Sunday night's walk-off loss to the Cubs might have been a crushing moment for the Nationals and their fans, a potential gut punch to the season and possibly a way of baseball life that fans may have taken for granted. By surrendering a two-out, two-strike grand slam in the bottom of the ninth, a team that's already on the fringe of the postseason race found another way to lose and is now just two games over .500 at 60-58. At risk over the rest of the season are not only back-to-back division...

In an historically awful season and in the so-called dog days of summer, the Orioles had an important moment this weekend. Their rookie center fielder dubbed it a "pass-the-torch situation" when he took the field for his debut Friday night. Then Cedric Mullins delivered at the plate, too, becoming the first player in Orioles history to collect three hits in his major league debut. It's easy to tamp down expectations for the 23-year-old, who was called up from Triple-A. It's also easy to not...

CHICAGO - The Nationals have gone 12-10 since the All-Star break, but consider how five of those 10 losses went down ... * July 24 at Milwaukee: Up 4-3 in the seventh, the Nationals blew the lead, then lost 5-4 in 10 innings. * July 28 at Miami: Down 1-0 in the ninth, the Nationals rallied to tie the game, then lost 2-1 in 10. * Aug. 7 vs. Atlanta: Tied 1-1 in the ninth, the Nationals lost 3-1. * Aug. 10 at Chicago: Up 2-0 in the sixth, the Nationals let the Cubs tie it, then took the lead in...

CHICAGO - The Nationals have been in this position too many times this summer. And too many times they've trudged off the field agonizing over a game that somehow got away from them late. If somehow they're going to survive this roller coaster season to keep playing in October, they simply are going to have to flip the script on these games. Where better, then, to start but on a Sunday night at Wrigley Field, with a national television audience watching a classic pitchers' duel and a stellar...

Cedric Mullins is aware of the comparisons to Al Bumbry. Manager Buck Showalter referred to Bumbry as the first "comp" that came to mind after watching Mullins. It's out there. It led me to wonder whether Mullins heard of the former Orioles center fielder. Bumbry is 71, Mullins 23. Bumbry was chosen as the American League's Rookie of the Year in 1973. Mullins was born on Oct. 1, 1994. Bumbry was part of the 1983 championship team. Mullins ... was born in 1994. I've made my point. I also...

The Orioles went 0-4 over the weekend versus Boston and fell to 49 games under .500 at 35-84 after Sunday's loss. Boston completed the four-game sweep, but not everything from the weekend was a downer. Looking back at the weekend: Mullins arrives: The Orioles finally called up Cedric Mullins and we had a changing of the guard in the outfield. Mullins took over in center and Adam Jones moved to right. Jones not only welcomed Mullins with open arms and was happy to turn over center field to him,...

CHICAGO - Daniel Murphy has been terrorizing the Cubs since the 2015 National League Championship Series, and he's been up to his old tricks this weekend at Wrigley Field. Murphy, finally feeling healthy and confident in his swing after a long recovery from knee surgery, had seven hits in his first 10 at-bats of the Nationals' series against the Cubs. That included a single down the left field line in the top of the second tonight, one that advanced Ryan Zimmerman from first to third and put...

CHICAGO - Anthony Rendon is out of the Nationals lineup for the second straight day, but manager Davey Martinez expressed some level of confidence his starting third baseman won't need to miss a third straight game. Rendon, who was hit by a pitch on his left hand in the first inning Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field, is available to come off the bench for tonight's series finale against the Cubs. That would most likely be if the Nats needed him in the field, though, not as likely if he was...

Manager: Mike Shildt (1st season) Record: 63-55 Last 10 games: 8-2 Who to watch: 3B Matt Carpenter (.277 \ with 32 HR, 65 RBIs); C Yadier Molina (.290 \ with 53 RBIs, 95 hits); 1B José Martínez (.299 with 114 hits); LF Marcell Ozuna (.272 with 122 hits, 62 RBIs); RHP Miles Mikolas (12-3, 2.74 ERA); RHP Jack Flaherty (6-6, 3.22 ERA); RHP Bud Norris (2.85 ERA, 22 saves) Season series vs. Nationals: First meeting (3-3 in 2017) Pitching probables: Aug. 13: LHP Tommy Milone (1-1) vs. RHP...

CHICAGO - We've seen no shortage of wacky and wild stuff this summer from a Nationals team that seems to vacillate from contender to pretender on a daily basis. So who knows which version we'll see tonight on Sunday Night Baseball. But we do know we're going to see a marquee matchup: Max Scherzer vs. Cole Hamels. Yes, it's Cy Young Award vs. World Series MVP winner, with the fate of this weekend series at stake. Scherzer is trying to make a case for his third straight (and fourth overall)...