The Orioles today officially set their 26-man roster for Opening Day. The roster includes 14 pitchers, two catchers, six infielders, and four outfielders. 11 of the 26 players were on the Orioles' 2020 Opening Day roster. Six players are donning an Orioles jersey for the first time. The Orioles have placed OF DJ Stewart (left hamstring strain) on the 10-day Injured List and RHP Shawn Armstrong on the Paternity List. Additionally, RHP Travis Lakins Sr. has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Two...

The Orioles aren't opening their season later this afternoon. Today's game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park has been postponed due to a forecast that calls for periods of rain throughout the afternoon. (The weather app on my phone only shows clouds in Boston after 10 a.m., but it isn't official.) The game has been rescheduled for Friday at 2:10 p.m. "The decision to postpone our first game of the season was not made lightly," Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy said in a statement....

The Washington Nationals will celebrate Opening Day and their first home game of the 2021 season on Thursday, April 1 when the team hosts the New York Mets. The game will be aired exclusively on ESPN, with first pitch scheduled for 7:09 p.m. ET. The game will also be broadcasted on 106.7 The Fan FM. In accordance with CDC recommendations and MLB protocols, the Nationals will implement appropriate social distancing and safety measures that will allow Nationals Park to host 5,000 fans on Opening...

The day has come at last. The 2021 baseball season begins today. All 30 clubs are scheduled to play, including the Nationals in tonight's nationally televised opener against the Mets. Fans will be in attendance everywhere, 5,000 of them here. Alas, five members of the Nats' expected opening night roster will not be there after one tested positive for COVID-19 and four others were deemed close contacts to him. It turns today into more of a bittersweet event than a full-on celebration of...

Starting on April 1, 2021, MASN will be providing live streams of both MASN and MASN2 on MASNsports.com. In order to be able to watch the live streams online, fans will need to be subscribed to a participating cable system that already includes MASN in their package. In the next few days, MASN will also be launching an app that will be available for download from Apple's App store, Google Play, and Roku. This app will enable fans who already get MASN at home to now watch Orioles and...

In a time when there is still so much uncertainty in the world, there are some things we do know for a fact as it relates to the 2021 baseball season. Spring training started on time and was completed without any serious hiccups. The Nationals will start their 2021 campaign eventually, even after a player returned a positive COVID-19 test yesterday and opening day against the Mets was postponed. There is no universal designated hitter and the regular 10-team postseason is back, while the...

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...