One of the great things about highlighting rebroadcasts of games from a team with a tradition that stretches back to 1954 is the variety of choices you get in the film library. This week's collection of "Orioles Classics" on MASN stretches all the way back to 1987 and a day when a trio from the same family made headlines. It includes the last game at Memorial Stadium in 1991 and the first game at Camden Yards in 1992. And it includes some memorable moments from the 2012 season that saw the...

Was any postseason retrospective ever more aptly titled than "Improbable"? The look back at the Nationals' 2019 playoff run re-aired on MASN recently, reminding us just how odds-defying the team's climb to the top was. Battling back to a playoff berth after teetering on the edge of oblivion in May, the Nats then had to come back against a dominant closer to win the wild card, survive two elimination games in the National League Division Series - coming back from a three-run deficit late in...

If the Nationals go for hurlers in the five rounds of the June 10 First-Year Player draft, it will be from a lot filled with quality pitching depth. MLBPipeline.com senior writer Jim Callis said the 2020 draft has a more quality pitchers than last year's draft, and may be the best he has seen in quite some time. As I wrote last week, the Nats have favored stockpiling pitchers for their system and fortifying need at the major league level through trade. General manager Mike Rizzo, assistant...

Nationals players, after learning Sunday the organization is cutting minor leaguers' weekly pay this month, have collectively pledged to cover the difference on their own. The club, which by Major League Baseball mandate had been paying all minor leaguers $400 per week throughout April and May, will reduce that amount to $300 per week in June, a source familiar with the decision confirmed. The reductions come as the organization also released more than two dozen minor league players, a trend...

It produced an abrupt and loud ending. Bat connected with ball and the contact was very loud. Moments later, the crowd would be very loud, too. Edwin Encarnación hit one 440 feet to left center. It was a first-pitch, three-run homer off Ubaldo Jiménez and Toronto beat the Orioles 5-2 in 11 innings in the 2016 American League wild card game. When the night began, it featured Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.77 ERA) facing Toronto right-hander Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37 ERA) in a matchup of 89-win...

The length of baseball's shutdown is allowing players to heal and get deeper into their rehabs after sustaining injuries in spring training. It isn't much of a silver lining, but let's try to stay positive today. I've heard that reliever Evan Phillips, sidelined in early March due to a sore right elbow, is feeling much better. The long layoff and rehab process have brought positive results. Phillips could progress to bullpen sessions in a few more weeks. He was a certainty to begin the...

It all seems so trivial right now, doesn't it, the bickering between Major League Baseball and its players over how to fairly set salaries for the 2020 season? Our country is coming apart at the seams, protests and riots consuming cities across America over an issue that has plagued this land of ours for centuries and has now reached a boiling point. All of this, mind you, against the backdrop of a global pandemic and collapsed economy. We're supposed to care about baseball right now? But...

On the Orioles Twitter account yesterday, they showed a video of Hanser Alberto doing some hitting drills. Drills designed to help others make better and more consistent contact hitting a baseball. I'll post the tweet at the end of this entry and, of course, there is never a bad time to hear from happy Hanser. Alberto has certainly made putting the ball in play a big part of his game. His strikeouts are low and his contact rate is high. That helped him last year post a batting average that...

A few years back, Dominican scout Modesto Ulloa was the first to alert the Nationals to a left-handed pitcher/outfielder he wanted them to take a look at. Ulloa brought in Nationals vice president and assistant general manager of international operations Johnny DiPuglia to a workout in the Dominican Republic to see a teenager named Juan Soto. Ulloa has been a Dominican scout for the Indians, Padres and Nationals for many seasons. He signed the likes of Osvaldo Abreu, Freddy Guzmán and...

Well, we know there will be 160 amateur players taken in the five rounds of the First-Year Player Draft that begins June 10. But what happens after that? What about undrafted players? This year is going to be unlike any before it in the history of the draft. There were few, if any at all, top unsigned players after a 40-round draft that last year saw 1,217 players selected. There was no mad scramble for undrafted players after all those selections. But this year the draft will include just 13...