Happy opening day, baseball friends! After many months of battling cold temperatures and evenings without the soothing voices of Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo, Nationals baseball returns today. One of the many great things about opening day is the sense of optimism it brings with it - spring in Washington can be truly beautiful and the beginning of a baseball season leads one to think of the endless possibilities over 162 games. Naturally, this leads fans to start making predictions for...

In 2018, the Orioles will go as far as their starting pitching will take them. I think I've been writing that same sentence for the last seven years. It's basic, but it's true. The O's offense is strong and should be even better this season. Last year, the team fell out of contention because its starting pitching struggled. The Birds' rotation ranked last in ERA (5.70), 27th in walks per nine innings (3.74) and gave up more hard contact (35 percent) than 26 of the 30 teams in baseball. The...

Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver used to ask what constitutes a good start for a team. Is it playing well through six games, eight games or 10, 20 or 40? Well, we can debate that, but it is certainly more than one game. Although once again, the Orioles did win their first game. For the eighth year in a row and for the third straight year with a walk-off victory. Also for the third straight year by a 3-2 score. In their last six opening day extra-inning games, the Orioles are 6-0 and all six...

Manager Buck Showalter gets another day to plot his Game 2 lineup after the second-guessers descended upon him in the opener. Chris Davis batting leadoff wasn't the only move that stirred the masses. Craig Gentry was given the start in right field over Colby Rasmus and switch-hitting spring training darling Anthony Santander. We'll never know whether Rasmus or Santander would have caught Eddie Rosario's fly ball to the track in right-center field leading off the top of the second inning, but...

Adam Jones saw one pitch today from Twins reliever Fernando Rodney leading off the bottom of the 11th inning. That's all he needed. Jones demolished a 92 mph fastball, sending it into the left field seats to give the Orioles a 3-2 win on opening day and the center fielder his first walk-off hit since a single against the Mariners in 2012. This is the third career walk-off home run for Jones, who's batting .341 with six doubles, one triple, two home runs, eight RBIs and seven runs scored in 11...

After the Orioles had blown a 2-0 lead in the ninth and then failed to score with the bases loaded and one out in the 10th, it was looking like opening day might end badly. Then one swing changed all of that. Center fielder Adam Jones blasted the first pitch of the last of the 11th over the left-field fence for a 3-2 walk-off win over the Minnesota Twins. It was the Orioles' eighth straight win in an opener and the third year in a row they won via a walk-off hit. To hear him tell it, catcher...

The Orioles' Dylan Bundy had not pitched well in three career starts against the Minnesota Twins. But on a picture-perfect 68-degree afternoon at Camden Yards, Bundy changed all that: He pitched seven shutout innings in the Orioles' 3-2 win against the Twins in their season-opening game. It was his first career opening day start. His seven-inning performance was the longest by an Orioles starter since Jake Arrieta went seven shutout innings at Camden Yards in 2012. Bundy, the Orioles' best...

Right-hander Dylan Bundy was brilliant and the Orioles finally broke up a 0-0 tie in a seventh inning where they struck out four times. But when the Twins tied the game in the ninth today, the Orioles needed more than that to produce an opening day win at Camden Yards. They needed a walk-off home run from Adam Jones. He connected off Fernando Rodney and drove it out to left on the first pitch of the last of the 11t. The Orioles beat the Twins 3-2 when Jones connected on a 92 mph fastball. From...

CINCINNATI - The precise figure varies depending on your preferred method of calculation, but here's one fact that holds true no matter the math: The Nationals have one of the highest payrolls in baseball this season. The Nationals' opening day payroll of $180,193,628 (by USA Today's calculations) ranks fourth in the majors, trailing only the Giants ($220,881,444), Red Sox ($206,247,686) and Cubs ($182,560,002). The Associated Press has the Nats tied with the Dodgers for fourth place, behind...

Reliever Pedro Araujo, the Rule 5 pick who's making the jump from Single-A Myrtle Beach to the majors, came out of the Orioles bullpen for the first time this afternoon. It wasn't a save situation. Araujo didn't protect a slim lead and no one had to save him. Veteran Darren O'Day played the role of adviser to Araujo, with more tips to come later in the day. The first step was to make sure he didn't lose his footing upon being introduced to the crowd. "My first advice is don't trip going...