The Houston Astros, with a 29-31 record under former Nationals manager Dusty Baker, could be the first team in baseball history to make the World Series with a losing record thanks to a pandemic-shortened 60-game season. But this is more important to the Astros: The team is trying to erase the cheating image they have after banging on garbage cans to steal signs and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2017 World Series. The Astros' general manager, Jeff Luhnow, and manager, A.J. Hinch,...

The Tampa Bay Rays, who last won the American League East in 2010, beat the New York Yankees in eight of 10 games during the regular season. Can they do it again and get a chance to win their first AL pennant since losing to the Phillies in the 2008 World Series? The best-of-five Yankees-Rays AL Division Series will be played with no days off starting today in San Diego's Petco Park, one of the bubbles established by Major League Baseball for the postseason. The Rays and Yankees have tension,...

Our offseason player review series begins today with Juan Soto, who produced historic offensive numbers despite playing in only 47 of the Nationals' 60 games. PLAYER REVIEW: JUAN SOTO Age on opening day 2021: 22 How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2015 MLB service time: 2 year, 134 days 2020 salary: $629,400 (prorated $233,111) Contract status: Possibly Super Two arbitration-eligible in 2021, free agent in 2025 2020 stats: 47 G, 196 PA, 154 AB, 39 R, 54 H, 14 2B, 0 3B, 13...

When Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander slumped late in the 2019 season, he hurt his final numbers. They looked good at the time, but not great. This year, there was no late-season slump, although there was an injury. But while his batting average stayed the same in 2020, most of the other numbers were significantly better. Santander did enough in 37 games of a 60-game season to win the Most Valuable Oriole award. When he played, he was among the American League stat leaders in several...

On May 2, 2019, the Nationals elected to fire pitching coach Derek Lilliquist and replace him with Paul Menhart, who had been with the organization since 2006. Menhart guided the Nats through rough waters in May last year, then helped the Nats bullpen turn the season around. At 12 games below the .500 mark on May 24, the Nats would ultimately earn a National League wild card spot and finish the miraculous comeback season with a world championship. But nearly 12 months later, the Nats have...

After a season where injuries wrecked the starting rotation and ineffectiveness hampered the bullpen, the Nationals have cut ties with pitching coach Paul Menhart following 15 years in the organization. Menhart, 51, said he received a telephone call from manager Davey Martinez this evening with the news that his contract, which was up on Oct. 31, would not be renewed. "I'm not sure how to take all of this," Menhart said in a text message to MASNsports.com. "It's quite a shock." Menhart...

One big difference in the Major League Baseball playoffs this year, beyond the obvious ones like no crowds at games, is very few off-days. There will be two off-days in the World Series. But no off-days before that. We saw the wild card round of three games (if needed) in three days. The American League Division Series will begin Monday with five games in five days, if needed. The National League Division Series starts Tuesday and will be played for five straight days, if necessary. Same with...

Watching the various wild card series the last few days, I couldn't help but have two thoughts: There were some really compelling, tense, memorable moments in almost every series; and I constantly had to remind myself just how compelling, tense and memorable those moments were because the scene at each ballpark was completely sterile with no fans in attendance. It was tough enough to experience the 2020 regular season without fans, but this week really underscored just how noticeable it is in...

The Nationals had high expectations in 2018, hoping to put it all together for a shot at the postseason after 2017 ended in the National League Division Series against the Cubs. But the Nats ended up at just 82-80, eight games back of the Braves for the NL East crown. There were some parallels to that disappointing ending to a campaign in 2020. The Nats were fresh off an incredible run to the 2019 World Series title as they got ready for an abbreviated 2020 regular season. With most of that...

The Orioles' rotation ERA this year was 5.09 for the 60-game season. They had it down to 4.75 with just a few games to go. But short outings by Jorge López, where he gave up eight runs, and Dean Kremer, where he gave up seven, raised it again. The O's finished 11th in the American League in rotation ERA. Had they kept their ERA in the 4.75 range, they still would have finished 11th. That is still the best for an O's team since the 2016 team that won 89 games and made the postseason. O's...