Mark Zuckerman

Which pre-2019 Nats team should have won the World Series?

April 16, 2020, 7:50pm

What's the best team in Nationals history? The one that actually won the World Series. Duh. But it's worth remembering the 2019 Nats only went 93-69 during the regular season. Four previous clubs won more games than that: the 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 clubs. Those four teams, of course, lost in the National League Division Series, often in agonizing fashion. And so they're forever viewed as underachievers. Here's the question, though: Were any of those teams good enough to win the World...

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Why the Nats' team Zoom chat captivated us so much

April 15, 2020, 7:26pm

Nationals

Why the Nats' team Zoom chat captivated us so much

What would you have thought if someone told you a month ago you'd be spending four hours on the night of April 14 watching two dozen players, coaches and others from the 2019 Nationals hold a video conference call with each other while (sort of) re-watching Game 7 of the World Series? Or that it would be the most enjoyable thing you've watched in the last month? In these strangest of times, it's the strangest of entertainment that is captivating us. And, more importantly, bringing us all...

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Wednesday morning Nats Q&A

April 14, 2020, 7:52pm

Nationals

Well, we've completed the re-watch of the entire 2019 postseason. And it was capped off last night not only with the reairing of Game 7 of the World Series on MASN, but a once-in-a-lifetime Zoom chat with about two dozen Nationals players, coaches and broadcasters. If you missed any or all of it, the full four-hour video is still up. Major props to Ryan Zimmerman and Dan Kolko for putting the whole thing together, and for helping to raise more than $200,000 for the just-formed Pros For Heroes,...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 7

April 13, 2020, 7:35pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 7

(Note: You can watch Game 7 of the World Series tonight on MASN at 7 p.m.) There's a strange anticipation to Game 7 of the World Series that doesn't exist any other day of the year. It's the ultimate game, and so there's excitement for the prospect of that. But it's also guaranteed to be the final game of the year, so there's a tinge of sadness that comes with that realization. No matter what happens, no matter who wins, there will not be another ballgame to come after this. The Nationals...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 6

April 12, 2020, 8:14pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 6

(Note: You can watch Game 6 of the World Series tonight on MASN at 7 p.m. Eastern time.) Man, oh, man, did a lot of stuff happen in this game. I mean, this one game alone included Alex Bregman carrying his bat to first base after homering, then Juan Soto responding by doing the exact same thing. It had Stephen Strasburg tipping his pitches in the top of the first, then making a correction and pitching so well he actually took the mound for the bottom of the ninth. It had Adam Eaton hitting a...

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Sunday morning tidbits

April 11, 2020, 7:34pm

Nationals

A random assortment of tidbits for you on this Sunday morning with no baseball ... * We put the World Series re-watch on hold for a couple of days so we could line up the final two games with MASN's rebroadcast schedule. So look for my re-watch article about Game 6 on Monday morning, with MASN showing the game at 7 p.m. Then I'll have my re-watch article about Game 7 on Tuesday morning, in advance of the telecast at 7 p.m. Hope you've been enjoying the entire experience all over again. * As...

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Nationals employee tested positive, completed quarantine

April 10, 2020, 10:45am

Nationals

A Nationals employee who was with the club during spring training in West Palm Beach tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home, has completed quarantine and is now symptom-free, general manager Mike Rizzo revealed today during his regular, weekly conference call with reporters. The male employee, whose name was not revealed, tested positive "well after we shut down the facilities in West Palm Beach and D.C.," Rizzo said. "And fortunately he's home and resting and doing well. His...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 5

April 09, 2020, 8:51pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 5

As fans began entering Nationals Park for Game 5 of the World Series, a few thoughts probably were foremost on everyone's minds ... * The home team had to win one of these games eventually, right? * The fact that Max Scherzer was starting for the Nationals should help make that happen, right? No. And no. Not even close. The home team would not win on this night, nor on any forthcoming night (though nobody could have realized that at the time). And more troublesome, Scherzer would not start...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 4

April 08, 2020, 8:58pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 4

If Game 3 of the World Series was the most frustrating four hours of the Nationals' entire postseason run, what was Game 4? Awfully frustrating in its own right, that's what it was. There weren't as many squandered opportunities at the plate as there were the previous night, but there were more than a few. And though the final score (an 8-1 Astros victory) was lopsided, the game was very much there for the taking in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, perhaps the key stretch of...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 3

April 07, 2020, 8:06pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 3

Has there ever been more excitement and anticipation for a Nationals game than there was on the evening of Oct. 25, 2019, when the World Series came to D.C. for the first time since 1933? This was an event some weren't entirely sure would ever take place. Then throw in the not-insignificant fact the Nats went into Game 3 up two games to none on the supposedly superior Astros, and you had the perfect convergence of joy, intensity, nostalgia and celebration on South Capitol Street. The whole...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 2

April 06, 2020, 8:25pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 2

Honest opinion: What was your reasonable, best-case scenario for the Nationals in the first two games of the World Series? Maybe you had a pie-in-the-sky dream of snatching both games from the Astros and returning to D.C. flying high, but realistically you just wanted to see them win one of two on the road. Especially when those two games were started by Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander. Right? Well, after beating Cole in Game 1, the Nats returned to Minute Maid Park the next night for Game 2...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 1

April 05, 2020, 9:36pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 1

The Nationals and their fans waited a long time to reach the World Series for the first time. So, really, who was going to complain about the extra six days they had to wait after sweeping the National League Championship Series before finally taking the field in Houston for their first appearance in the Fall Classic? The long layoff may have been a dominant storyline entering the World Series, but it sure didn't hold up for long. By the end of their tense Game 1 victory - 5-4 over the...

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What matters to you: More games or fewer changes?

April 04, 2020, 9:00pm

Nationals

What matters to you: More games or fewer changes?

I feel like I've already said this countless times over the last three weeks, but let's state it again for the record: As much as we all want to project when the baseball season (or any other sport's season) will begin, it's pointless right now. There's simply no way to know with any certainty when the world will be safe enough for sporting events and the mass gatherings they draw. That hasn't stopped a lot of folks from trying to figure this out. Some insist it can happen by June. Some...

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Union creates fund for non-roster players in big league camps

April 03, 2020, 6:51pm

Nationals

Union creates fund for non-roster players in big league camps

The agreement struck last week between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association ensured all players on 40-man rosters would be paid a partial salary even if there's no 2020 season. But what about longtime big league players who aren't currently on 40-man rosters? That group was taken care of Friday when the union voted to establish an assistance fund for players with major league experience who were in spring training as non-roster invitees. The fund will pay anywhere from $5,000...

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Friday morning Nats Q&A

April 02, 2020, 8:24pm

Nationals

First things first: Yes, we will start up the World Series re-watch soon. Just taking a little break after the National League Championship Series (but not as long as the six-day break the Nationals actually took). In the meantime, this feels like a good opportunity to chat with all of you. Obviously, these are not normal circumstances for baseball - but more importantly, for the world. We're trying to stick to baseball around here, but it's impossible not to acknowledge the larger...

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Lamenting what should have been a glorious home opener

April 01, 2020, 7:32pm

Nationals

Lamenting what should have been a glorious home opener

When opening day came and went last week with no baseball, we all shed a tear and wondered when we'll finally get a chance to celebrate the most glorious unofficial holiday on the North American calendar. In the week since, we've mostly turned our attention back to the far more important matter affecting the entire globe right now, the ramifications of which are just now really setting in for many here. We know instinctively that the Major League Baseball season should be a week old now, and...

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Nationals trivia quiz: Postseason

March 31, 2020, 8:15pm

Nationals

After clinching their first National League pennant in October, the Nationals had to wait six days before taking the field again for Game 1 of the World Series. Our break between re-watches of the NL Championship Series and World Series won't be that long, but we are going to take a couple of days off before diving back into the epic, seven-game showdown with the Astros. In the meantime, here's the second installment of Nats Trivia. (If you missed the first one last week, on the history of...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 4

March 30, 2020, 9:10pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 4

They packed themselves into Nationals Park, nearly 44,000 strong, for a party 86 years in the making. They came to watch a major league team from Washington win a pennant for the first time since 1933. And when the home ballclub stormed out to a 7-0 lead after one inning, all that was left for everyone to do was count down the outs until it was official. Game 4 of the National League Championship Series was not a simple, by-the-book, three-hour party, though. It wound up including a couple of...

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Florida complex closed to Nats while serving as testing site

March 30, 2020, 11:14am

Nationals

Florida complex closed to Nats while serving as testing site

The few Nationals players and staffers who remain in West Palm Beach, Fla., are no longer allowed to use the club's spring training complex. FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches has become a testing site for the coronavirus, according to Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, which has forced the 13 players and handful of staffers who had been utilizing the facility to stay in their respective homes and proceed with individual workouts and training on their own. A clause in the working contract...

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Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 3

March 29, 2020, 8:21pm

Nationals

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 3

Postseason games at Nationals Park, generally speaking, have not been celebratory events. They're usually loaded with tension, usually involve contests that go right down to the ninth inning (or more), and usually see the home team desperate to win and keep its season alive. That was the typical scene for the first 14 postseason games played on South Capitol Street, beginning with Game 3 of the 2012 National League Division Series and running straight through Game 4 of the 2019 NLDS. The...