Can a pitcher that had a stunning finish to one season carry that over to the next? Can two pitchers do it? If they can, then Orioles lefty John Means and Boston right-hander Nathan Eovaldi may have strong starts in today's season opener. Means (2-4, 4.53 in 2020) and Eovaldi (4-2, 3.72 in 2020) will start on opening day at Fenway Park at 2:10 p.m. The Orioles will begin their 68th season. They are 43-24 all-time on opening day, winning eight of the last 10, nine of 12 and 15 of the previous...

Opening day brings the hope of a new baseball season. Not even a positive COVID-19 test can change that. "We're gonna play tomorrow night," confirmed general manager Mike Rizzo on a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday afternoon after announcing the unfortunate, but not devastating, news. What opening day does not bring, however, is any clarity on Max Scherzer's future contract situation with the Nationals. After the conversation switched to more baseball-related topics, Rizzo was asked if he...

The Nationals will be without at least five players and one staff member for Thursday night's season opener after learning early this morning one of the players tested positive for COVID-19, general manager Mike Rizzo announced today. After making it through six full weeks of spring training with zero positive tests in the organization, the Nationals had every reason to be confident as they headed north to begin the season. But in the round of testing that took place Monday morning before...

The Orioles couldn't dodge injuries in spring camp. How many teams make it through six weeks without a tweak, twinge or other trauma? Chris Davis with his back. DJ Stewart with his hamstring. Félix Hernández with his elbow. Rio Ruiz with his illness. Hunter Harvey, Anthony Santander and Alexander Wells with their obliques. Davis and Harvey are on the 60-day injured list, the latter a bigger loss, of course, because he was supposed to be a high-leverage reliever and possible closer. And...

The Orioles will reveal their 2021 opening day roster Thursday morning, but the final strokes are applied now to provide a full picture. There's just one more to go. Third baseman Maikel Franco and outfielder Anthony Santander will be on the roster and avoid a trip to the alternate camp site. Santander won't have any restrictions after missing the last six exhibition games with oblique soreness. Relievers Dillon Tate and Cole Sulser also are traveling to Boston after today's workout, but...

The Nationals went 93-69 in 2019 and won the World Series, then returned in 2020 to go 24-36 and finish tied for last place in the National League East. There are two lines of thought when trying to analyze what happened last season. Either this was the start of an inevitable downward trend for an organization that spent so long climbing the mountain to finally reach the ultimate peak, or it was a complete and utter aberration because of the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic-shortened...

Now, it's back to work for the Orioles. A league-mandated off-day is followed this morning by a workout at Sarasota and flight to Boston for Thursday's opener at Fenway Park. Some pitchers will throw. Some hitters will hit. Anthony Santander apparently won't have to convince the Orioles that his oblique is fine and his status on the active roster is unaffected. He's taken more swings this week, getting dozens of at-bats, and is definitely on the opening day roster. Could an outsider crash...

In looking at the roster resource section of the FanGraphs.com website, we can note a few things about the start of the 2021 regular season. For one, the Orioles will have the youngest starting rotation in the American League East and the fourth-youngest in the AL. With the understanding that this is a good resource for roster information and usually very accurate, yes, there could be a pitcher or two not listed where they should be. But they got all five in the Baltimore rotation correct. The...

The Orioles today announced that the club has entered into a multi-year agreement with MedStar Health as the Official Medical Team of the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles have chosen to continue their medical partnership with MedStar Health because of the expertise and specialization provided by one of the premier sports medicine programs in the country. The multi-year partnership will ensure that Orioles players continue to receive the highly specialized care of the MedStar Health team while the...

The Nationals woke up this morning in Washington. Spring training is officially over, and the final countdown to opening night is on. This was a spring unlike any previous one, with protocols, reduced fan capacities and reduced travel across Florida. But it still was, first and foremost, about baseball. The Nats avoided any real COVID-19 issues and were able to keep their focus on the field, which is exactly how every team should want it to be. To that end, we spent a lot of time talking about...