The Nationals' season-opening roster will not include the team's best and brightest young star. Juan Soto was not included on the Nats' initial 30-man roster and will not be active for tonight's opener against the Yankees after testing positive for COVID-19, general manager Mike Rizzo announced this afternoon. Soto, like others on the team, was tested Tuesday. He is asymptomatic, but early this morning his test result came back positive, said Rizzo, who added all other tests taken by...

The Nationals have announced their 30-man opening day roster for the 2020 regular season, which was overshadowed by the news that outfielder Juan Soto has tested positive for COVID-19 and is on the injured list to begin the season. Soto is not currently showing any symptoms. General manager Mike Rizzo confirmed that Soto is "asymptomatic." Austin Voth has been named the fifth starter to begin the season, while Erick Fedde will pitch out of the bullpen. "Austin Voth will definitely be our...

The Washington Nationals announced their initial 30-man roster on Thursday. In addition, Washington selected the contracts of outfielder Emilio Bonifácio, left-handed pitcher Sam Freeman and right-handed pitcher Javy Guerra. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements. The Nationals 30-man roster is comprised of 15 pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders, and five outfielders. Starters: LHP Patrick Corbin, RHP Aníbal Sánchez, RHP...

The Orioles currently have 13 staff members working with a group of players at Prince George's Stadium, the alternate site for the club's 60-man player pool. Soon the player numbers will grow at Bowie, as the O's today cut down to their 30-man opening day roster. The challenge for coaches at Bowie will be to keep that group energized during a hot summer where they currently are not allowed to face outside competition or players from other teams. Daily intrasquad games will help, but after a...

The Orioles will begin the long-awaited 2020 season without their No. 1 starter and projected closer. John Means and Hunter Harvey have been placed on the 10-day injured list. Reliever Dillon Tate also is on the IL - with all three assignments backdated to Monday - but outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. has been activated and made the 30-man roster for Friday night's opening game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Manager Brandon Hyde indicated yesterday that Means likely would start against the...

The Orioles today officially set their 30-man roster for Opening Day. The roster includes 16 pitchers, two catchers, seven infielders, and five outfielders. 12 of the 30 players were on the Orioles' 2019 Opening Day roster. Eight players are donning an Orioles jersey for the first time. Three players will start the season on the 10-day Injured List, right-hander Hunter Harvey (retroactive to July 20; right forearm strain), left-hander John Means (retroactive to July 20; left shoulder fatigue),...

The Major League Baseball season starts Thursday night with the first two games in Washington and Los Angeles. By far, the 60-game schedule is not only the shortest in history, it's also the most unusual, framed by a killer pandemic, labor strife, social-justice issues and questions about whether the season would - or should - be launched at all. The season was supposed to start March 26, but spring training camps in Arizona and Florida were shut down March 12 because of a spiking coronavirus...

The 2020 Major League Baseball season begins tonight, and did you ever think those words would mean what they do right now? This promises to be a season unlike any other, and we don't know yet if that will be for positive reasons, negative reasons or a little of each. It may be different, but that doesn't mean it won't include a few familiar traditions. Like this one. For 11 seasons now, members of the Nationals beat have graciously agreed to make season predictions, publish them and then...

Today marks the final time in 2020 that we can wonder whether the Orioles actually will make it to opening day without the coronavirus pandemic or any assortment of disasters and traumas again shutting down baseball. The completion of a 60-game season remains a dicey proposition, but the 30-man roster will be turned into Major League Baseball by noon, the Orioles will hold an optional workout and they'll head to Boston for their first opener at Fenway Park since 1966. "I think we're as ready...

When they take the field Thursday night for the first time in 2020, the Nationals will do so as defending World Series champions, having just raised a flag and pennant minutes earlier. They'll be sending their potential future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer to the mound. The opponents, the Yankees, are merely baseball's most-storied franchise, one sending its new ace, Gerrit Cole, to the mound in its first step toward competing for its 28th World Series title. This would be a blockbuster event...