coronavirus

Still wondering whether there's going to be baseball

May 12, 2020, 10:08am

Orioles

Still wondering whether there's going to be baseball

Young students should be filing into Camden Yards this morning for the annual "Weather Day" event at the ballpark. A chance to watch baseball after they learn about barometric pressure. Sun is in the forecast with temperatures in the upper 60s. It's been a little chilly for the second week of May, but no one would be complaining. The weather doesn't really matter. We're stuck at home, wondering whether there's going to be a season. So yes, it's "Whether Day." My optimism fluctuates...

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Can owners, players agree on parameters of 2020 season?

May 11, 2020, 3:47pm

Nationals

Can owners, players agree on parameters of 2020 season?

Major League Baseball owners reportedly agreed Monday to a proposal for a 2020 season, one that would include an abbreviated second round of spring training in June, then a regular season of roughly 80 games that would run from July through September, then an expanded postseason that includes two more wild card teams in each league but could still be wrapped up around Halloween. Sounds great, right? Our long national nightmare is almost over! The only thing the league needs now is approval of...

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Don Long on his work with Rio Ruiz

May 11, 2020, 11:36am

Orioles

If every at-bat and every swing from Chris Davis in spring training led to a series of dissections, discussions and debates, Rio Ruiz's trips to the plate by comparison seemed to be shrouded in secrecy. The player with the second-highest average on the team and the third-highest on-base and slugging percentages didn't get nearly as much attention. There isn't a dome at Ed Smith Stadium, but it's possible to operate beneath a cone of silence. The spring also was important for Ruiz, who...

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Long on Davis: "He was much more aggressive"

May 09, 2020, 9:20am

Orioles

Long on Davis: "He was much more aggressive"

One of my more interesting and enlightening conversations in spring training, before the door slammed shut and everyone headed home, came on Feb. 24 with first baseman Chris Davis as we sat in the media workroom following his final round of batting practice. The Orioles were on the road and I stayed back in camp, waiting for Davis to leave the field and wondering if he'd remember that he agreed to an interview. Seizing a chance to get out of the sun, Davis asked whether we could talk at the...

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Tales from the clubhouse: The John McLaren Era

May 10, 2020, 8:02pm

Nationals

Tales from the clubhouse: The John McLaren Era

I woke up on the morning of June 24, 2011, exhausted from the events of the previous day, and rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Chicago. The Nationals were opening a three-game interleague series against the White Sox, having just won 11 of their last 12 but now employing a temporary manager for the weekend. Jim Riggleman's surprise resignation following a walk-off win over the Mariners at Nationals Park had shocked the baseball world, certainly the baseball-caring portion of...

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Tales from the clubhouse: Riggleman's resignation

May 09, 2020, 9:34pm

Nationals

Tales from the clubhouse: Riggleman's resignation

I get asked often about the craziest story I've covered on the Nationals beat, and there's no shortage of choices over the last 15 years. But my answer has been consistent for a long time now: it's Jim Riggleman's surprise resignation during the 2011 season, and the chaotic 72 hours that followed. In fact, when Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (a long ago intern on the Nats beat) asked on Twitter a few days ago "What's the most random sports moment you'd watch a 10-part...

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Long staying connected to his hitters during shutdown

May 08, 2020, 9:38am

Orioles

Long staying connected to his hitters during shutdown

Don Long took his seat on one of the buses parked at the Ed Smith Stadium complex on March 12, assuming that he wouldn't rise again until arriving in Fort Myers for a night game against the Twins. The trip lasted about as long as it takes to fill out a lineup card. The bus made four left turns and was back in camp. The Orioles were on the verge of a sports-wide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We left and literally got around the corner and somebody got a call and they turned us...

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Friday morning Nats Q&A

May 07, 2020, 6:37pm

Nationals

Are we inching closer to a decision about the 2020 Major League Baseball season? Is the start of the season in South Korea encouraging or discouraging for our chances of a season here? And how in the world did Matt Williams become the highest-paid manager in Korea Baseball Organization history? You've got questions. We've (hopefully) got answers. If you've got something you want to ask - about potential scenarios for this season, about funny stories from past seasons, about which Nationals...

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As KBO season begins, Thames optimistic for MLB's chances

May 06, 2020, 8:15pm

Nationals

As KBO season begins, Thames optimistic for MLB's chances

Eric Thames, like so many other baseball players, media members and fans, turned on his television late Monday night to watch a real, live ballgame between two professional teams. And like so many others who tuned in, Thames was mortified by the sight of a tarp covering the infield at Daegu Samsung Lions Park. "Initially I was angry, because it was a rain delay!" the Nationals slugger said with a laugh. "I turned it on and was like, some baseball finally ... and I turn it on and it's a rain...

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Trying to get reps for the minor league players

May 07, 2020, 2:18pm

Orioles

Trying to get reps for the minor league players

The question has been asked a few times: What happens to Orioles prospects if there is no minor league season? Will they get in games and get some needed reps on the mound and at-bats? Well, if it is deemed safe, almost certainly the answer is yes. No doubt, the Orioles will find a way for their minor leaguers to get those reps if they get cleared to take the field at some point this summer or fall. I would feel really badly for all the minor league teams and their fans if there is no minor...

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A son's appreciation of the sports talk that has been silenced

May 07, 2020, 8:03am

Orioles

A son's appreciation of the sports talk that has been silenced

My father would have turned 80 today, but Stage 4 esophageal cancer took him away from his family and friends in January 2019, leaving us heartbroken that he's gone but also relieved that he didn't suffer. The sentence is harder to type than I imagined. I had to pause in the middle of it. We wouldn't have been able to talk baseball this year, at least in the traditional sense. Every conversation over the phone included a mention of the Orioles. Same with every visit, which on a few occasions...

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A roll call of legends and others who also played for the Orioles

May 06, 2020, 3:37pm

Orioles

The boredom and mind-numbing, stay-at-home routine during the pandemic has led to some interesting and amusing entertainment ideas on Twitter, a place that often should be shut down or rationed in visits to avoid breathing in the pollution. The idea of wearing a mask should have started there. A recent thread was created with baseball players, famous for their years with a specific team, referred to in jest as another organization's legend. Players that fans might have forgotten actually wore...

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How many games are needed for a legitimate season?

May 05, 2020, 8:22pm

Nationals

How many games are needed for a legitimate season?

We still don't know when - or if - the 2020 Major League Baseball season will begin. We do know it won't be a full, 162-game season, though. Even in a best-case scenario, there's just not enough time to play all 162, not without extending the regular season deep into December and the World Series beyond New Year's Day. That's not happening. So if they play in 2020, it's going to be a shortened season. Which is not unprecedented in MLB history, given past labor disputes. But how many games...

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Dwight Smith Jr. staying ready while waiting for baseball to return

May 06, 2020, 12:02pm

Orioles

Dwight Smith Jr. staying ready while waiting for baseball to return

Orioles outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. no longer has MLB The Show to distract him from baseball's lengthy shutdown and uncertain future. He had a blast guiding his video team to a fifth-place finish and a playoff berth as the organization's representative and earning top honors as manager with the current roster. Now he's back to full-on pandemic life like everyone else. Smith isn't ready to offer advice to Orioles manager Brandon Hyde or think about the next phase of his professional life....

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More on the baseball stoppage

May 05, 2020, 3:35pm

Orioles

The Orioles would have been wrapping up a three-game series this afternoon in Toronto if the coronavirus pandemic hadn't short-circuited the season. Thirty-six games already would be in the books, assuming there were no postponements. The Orioles would enjoy an off-day Thursday, along with the rest of us, and host the Angels for a weekend series. This is how it's supposed to be playing out. The baseball world stopped spinning on March 12 with spring training camps shut down and players in...

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Casting Nats players as "Star Wars" characters

May 04, 2020, 8:53pm

Nationals

Casting Nats players as "Star Wars" characters

When it's Week 8 of writing about baseball when there's no baseball to write about, you start coming up with some weird ideas. Most of them never see the light of day, but some of them do. And this is one of them. Monday was May 4. For "Star Wars" fans, it's an unofficial national holiday. Why? Cause it's May the Fourth. As in: "May the Fourth be with you." Yeah, it's cheesy. Guess what? So is "Star Wars." I'm a "Star Wars" fan. Not the kind of fan who dresses up in a Stormtrooper...

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Former Oriole Tyler Wilson ready to go as baseball returns in Korea (with video)

May 03, 2020, 6:27pm

Orioles

Former Oriole Tyler Wilson ready to go as baseball returns in Korea (with video)

While Major League Baseball hopes to have a season at some point later this year, one pro baseball league will be starting a new season tomorrow. The 10 teams in the Korea Baseball Organization open a 144-game season that will run through Nov. 2. The KBO started with six teams in 1982. The Doosan Bears are the defending league champions and they've won the league in three of the last five years. The league was set to open its season on March 28, but just like with MLB, the KBO ended spring...

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Castro facing hitters this week while increasing workouts back home

May 03, 2020, 8:44am

Orioles

Castro facing hitters this week while increasing workouts back home

The last trip to the mound by Miguel Castro in an exhibition game resulted in three batters faced and three strikeouts. He left on such a high note that it should have come with a safety net. There's no real momentum in baseball. It's been described as the next day's starting pitcher. And any drops of it would have evaporated since Castro received his congratulatory handshakes and hugs in the visiting dugout at the Yankees complex in Tampa. Castro blew through the Yankees on March 6, learned...

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State of the Nats roster: Outfield

May 03, 2020, 8:34pm

Nationals

We continue today a periodic look at the state of the Nationals roster at the point spring training was suspended and project how things may look whenever baseball is played again. Up next is the outfield ... We don't know when the Nationals will take the field again as a team, but when that glorious day does arrive, we know exactly how they'll line up from left to right in the outfield. While other aspects of the roster underwent changes big and small over the winter, the outfield remained...