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Manager: Kevin Cash (4th season)
Record: 8-13
Last 10 games: 5-5
Who to watch: CF Mallex Smith (.344/.412/.871) 1B C.J. Cron (5 HR, 13 RBIs), OF Denard Span (17 RBIs), 2B Daniel Robertson (.318), RHP Blake Snell (3-1, 2.54 ERA)
Season series vs. Orioles: First meeting (11-8 in 2017)
Pitching probables:
April 24: RHP Jake Faria (1-1) vs. RHP Alex Cobb (0-2), 7:05 p.m., MASNApril 25: RHP Chris Archer (1-1) vs. RHP Dylan Bundy (1-2), 7:05 p.m., MASN2April 26: RHP Blake Snell (3-1) vs. Chris...
The bullpen will be a huge key as to how far the Nationals go this season and how their final month ends up.
The big three of Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler and Sean Doolittle are the critical players, but guys like Sammy SolÃs, Shawn Kelley, Matt Grace and Trevor Gott will get their share of opportunities to be difference makers as well.
How important the bullpen will be was never more impactful to the season than on display Sunday night in their 4-3 loss to the Dodgers. The club was unable...
LOS ANGELES - The Nationals head to San Francisco for the final leg of their three-city road trip with a 10-12 record that feels like it should at least be flipped around, if not even better than that.
The Nats are 1-5 in one-run games so far this season, the lone victory coming way back in the opening series in Cincinnati after Sean Doolittle gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth before hanging on.
Surely they could have pulled out wins in a couple of those tight ballgames had...
LOS ANGELES - There's no shame losing two of three at Dodger Stadium to the defending National League champs. The Nationals shouldn't walk out of here with heads hung low.
Yet after beating Clayton Kershaw in Friday's opener and then getting a gem from Stephen Strasburg on Saturday and then holding a three-run lead in the sixth inning tonight, this weekend felt like something of a missed opportunity, capped by a 4-3 loss in the Sunday night finale.
"You always want to win games, especially...
When I interviewed Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette on the radio on Sunday, he pointed out that many factors have contributed to the Orioles' dismal 6-16 start. But he seemed to focus more on the strikeout total on offense and the misplays on defense.
Duquette was my guest on "Orioles Baseball Tonight" on flagship station 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore.
I asked him if a team that has lost 10 of 12 and is already 10 games under .500 has dug too big a hole to...
Former Senators outfielder Curt Flood "approach(ed) perfection" with St. Louis in 1963. That same year, former Washington slugger Harmon Killebrew was described as strikeout-prone and overpriced as a Minnesota Twin. Former Nationals manager Frank Robinson was "upset" by the changeup as a Cincinnati Red in the spring of 1964.
Those are the professional opinions of Branch Rickey, whose more than 1,750 scouting reports and other baseball-related papers and correspondence have been digitized by...
From a personal standpoint, Manny Machado is riding the highest professional wave right now. He's red-hot at the plate with a 10-game hitting streak and three multi-home run games this season. He's hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games.
Machado has posted a .410 average (16-for-39) during his streak with five home runs, 11 RBIs and eight runs scored.
According to STATS, Machado is tied for sixth all-time in multi-homer games by a right-handed hitter 25 years old or younger. Jimmie Foxx, Bob...
LOS ANGELES - It took about three weeks, but Ryan Zimmerman and Michael A. Taylor have finally gotten hot at the plate. And at the same time, no less, much to the Nationals' happiness.
Zimmerman and Taylor each delivered big extra-base hits early tonight to stake the Nats to a 2-0 lead over the Dodgers and continue their recent upswing.
Zimmerman led off the top of the second with a double down the right field line, eventually scoring on Pedro Severino's sacrifice fly to center. That hit was...
The Washington Nationals recalled right-handed pitcher Austin L. Adams from Triple-A Syracuse and placed infielder Anthony Rendon on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to April 19) with a toe contusion on Sunday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.
Adams, 26, gets the call for his first Major League assignment of the season. He joins the Nationals after a strong start with Triple-A Syracuse where he is 2-for-2 in save...
LOS ANGELES - For eight days, they waited and hoped Anthony Rendon would be able to return to the lineup after fouling a ball off his left big toe. On the ninth day, the Nationals finally decided they could wait no longer.
Except now they'll have to wait at least seven more days for Rendon to be eligible to return from the disabled list.
In formally placing Rendon on the 10-day DL this afternoon, the Nationals extended the third baseman's time away beyond what it might have been had they...