The Nationals played the 2,632nd regular season game in their history this evening, which means they've now existed as long as Cal Ripken Jr.'s consecutive games streak lasted from 1982-98. That's nearly 17 seasons of the third incarnation of Major League Baseball in D.C.
And though there have been no shortage of dizzying highs and terrifying lows along the way, the Nationals have always been able to stake claim to this irrefutable fact: In all that time, they've never been no-hit.
There...
The Nationals got another veteran back on their roster for the season's final weeks, activating infielder Jordy Mercer after a lengthy stint on the 10-day injured list before tonight's series opener against the Marlins.
Mercer, who hadn't played since straining his left calf muscle July 20 against Miami, returns to the active roster after a brief rehab appearance with Double-A Harrisburg last week. The 35-year-old played in three games for the Senators, going 3-for-9 with two walks and three...
Would you believe we're down to the final three weeks of the season? Yep, tonight the Nationals begin a six-game homestand with the Marlins and Rockies. After that, they're on a three-city road trip to Miami, Cincinnati and Colorado. And then they come home for the final series against the Red Sox. And that's it. Time flies when you're having fun. Or something like that.
The Nats will be hoping to actually win this series from the Marlins, a task that proved too difficult the last time they...
Juan Soto had little impact on the Nationals' 6-2 victory Sunday in Pittsburgh. He didn't drive in any runs. He scored only once. He took only one at-bat with a runner on base. He made no notable plays in right field.
And yet the young star still had one of the best individual performances of the day, which it turns out was just like so many other performances he's delivered this season.
With two walks, a triple and a double over five plate appearances, Soto reached base four times. It's...
The Nationals got their customary production today from a lineup that has quietly turned into a legitimate strength but too often has been wasted by ineffective pitching performances, especially from those charged with taking the mound late in games.
Eight times since Aug. 25, this team had scored five or more runs. And proceeded to lose all eight games, the longest such streak in major league history.
So when they looked up at the scoreboard in Pittsburgh this afternoon and saw five runs on...
Keibert Ruiz passed concussion tests and has been cleared to play, but the rookie Nationals catcher is not in the lineup for today's series finale in Pittsburgh.
Ruiz, who was struck near his right ear by a pitch from Pirates reliever Kyle Keller during Saturday night's game, remains sore, but is allowed to play if needed.
"He's clear," manager Davey Martinez said in his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "I talked to him this morning. He's a bit sore. He's going to go through his...
If you thought a lighter schedule was going to help the Nationals finish out a disappointing season strong, well, that hasn't exactly played out as hoped so far this weekend. With back-to-back losses to the Pirates, the Nats are now in danger of being swept by one of the worst teams in baseball. (The Pirates, for what it's worth, haven't swept anyone in a three-game series this season.)
So if they're going to avoid this latest ignominy, the Nationals will need a much better performance...
Try as he might to ignore it at the time, Josh Bell couldn't avoid knowing his stat line on May 13, the low point of a 2021 season that was shaping up to be a disaster.
The big slugger, in his first season with the Nationals, was batting .133 with three homers, 10 RBIs, a .198 on-base percentage, .289 slugging percentage and .487 OPS that ranked among the lowest in the majors. And this was with the season nearly one-quarter complete.
So imagine what Bell thinks these days when he sees his...
They got another quality start from Josh Rogers. They got a big blast from Josh Bell in his return to Pittsburgh. The Nationals just needed their bullpen to finish off the Pirates.
A bullpen that featured two unfamiliar people pitching the bottom of the ninth, which ultimately undid the Nats.
Patrick Murphy, given a chance to close with Kyle Finnegan unavailable due to his recent workload, got into a jam and had to give way to Alberto Baldonado, who inherited a second-and-third jam and let the...
Major League Baseball has suspended Nationals pitcher Sean Nolin five games and manager Davey Martinez one game after determining Nolin intentionally hit Braves slugger Freddie Freeman with a pitch Wednesday night in Atlanta.
Nolin, who was also fined an undisclosed amount, initially appealed his suspension and was to remain on the active roster until his case was heard, but the Nationals later announced the lefty dropped his appeal and began serving the suspension tonight. Martinez is serving...
If you're interested in silver linings, here's one for you: The Nationals are done playing the National League's division title contenders for the season. Yep, they're wrapped things up against the Braves, Phillies, Mets, Brewers, Giants and Dodgers, and though there are still series remaining with the wild card contending Reds and Red Sox, the worst of the schedule is now behind them.
And that could be significant, because of this fact: The Nats finished a dismal 22-55 against those six NL...
We are inching toward the finish line of this most unusual season. The Nationals have 22 games left to play, none of them against the National League East's three remaining contenders. It's going to be the Pirates, Marlins (home and home), Rockies (home and home), Reds and Red Sox to close out the 2021 campaign, so there appear to be both winnable games and some interesting matchups with playoff contenders still on tap over the final three weeks.
Before the Nats get a weekend series going in...
If the final month of this lost season is about giving young players a chance to grow and establish their place within the Nationals' plans in 2022 and beyond, tonight's 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Braves provided no shortage of evidence for several potential building blocks on the roster. In both positive and negative ways.
The positives: Carter Kieboom and Lane Thomas delivered clutch hits in the late innings. Luis GarcÃa produced a highlight-reel sequence at the plate and in the field in...
For all the good he has done since joining the Nationals last month - and he's done a lot of good - Lane Thomas has one curious blemish on his otherwise sparkling resume: baserunning blunders.
The 26-year-old outfielder has twice been thrown out on the bases not because of anything the opposing defense did, but because of his own lack of awareness of the rules.
It happened Tuesday night during the ninth inning of the Nats' 4-2 win over the Braves. Leading off from first base with nobody out,...
The Nationals gutted out a 4-2 victory Wednesday night in Atlanta, thanks to 8 2/3 innings from six relievers who were thrust into overtime duties after Sean Nolin was ejected eight pitches in for throwing at Freddie Freeman. Where does that leave them for tonight's series finale at Truist Park?
Well, first and foremost, they need innings from Erick Fedde. That's a big ask for a guy who needed 80 pitches just to get through three innings against the Mets last weekend. Not to mention a big ask...
Sean Nolin's ejection eight pitches in Wednesday night added some drama to what might otherwise have been an insignificant ballgame in Atlanta. But it also set in motion a link of falling dominoes that would impact not only that game but tonight's series finale and perhaps some portion of this weekend's series in Pittsburgh.
For those who missed it: Nolin was ejected by plate umpire Lance Barksdale after twice throwing fastballs at Freddie Freeman - the first one sailed behind his head, the...
For Sean Nolin and the Nationals, the message (standing up for a star teammate against an opponent that appeared to hit him on purpose the previous night) superseded all else. If it meant the rest of the pitching staff would face an extreme uphill battle from that point on, so be it. The message, even if nobody would publicly admit it after the fact, was more important.
And when Nolin intentionally threw at Freddie Freeman on successive pitches in the bottom of the first tonight in Atlanta,...
Keibert Ruiz's much-hyped Nationals debut came eight days ago, in the club's homestand opener against the Phillies, with fellow former Dodgers prospect Josiah Gray on the mound. Since then, the rookie catcher has gone a pedestrian 3-for-21 at the plate, started four games, fouled a ball off his right knee and spent three days recovering from the bone bruise that caused.
The Nats can only hope Ruiz will find his rhythm now that he's back in the lineup for tonight's game against the Braves....
What's the best thing the Nationals could do to give themselves a better chance of winning tonight against the Braves? How about a quality performance from their starter, allowing them to avoid falling into an early hole yet again and asking their lineup to battle back just to make it interesting late?
As impressive as the offense has been with all these rallies of late - they've come back to at least tie the game six straight times - the task would be so much simpler if they weren't giving...
When Ryan Zimmerman drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth Friday night, Nationals manager Davey Martinez immediately sent Andrew Stevenson out to pinch-run for the veteran. And wouldn't you know it, but minutes later Stevenson was racing around the bases and ultimately colliding with Mets catcher Chance Sisco en route to scoring the game-tying run.
So when Zimmerman drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the eighth Monday afternoon, all eyes turned to the home dugout to see if Stevenson...
