So can the Orioles keep it real interesting in a 60-game season by playing much better than expected at the outset and moving into contention? It seems unlikely, but with a 30-game midpoint it would seem they could put together a run in that span that leaves them close to a playoff berth. Yep, some strange things can and likely will happen in a 60-game season. The Cy Young Award winner might win just six games. We could see a .400 hitter. And we could see unlikely teams in the playoffs. It...

The decision to play 60 games was a hot topic the past few weeks between Major League Baseball and the players' union. The number was pretty much forced to be around 50 or 60 games because the calendar had already reached late June and the previous official schedule had teams finishing on Sept. 27. The biggest question in the Nats lineup for 2020 was finding a replacement for star third baseman Anthony Rendon, who signed a lucrative offseason free agent deal to join the Angels. The Nats' top...

Baseball used to be a marathon and not a sprint. What does it become when 162 games are reduced to 60? The number still seems too large for a sprint, but it's no longer apt to make comparisons to a marathon. Maybe it's become the 1500-metre run. Kip Keino, Jim Ryun and Sebastian Coe could throw out the ceremonial first pitches. That should cover one home series for the Orioles. The Orioles would be exactly halfway through their schedule without postponements. Eighty-one games in the books...

Finally. After months of acrimonious negotiations, there's going to be a baseball season. It will be the most abbreviated season in the game's history - 60 games - and brings back memories of 1981, when labor issues couldn't be resolved and teams played about 105 games each. So forget about watching those replays of classic historical games. Say goodbye to watching Game 7 of the Braves-Twins World Series in 1991. Or the 1995 American League Division Series Game 5 between the Mariners and the...

Right-hander Jackson Rutledge started 10 games in the Nationals farm system in 2019, split between the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, short-season Single-A Auburn and low Single-A Hagerstown. Rutledge was the Nats' first-round pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft after playing for head coach Tom Arrington at San Jacinto College North. The big right-hander was a part of a trio of starters that led the Gators to the top of their division in 2019, alongside Nats 2020 fifth-round pick...

The plan to start the 2020 Major League Baseball season is now officially in place. Whether it is completed in full depends on the spread of the novel coronavirus and the ability of more than 1,000 players, coaches, trainers, clubhouse staffers, team executives, umpires, groundskeepers and other assorted support staff to keep it from spreading. It's a daunting task, one that has no guarantee of being successful. But MLB is going to give it a try after getting approval Tuesday night from the...

In about 30 days, there will be Major League Baseball. The season will consist of just 60 games, which is 37 percent of a normal season. But we will see the Orioles return. They'll play against the American League East and also against teams from the National League East. Last night, MLB players and owners finalized their protocols for health and safety during a pandemic. That was about the final hurdle before MLB could announce, as it did last night, that opening day will be July 23 or 24....

Of the many questions that linger as baseball moves closer to a 2020 season, two of the most common are where teams will hold their second spring training camps and what's a reasonable amount of time for pitchers to get ready. The Orioles are going to conduct their workouts in Maryland, whether strictly at Camden Yards or spread out to include one or more of their minor league affiliates. The new coronavirus cases in Florida eliminate a return to Sarasota as the facility remains shut down. An...

The Nationals went true to their nature in the First-Year Player Draft and in agreeing to deals afterward with undrafted free agents in their focus on stockpiling or restocking pitchers and catchers. The Nats drafted four pitchers in the first five rounds, including their first-round pick, right-hander Cade Cavalli, and their fifth-round selection, left-hander Mitchell Parker. Right-hander Cole Henry was taken in the second round, but is really a first-round talent. Right-handed closer Holden...

So after all that, after months of nothing and weeks of bickering, after talk of a season that could be as short as 48 games or as long as 114 games, after proposals to expand the postseason to 16 teams and institute the universal designated hitter this year and next, after all that, what did we get? A 60-game season unilaterally imposed by the commissioner. The standard postseason format. The universal DH this year only. A grievance that is all but certain to be filed by the players in the...