... well, what exactly was it? The final score said the Nationals lost 4-3 to the Dodgers in the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series. The winding path it took to get to that final moment, though, that was unlike anything Werth or others in a somber clubhouse...

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Nationals come up short again, lose 4-3 in epic Game 5

October 13, 2016, 8:43pm

Nationals

This one will require some time to fully process. The crowd of 43,936 that sat, stood, roared and groaned through every moment of Game 5 of the National League Division Series knows only that it just witnessed one of the wildest winner-take-all showdowns in baseball history. Someone will write a novel about this one, maybe on the 66-minute seventh inning alone, the critical frame of the game that featured more highs and lows than you could reasonably imagine. The only thing the fans that filed...

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Baker wants fans positive, says Strasburg won't pitch in NLCS

October 13, 2016, 2:02pm

Nationals

Baker wants fans positive, says Strasburg won't pitch in NLCS

Not that you'd expect anything less from him, but Nationals manager Dusty Baker is particularly relaxed and confident heading into Game 5 of the National League Division Series. And he's been that way all day. "To tell you the truth, I got up, said my prayers like I always do," Baker said when asked what his emotions were like today. "Got a cup of coffee. And then packed for Chicago." The Nationals, of course, will have no need to pack for Chicago if they lose tonight's do-or-die game...

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NLDS Game 5 lineups: Nats vs. Dodgers

October 13, 2016, 11:49am

Nationals

And so it has come to this. Game 5. Winner-take-all. One team heads to Chicago this weekend for the National League Championship Series. One team heads home for the winter, wondering what might have been. We've experienced this once before during this era of D.C. baseball. The final outcome is one that continues to haunt everyone. Tonight's result could go a long way toward pushing those bad memories aside. This is, quite simply, Max Scherzer's game. He's rested. He's ready. He was brought...

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Win or lose Game 5, Nationals have proven something this year

October 12, 2016, 4:32pm

Nationals

When they take the field shortly after 8 p.m. tonight, Max Scherzer leading the way, the Nationals will be facing far more than the Dodgers in a do-or-die baseball game. They'll be facing their own demons, the demons of two previous postseason failures, the demons of two other regular season failures during this five-year run of excellence, the demons of Washington's entire sports existence that have prevented any of the city's major pro clubs from so much as reaching the final four of its...

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Scherzer looks forward to the "biggest start of my life"

October 11, 2016, 10:11pm

Nationals

Scherzer looks forward to the "biggest start of my life"

LOS ANGELES - Max Scherzer didn't even pause to think about it when asked Tuesday night about the significance of what takes place Thursday night in D.C. "Yep, this is probably the biggest start of my career," he said. "Biggest start of my life. I've said that a handful of times throughout my career. How you handle that, going out there and using the emotion of that scenario, that everything's on the line ... I'm not gonna shy away from it. This is the biggest start of my...

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"It's win or go home - it's time to win"

October 11, 2016, 7:03pm

Nationals

"It's win or go home - it's time to win"

LOS ANGELES - It was the kind of sequence that championship clubs so often put together in October. Trailing late in a critical postseason game, facing one of the best in the sport, somehow finding a way to string together several quality at-bats and produce an inspiring rally. The Nationals did all that in the top of the seventh today at Dodger Stadium, and after Daniel Murphy's two-out, two-run single brought home the tying run, it was perfectly appropriate to wonder whether this would be...

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Late rally not quite enough for Nationals in tense Game 4 loss

October 11, 2016, 4:49pm

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - The seventh-inning rally, featuring so many quality at-bats and a little bit of good fortune, had brought the Nationals back from the brink, improbably giving them five runs off Clayton Kershaw and leaving the fate of Game 4 of the National League Division Series hanging in the balance. But the Dodgers weren't totally deflated, despite their best efforts to melt down in front of 49,617 of their fans. They clawed their way back, plating the decisive run in the bottom of the eighth...

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Strasburg has "a little discomfort" during bullpen session

October 11, 2016, 12:17pm

Nationals

Strasburg has "a little discomfort" during bullpen session

LOS ANGELES - As the Nationals attempt to finish off the National League Division Series this afternoon, Stephen Strasburg continues to attempt to return from an elbow injury and pitch for his team at some point later in the postseason. But Strasburg's road back to game action remains littered with speed bumps and potholes, and he hit one of them Monday while throwing in the bullpen at Dodger Stadium. Strasburg was scheduled to throw 35 pitches, building off the 25-pitch session he had three...

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NLDS Game 4 lineups: Nats at Dodgers

October 11, 2016, 10:23am

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals today have the opportunity to do something they've never done before, not to mention something no major pro sports franchise in D.C. has done in a long time. With a victory in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, they would advance to their first National League Championship Series. In doing so, they would become the first D.C. team to reach the semifinals of its sport since the 1998 Capitals went to the Stanley Cup Final. So no pressure today, guys....

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Starters still unnamed as countdown to Game 4 looms

October 10, 2016, 10:44pm

Nationals

Starters still unnamed as countdown to Game 4 looms

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals and Dodgers knew all along they'd be playing Game 4 of the National League Division Series this afternoon. They just didn't know who the starting pitcher for either team would be. Or what time the game would begin. As they woke up this morning, they still hadn't revealed the identities of the starting pitchers. But at least they knew the game time. Thanks to the Giants' dramatic 13-inning victory that ended at 2:45 a.m. EDT, Game 4 at Dodger Stadium will begin at...

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Once a liability, Nationals bullpen has led the way in NLDS

October 10, 2016, 6:20pm

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - Shawn Kelley likes to walk around the clubhouse at Nationals Park wearing a T-shirt bearing a simple message: "Relievers are people, too." Too often the guys who occupy big league bullpens are anonymous to the masses, a revolving door of arms brought into games only when the higher-profile starter can't do his job. The game, though, is changing. Bullpens matter more than ever, and doubly so in the postseason, when it's not uncommon to see managers rely on relief corps to...

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Nats ride early offense, then bullpen to 8-3 victory in Game 3

October 10, 2016, 4:21pm

Nationals

Nats ride early offense, then bullpen to 8-3 victory in Game 3

LOS ANGELES - They played a four-hour game Sunday afternoon in cold, windy D.C., then flew across the country, then woke up and played another four-hour game Monday afternoon in warm, sun-baked L.A. But this is the postseason, and you do whatever is required of you this time of the year, physical and mental toll and sleep patterns cast aside for the moment. And right now, the Nationals are doing whatever is asked of them in an attempt to win the first playoff series in club history. Score four...

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Game 4 starters still undecided by both clubs

October 10, 2016, 11:47am

Nationals

Game 4 starters still undecided by both clubs

LOS ANGELES - They of course still need to play Game 3 this afternoon, but the Nationals know that no matter the outcome they will be playing Game 4 of the National League Division Series here at Dodger Stadium sometime Tuesday (either 5 p.m. or 8 p.m. EDT, depending on the status of the Cubs-Giants series). So the Nationals will need a starting pitcher for Game 4. They just haven't revealed the identity of that person yet. Conventional wisdom says Joe Ross would get the nod, as originally...

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With surprise homer, Lobaton gets monkey off Nationals' backs

October 09, 2016, 2:54pm

Nationals

The reaction the moment Jose Lobaton made contact wasn't joyous. There was no instantaneous celebration in the Nationals dugout, nor in the batter's box when Lobaton connected with Rich Hill's 1-1 curveball in the bottom of the fourth inning and sent it soaring toward left field. Any other day, the Nationals would have been jumping up and down and Lobaton would have been flipping his bat before a triumphant trip around the bases. But with a persistent 25 mph wind blowing in from left field...

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Lobaton's blast, bullpen's dominance help Nats win Game 2

October 09, 2016, 1:04pm

Nationals

Lobaton's blast, bullpen's dominance help Nats win Game 2

It had to come eventually. The Nationals simply couldn't keep squandering every single scoring opportunity they had in the postseason, right? No, there actually is enough talent in this lineup to deliver big hits in big spots. But who in their wildest dreams expected the guy to deliver the biggest hit of them all to be Jose Lobaton? The longtime backup catcher, pressed into a high-profile role after teammate Wilson Ramos tore his ACL during the final week of the regular season, indeed came...