NEW YORK – The Nationals can’t get out of New York City fast enough. They entered this afternoon’s finale against the Yankees 0-5 in the Big Apple this year after being swept by the Mets in a three-game series at Citi Field in June and dropping the first two games of this set at Yankee Stadium.

And they will remain winless in New York until their next trip to Queens in September after an 11-2 blowout loss, their third straight to get swept by the Yankees and their fifth straight defeat overall.

Just about everything that could have gone wrong for the Nationals today did. They couldn’t manufacture runs. They couldn’t prevent the Yankees from scoring. And they suffered injuries along the way, adding salt to an already wide-open wound.

If the power differential between these two teams wasn’t on display enough earlier this week, it definitely was in this finale.

The Yankees entered today with a major league-leading 219 home runs, while the Nats only had a measly 125 for the third-fewest. New York had already hit four to score eight of their 15 runs over the first two games. Washington had scored four of their six runs on one swing, Jacob Young’s ninth-inning grand slam Monday night.

The Orioles will switch to a six-man rotation after Tyler Wells is placed on the expanded roster next month.

Wells will become part of a unit that includes Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich. The Orioles chose to start Wells rather than move him to the bullpen.

“If everybody can stay healthy, that would be great,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino.

“It’s good. It gives Dean an extra day, it gives Tomo an extra day. Nobody will pitch on regular rest the rest of the year.”

Bradish responded favorably to his first start beyond an injury rehab assignment last night since June 2024.

The Orioles are tampering with their roster again, with two more players coming in and two more going out.

Roansy Contreras was activated from the taxi squad and had his contract selected from Triple-A Norfolk, and he’ll work in bulk relief tonight, his first major league appearance since Sept. 29, 2024 with the Angels. He posted a 3.73 ERA in 28 appearances (14 starts) with Norfolk.

Infielder Emmanuel Rivera also had his contract selected.

To create room, the Orioles optioned Yaramil Hiraldo, who was charged with three runs last night in 1 1/3 innings and has a 5.65 ERA in 12 games, and they designated infielder Vimael Machín for assignment. They also transferred pitcher Brandon Young (hamstring) to the 60-day injured list, which ends his season.

Contreras will be the 64^th player used by the Orioles this season, two more than the franchise record set in 2021.

Kyle Bradish has stopped by the Camden Yards clubhouse in between rehab starts, but yesterday was different.

Teammates looked across the room and saw their starting pitcher.

They waited a long time for it.

Bradish made his return from elbow reconstructive surgery and struck out 10 batters in six innings. He allowed a pair of solo home runs among his four hits, and he didn’t issue a walk. The sinker was on point.

Having Bradish on the roster again is exactly what this club needs, no matter the outcome.

Kyle Bradish remembered his move. The pinpoint control was evident before his first pitch.

Bradish led the Orioles onto the field tonight, turned sideways as he jumped over the first base line and pounded his fist into his glove after landing. He was starting a major league game for the first time in 438 days, and fans didn’t let the moment pass without an ovation.

The Red Sox deviated a little from their assigned parts in the feel-good story of the returning ace who made it through elbow surgery and an extensive rehab. Bradish struck out eight batters over the first four innings but also surrendered a pair of leadoff home runs.

The velocity was good. The arm was healthy. The rotation immediately got better, for this year and in 2026. Nothing else mattered as much.

Bradish completed six innings on 81 pitches and struck out 10 in the Orioles’ 5-0 loss before an announced crowd of 14,776 at Camden Yards. He allowed two runs and four hits and didn’t issue a walk.

The Orioles summoned right-hander Roansy Contreras from Triple-A Norfolk today and placed him on the taxi squad.

The visit will last more than 24 hours.

Interim manager Tony Mansolino needs a starter for Wednesday night and said Contreras is going to pitch “a good amount.” The exact role is undetermined, but another roster move is lurking.

Contreras could start or work in bulk relief behind an opener.

“A lot will kind of depend on how we go through today,” Mansolino said.

Another bullpen move is coming for the Orioles.

The club announced today that it claimed right-hander Shawn Dubin on waivers from the Astros. He hasn’t reported.

Dubin, 29, made 23 appearances this season and posted a 5.61 ERA and 1.481 WHIP in 25 2/3 innings. Three of his last four outings came against the Orioles, when he allowed nine runs in four innings. His ERA was 1.33 on June 20 and he didn’t pitch again for Houston until Aug. 12.

The Astros designated Dubin for assignment on Saturday. He’s out of minor league options and has registered a 4.95 ERA and 1.550 WHIP in 57 games over three seasons.

The Orioles already have used a franchise-record 63 players this season. The old record was 62 in 2021.

The Washington Nationals, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, announced their 2026 schedule on Tuesday, highlighted by a home-opening series vs. the Dodgers, the traditional July 4 game in the nation’s capital, three games with the Yankees to close out the first half and more. Washington will begin the 2026 season on the road against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, March 26 – the earliest start to the season in Nationals history (2005-pres.) before opening the home slate against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ticket Plans for the 2026 season are on sale now and guarantee access to Opening Day. Fans who purchase by Sept. 1 can lock in early bird pricing and receive free tickets to home games in September 2025. More information is available at nats.com/Ticketfinder.

Following the opening series in Chicago, which marks the second time the Nationals have opened a season at Wrigley Field, the Club will travel to Philadelphia to face the Phillies for three games before returning to Washington, D.C. for the home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 3. The Nationals and Dodgers will square off in a three-game series over Easter Weekend before the St. Louis Cardinals come to the nation’s capital for three games (April 6-8) to complete the homestand.

The annual Beltway Series against the Baltimore Orioles will be played across two weekends, May 15-17 at Nationals Park and June 26-28 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Nationals will host the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game weekend series Friday through Sunday, July 3-5, highlighted by the traditional Fourth of July game at Nationals Park. That series marks the start of a nine-game homestand that will include a series against the Houston Astros (July 6-8) and a weekend series against the New York Yankees (July 10-12) – the final series before the 2026 All-Star break.

Washington’s first series following the break will start in Sacramento against the Athletics, July 17-19, followed by a three-game series at Colorado, July 20-22. The Nationals will return home on Friday, July 24 for a six-game homestand against the Arizona Diamondbacks (July 24-26) and Toronto Blue Jays (July 27-29).

The Orioles will begin the 2026 season at home for the second time in three seasons after five consecutive road openers.

Major League Baseball released the schedules earlier today and the Orioles host the Twins on March 26. The teams get an off-day and play two more games before the Rangers arrive for three.

The first road trip takes the Orioles to Pittsburgh from April 3-5 and Chicago to face the White Sox from April 6-8.

The All-Star break is July 13-16, followed by road games in Houston and Boston.

The Orioles end the season in New York again, with the final game played on Sept. 27. The last homestand brings the Brewers and Blue Jays to Baltimore.

Tomoyuki Sugano didn’t allow a run today while he was on the mound and the Orioles kept manufacturing them.

They were able to control everything except the weather.

Sugano shut out the Mariners over 5 1/3 innings before a series of storms forced a stoppage that lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes in the Orioles’ 5-3 victory before an announced crowd of 14,083 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are 55-66 overall and 7-14 in rubber games. They went 5-1 against the Mariners and are 13-5 since the beginning of 2023.

The 5-0 lead in the fifth inning represented the most runs scored since Aug. 6 in Philadelphia. They came on a wild pitch, double steal, single, double and sacrifice fly.

“Steal bases I guess, I don’t know,” first-round pick Ike Irish answered with a laugh. 

“Steal bases, the first thing out of the catcher’s mouth, huh?” I replied with a chuckle. I had asked Irish, the No. 19 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, if he had any goals for the remainder of his first professional season. 

“Hit the ball hard and steal bases,” he doubled down. “And outside of that, have fun.” 

That element won’t be missing for MLB Pipeline’s second-best Orioles prospect. The catcher/outfielder/first-baseman hybrid is keeping things light after being drafted just a few months ago. 

It’s the message the organization has sent him, too. 

The promotions of Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers to the majors reduced the number of Orioles storylines that create interest over the final month-plus of a hugely disappointing season.

The ball is in Kyle Bradish’s court. And his right hand.

Bradish starts tonight for the first time since June 14, 2024, when he came out of the game after five innings and only 74 pitches. He tossed six scoreless innings with only one hit allowed in his previous outing. Something was wrong.

We knew. Bradish received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow five months early in an attempt to avoid reconstructive elbow surgery. Each start, each pitch, brought its own drama.

How long could he last?

Tomoyuki Sugano became the latest Orioles pitcher tonight to face the same team in back-to-back starts. Dean Kremer did it against the Astros and went from tossing seven scoreless innings in Houston to allowing three home runs in the first inning at Camden Yards.

Kremer is a member of the two-timers club, also making consecutive appearances against the Twins in May and producing worse results in the rematch.

"That’s one of the scheduling challenges everyone has to face," he said over the weekend.

Sugano experienced it and was burned twice by the long ball in the Orioles’ 4-3 loss to the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 15,740 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles couldn’t convert leadoff doubles in the seventh and eighth innings and fell to 60-71.

The Orioles probably will wait until Wednesday morning to announce that night’s starter against the Red Sox. However, they confirmed earlier today that Kyle Bradish is getting the ball Tuesday night in his return from ligament-reconstructive surgery.

Bradish completed his rehab assignment, which lasted six appearances, and finally makes his return from his procedure in June 2024.

“It’s exciting,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “Obviously, he’s been miserable not being able to help us this year. Been very miserable, kind of watching this thing and how it’s gone, and he finally gets a chance to help. But just really excited, too, for (head athletic trainer) Scott Barringer and (head strength and conditioning coach) Trey Wiedman, our strength staff, (pitching coach) Drew French, all the people. It’s such a hands-on … and there’s so much work that goes into getting guys back from these Tommy John rehabs, among the other injuries. It’s an organizational win getting him out there tomorrow.”

Expectations will be kept at a reasonable level with Bradish returning from such a long layoff to face major league hitters.

“Guys coming back from Tommy John, we just saw (Shane) Bieber I think in Toronto have a nice one, a really good one, and that’s probably the type of profile that Kyle has in a lot of ways,” Mansolino said. “We’ve seen guys of that high of a profile have clunkers, too, the first couple times, but eventually they get going. And I think over time we’ll see Kyle get back to being Kyle.”

Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish is confirmed to start Tuesday night for the first time since June 14, 2024.

Bradish hasn’t faced the Red Sox since Oct. 1, 2013, when he was shortened to two innings before the playoffs.

Those were good times for Bradish, but he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in the elbow in January 2024 and lasted eight starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Bradish had posted a 2.75 ERA and 1.068 WHIP in 39 1/3 innings after placing fourth in American League Cy Young voting the previous season. He struck out 53 batters.

The Orioles deemed Bradish ready after he made six starts and totaled 22 innings on his rehab assignment.

PHILADELPHIA – When James Wood grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth Sunday afternoon, there was plenty of reason for the Nationals slugger to be disappointed in himself. That 4-6-3 twin-killing may have brought home his team’s first run of the day, but it spoiled a golden opportunity to score a lot more than that during what wound up a 3-2 loss to the Phillies.

The real surprise about Wood’s at-bat, though, was the fact he actually made contact yet didn’t record a hit in the process.

In one of the stranger weekend performances you’ll ever see, Wood finished the series 4-for-12 with one walk and seven strikeouts. Do the math, and you’ll figure out the unusual part of this: Every batted ball he produced turned into a hit, until that killer ground ball to second. He struck out in every other at-bat.

Wood has worked hard to snap himself out of the prolonged slump he was mired in through most of July and into the early stages of August. He entered Sunday’s game batting .304 with an .886 OPS over his previous 14 games, looking much more like the best version of himself from the season’s first half.

But he’s not all the way back. Because while Wood is finally hitting the ball hard again, he’s not hitting the ball enough overall, leading to a gargantuan strikeout total.

A season that might be the most disappointing in franchise history – it’s certainly in the discussion and ignores each time 2018 wants it to hold a beer – won’t define the future of the Orioles organization.

Every player, coach, instructor front office member and team employee expresses confidence in a major bounce back in 2026. Control owner David Rubenstein waited for executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias to finish an answer Saturday at catcher Samuel Basallo’s press conference and chimed in with his thoughts on the season and what lies ahead.

“We had some bad luck this year, obviously,” he said. “Health challenges were more severe than anybody could have ever predicted. Our players, when we have our best team on the field and they’re healthy, I think we’re as good as anybody in baseball. We just need to stay healthy, and hopefully we can be healthier next year. We’ve got some really good other projects under way. I think people are going to be really happy in Baltimore with what we field next year.”

Catcher Adley Rutschman knows disappointment. He’s roomed with it. They order DoorDash and binge Netflix.

Rutschman is as qualified as anyone to talk about it, with his first two career stops on the injured list due to left and right oblique strains and a .227/.310/.373 line in 85 games. His run of All-Star selections ended at two in a row. And he might not get another at-bat this season until he heals faster than his first shutdown.

The face, name and delivery were familiar. Had to be Trevor Rogers. Just block out the traffic on the bases and it made sense.

Rogers allowed a hit on his first pitch today, walked two batters in the third inning, committed a balk and surrendered the tying run. When the bar is set to near perfection, the hiccups are jolting.

In this magical season for Rogers, he can slip below his usual standards and conjure up a win. He can struggle a little and still skimp on the runs.

Rogers lowered his ERA to 1.40 with one run allowed in his fifth consecutive start, and the Orioles avoided a sweep with a 3-2 victory over the Astros before an announced crowd of 19,746 at Camden Yards. Their record is 60-70.

Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti retired 15 batters in a row before Gunnar Henderson’s two-out single in the sixth inning. Henderson stole second and third base to give him 19, and he scored when Ryan Mountcastle poked a sinker into right field for a 2-1 lead.

The Orioles’ injured list swelled to 15 players but is going to lose some weight with Kyle Bradish’s return this week to the active roster. A few more names are dropping off.

Catcher Adley Rutschman is trying to be among them.

Rutschman strained his right oblique and won’t be reinstated when eligible Thursday. However, he intends to play again next month.

“That’s the plan and I’m working as hard as I can to come back as soon as possible,” he said.

Rutschman missed five weeks with the same injury on his left side.

PHILADELPHIA – Riley Adams could only laugh when presented with the question: When’s the last time he batted third?

“I don’t know,” the Nationals catcher replied. “Maybe in the minors last year?”

He’s right. Adams actually batted third for the Rochester Red Wings in their final game of the 2024 season, capping off a frustrating season that saw him twice demoted to Triple-A following prolonged periods of struggle in the big leagues.

And the way this season began, Adams could’ve found himself confronting that situation again. As recently as June 23, he was the not-so-proud owner of an .097 batting average and .383 OPS, numbers that could have left his career hanging in the balance.

But with the opportunity to start playing more consistently after Keibert Ruiz landed on the seven-day concussion injured list, Adams has resurrected his season. And it has all come together this month, leading to a .320/.404/.480 slash line in August that has raised his season batting average to .207 and his OPS to .641.