WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – There’s a bit of a chill in the air here in South Florida. OK, maybe not the kind of chill all of you back home have dealt with the last six weeks, but just enough to make this feel a little more like the kind of springtime weather we’re all going to experience soon enough when the season begins. The Nationals play their thi

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s officially the home stretch of spring training. The Nationals have three more days here in Florida, with an exhibition tonight against the Marlins, Saturday against the Mets and then split-squad games Sunday against the Astros and Cardinals. Then they fly north for Monday’s exhibition finale against the Orioles. And the

SARASOTA, Fla. – Félix Bautista has become a mountainous riddle. His fastball touches 98 mph, which it’s done multiple times. He says that his arm feels good and yes, of course, he’s going to be on the Opening Day roster. His last outing was scoreless and hitless with two strikeouts. He retired the side in order after twice running the count full.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – If this was one final opportunity for Shinnosuke Ogasawara to make his case for a spot in the Nationals’ rotation, he was going to have to do something eye-opening tonight against a tough Mets lineup. Instead, the Japanese left-hander provided more of the same. And in the process probably sealed his fate. Unable to put hitte

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman found a different way to bond with Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and to learn more about his new teammate. They got away from the field and the clubhouse. They got away from baseball. They played a round of golf this week. “He’s a funny guy, just a cool dude,” Rutschman said tonight. “I know with

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It was one simulated inning against a couple of teammates on a back field with a few interested onlookers. Nothing to get too excited about. For Cade Cavalli, though, this was a significant step toward the ultimate goal of regularly pitching for the Nationals this season. Cavalli, still trying to make it all the way back fro

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – We’ve got quite a matchup tonight at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, not just for fans in Washington and New York, but also in Japan. The stars aligned perfectly to give us a head-to-head pitching showdown between Shinnosuke Ogasawara and Kodai Senga. These two guys are in very different situations. Senga has already establi

SARASOTA, Fla. – Charlie Morton will start the second game of the season on March 28 against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Two-thirds of the rotation is confirmed. Zach Eflin is the Opening Day starter on March 27. Dean Kremer and Tomoyuki Sugano, who pitches tonight, will slot further down. Morton, 41, has tossed six scoreless innings in his three spr

SARASOTA, Fla. – The penultimate home game of the exhibition season finds Ramón Urías in tonight’s lineup for the Orioles. Gunnar Henderson, however, remains out of it. Urías is playing third base, Jackson Holliday is at shortstop and Jordan Westburg is at second base. Tyler O’Neill is in left field, Colton Cowser is in center and Heston Kjerstad i

The top two picks were obvious.  Gunnar Henderson was always going to be the first selection in “The Bird’s Nest’s” 2025 Orioles fantasy draft.  As Annie Klaff and I attempted to construct two teams of the upcoming season’s top contributors, Henderson was a slam dunk. Fresh off a fourth-place AL MVP finish and a 9.1 bWAR season, the superstar carri