Nationals president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo met with the media after the Nationals' 5-1 win over the Reds on Monday. It was the first time he had spoken publicly since the team suspended closer Jonathan Papelbon for four games without pay following Papelbon's physical altercation with Bryce Harper in the dugout during Sunday's game. Rizzo explained the reasoning for Papelbon's suspension: "We hold our players at a high standard. I always brag about the fact...

The Toronto Blue Jays begin a series in Baltimore tonight against the Orioles as a team closing in on the American League East championship. They hold a four-game lead over the New York Yankees and a magic number of four to succeed the Orioles as division champs. Toronto beat Tampa Bay 5-4 Sunday on Josh Donaldson's walk-off homer. At 90-65, they are a season-high 25 games above .500 for the first time since the final day of the 1993 season (95-67, +28 games). Toronto owns the highest win...

Rain is in the forecast pretty much the entire week and it started to fall this afternoon as the Blue Jays were taking their final swings in batting practice. The tarp is on the Camden Yards field after the grounds crew lined up behind it and waited for the Jays to finish. It's more of a drizzle right now and there's no word on whether the weather will impact the 7:05 p.m. starting time. Reliever Darren O'Day will receive the 2015 Bob Feller Act of Valor Award before the game. The award is...

As the Orioles and Nationals put the finishing touches on disappointing seasons, here is what else is going on around baseball: * The Orioles were shut out three times in Boston over the weekend, essentially ending their slim chance for a wild card. Even though the Orioles have dominated the Red Sox since the end of 2011, the takeaway is that Boston's building block players - Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rusney Castillo, Xander Bogaerts, Henry Owens and Blake Swihart - are going to be a...

Jonathan Papelbon will not be around his Nationals teammates for the final seven games of the season. The question remains whether Papelbon will ever call them teammates again. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo acquired the controversial closer three days before the trade deadline. How much the move affected the clubhouse is not entirely known, but the Nationals went 27-31 after the trade and turned a two-game division lead into a 9 1/2-game deficit. Besides the fact that Papelbon blew two...

The reality must be setting in after a scoreless weekend in Boston that the Orioles are now on the brink of official elimination from the 2015 playoff race. Their elimination number is 2 as they begin the final homestand tonight against Toronto. Another reality is also at hand - some players may be playing their final week in an Orioles uniform. Pending free agent catcher Matt Wieters is on that list of players. Has he thought about that yet? "I'm trying to embrace it and enjoy this last bit...

The Orioles haven't named a starter for Thursday's series finale against the Blue Jays, but rookie Tyler Wilson is expected to get the call. Manager Buck Showalter is waiting until Miguel Gonzalez comes off the disabled list and makes Tuesday night's start, in case he needs to dig deep into his bullpen. Wilson is 2-2 with a 3.60 ERA in eight appearances, including four starts. In his last outing, he held the Nationals to two runs over six innings in the Orioles' 5-4 victory in D.C. Wilson...

Right-hander Max Scherzer off to a good start against the Reds. Through four innings he has not allowed a hit. Scherzer has struck out five, with at least one strikeout in every inning but the third. He has walked two batters. Tyler Moore made a diving catch on a liner off the bat of Reds left fielder Skip Schumaker in the third. Reds left-hander Brandon Finnegan did well to keep the Nationals off the board until the fourth. Moore singled with one out. Matt den Dekker then lined a double over...

The Nationals punished outfielder Bryce Harper for his role in yesterday's dugout fight with closer Jonathan Papelbon by sitting the star slugger for this afternoon's game against the Reds. During his pregame press conference, Nationals manager Matt Williams struggled while attempting to give a clear explanation of what Harper did wrong to receive the penalty. "I don't know what he could've done differently, but he was involved in it," Williams said. "So that being said, we have to...

Nationals manager Matt Williams took responsibility for allowing right-hander Jonathan Papelbon to continue to pitch after a physical dugout altercation in the eighth inning of Sunday's 12-5 loss to the Phillies. Williams said Papelbon would not have pitched in the ninth inning if he had known the extent of the altercation, where Papelbon appeared to put his hand around the neck of teammate Bryce Harper, when it happened on the left side of the dugout near the steps to the field. During games,...