ST. LOUIS - It's 46 degrees. The wind chill is 39. It's not going to be pleasant at all. But none of that matters, because there's a ballgame tonight and the Nationals are playing in it. The Nats' first National League Championship Series gamesis going to present some challenges, and we're not just talking about the weather at Busch Stadium. The lineup and roster are missing three key players: Daniel Hudson, Kurt Suzuki and Victor Robles. Hudson, who flew from Los Angeles to Phoenix early...

Removing Arnie Beyeler as first base coach earlier this month also requires the Orioles to find a new outfield instructor. It's a two-pronged search. Beyeler handled those duties as Wayne Kirby did under former manager Buck Showalter. Has anyone been more challenged in the role than Beyeler? He had to teach Stevie Wilkerson to play center field, a brand new position for the utility infielder. He needed Wilkerson to grow more comfortable in left and right, where the results also were...

The Cardinals host the Nationals in the first two games of the National League Championship Series on Friday and Saturday at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals, in the postseason for the first time since 2015, beat the Braves 13-1 with a history-making 10-run first inning in Game 5 of their NL Division Series in Atlanta. Ironically, the explosion of runs was 51 years ago to the day that Detroit scored 10 runs in the sixth inning against the Cardinals in a 13-1 Game 6 World Series win in the original...

In Game 5 of the National League Division Series, the Nationals had two hits and two walks in the first five innings against Dodgers starter Walker Buehler. They had struck out four times. Then in the sixth, they finally pieced together back-to-back hits. Anthony Rendon doubled and Juan Soto singled to plate a run. Even with the difficulties in mounting early rallies, the Nats did make Buehler work. He ended up having to throw 117 pitches. Buehler had been even more lethal in Game 1. The...

ST. LOUIS - As cathartic as Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium was - and how could it not be, given the massive roadblock they finally overcame in their fifth try - the Nationals were in no mood to rest on their laurels and take satisfaction out of their first postseason series win in club history. No, there was a good night's sleep still to get, then a flight to catch to St. Louis, then another good night's sleep before they take the field again for their first ever appearance in the National...

The Los Angeles Dodgers are becoming a bit of a tortured franchise. They have won seven straight division titles - something incredibly impressive - but they are already out of the 2019 playoffs. They lost Game 5 of the National League Division Series at home to Washington. Since the Dodgers started this run, four different teams have won the American League East title. But just one has won in the National League West. So the heartbreak was big when they blew a 3-0 lead after two innings and a...

The Orioles remain in the process of building their minor league staffs, including the implementation of an extra coach with each affiliate. In the meantime, they've elevated minor league pitching coordinator Chris Holt to a position that more closely connects him to the major league team. Holt has been promoted to a director-of-pitching position that extends his reach from the minor league side and more easily allows him to join Orioles pitching coach Doug Brocail in utilizing the technology...

Nationals manager Davey Martinez had good news on the status of catcher Kurt Suzuki, who was hit twice on one pitch from Walker Buehler in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's Game 5 against the Dodgers in the National League Division Series. "Suzuki had an X-Ray on his hand, and it came back negative," Martinez said via conference call prior to boarding a charter flight to St. Louis, where the Nats will face the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series beginning tomorrow night. "He says...

(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) K-MOTION - the leader in 3D evaluations and biofeedback training solutions for coaches and athletes - announces an agreement with the Baltimore Orioles to become the organization's Player Development Partner and official 3D Motion Data Technology. With K-MOTION Baseball's precise and personalized 3D swing data, the Orioles' coaches can objectively identify opportunities for improvement in players' swings, train the exact solutions and track progress through a...

LOS ANGELES - Sean Doolittle was trying to run through the final moments of an epic baseball game that propelled the Nationals to the National League Championship Series for the first time in club history. There was a strikeout of A.J. Pollock. Then a ground ball by Max Muncy. Then Michael A. Taylor's diving catch of Justin Turner's sinking liner to center, which had to be reviewed before umpires officially declared the game over. And then a mad celebration, with Doolittle right in the middle...