The Nationals can't do anything about the scarcity of exhibition games permitted by Major League Baseball - only three per team - before opening night, so they're left to try to get more creative in creating game-like situations for players during the rest of summer training.
So far, the most they've done is hold informal, intrasquad games each afternoon. Most of these have lasted only four innings, with fairly lax rules.
They'll start to get more serious this week, though, with a change...
Max Scherzer threw 48 pitches over three innings on Wednesday. Stephen Strasburg and Erick Fedde followed Friday with three innings apiece. Patrick Corbin duplicated that feat Saturday afternoon. And today, AnÃbal Sánchez topped everybody by totaling 65 pitches over four mostly sparkling innings in an intrasquad game at Nationals Park.
It's impossible to know how any of that will translate to actual performance once the actual games begin late next week. But for now, the simple fact all...
It's hard to believe the Nationals open the 2020 season in 11 days, but here we are. Barring a calamitous event - and, unfortunately, calamity must remain within the realm of possibility - Max Scherzer and company are going to take the field shortly after 7 p.m. on July 23 to face the Yankees and kick off this unprecedented baseball season.
And there's a whole lot the Nats still need to figure out between now and then. Like who's going to make the opening night roster.
Keep in mind, all...
As each day passes with no change in the status of several prominent Nationals players who have not yet been cleared to participate in summer training, the club moves a step closer to confronting a dilemma that may pale in comparison to matters of greater significance in the world right now but does matter to the defending World Series champs.
What happens if Juan Soto, Victor Robles and Howie Kendrick aren't ready for opening night?
It's a delicate subject, because the health of those three...
The Nationals' chances for success in a 60-game season would seem to be bolstered by their top-of-the-line rotation. It's the backbone upon which they built a championship last year and how they've always intended to make a run at another title this year, no matter the length of the schedule.
And in Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and AnÃbal Sánchez, they've got as good a starting quartet as there is in the majors.
They, of course, won't be making it through this...
With only three true exhibition games on their schedule, the Nationals aren't going to get much of an opportunity to build themselves up into regular season shape before opening night arrives July 23. They have to make the most of whatever game-like situations they can draw up in the meantime, such as today's four-inning intrasquad contest at Nationals Park.
"I don't feel like these guys are not going to be ready or not be prepared for what's to come," manager Davey Martinez said. "I...
Stephen Strasburg had spent the better part of a decade learning how best to prepare for - and then thrive in - a 162-game baseball season. And after years of fine-tuning and injuries and hopeful stretches following by disappointing conclusions, he figured it out at last.
Strasburg's 2019 season was the perfect culmination of a career spent tinkering. He led the league in innings pitched. He led the league in wins. And he put together one of the great postseason runs of all-time, earning World...
The Nationals got one of their key absent regulars into camp today, encouraged to see Starlin Castro in person at last while still waiting for several others to be cleared to participate in summer training.
Castro, projected to be the club's new second baseman and potentially No. 3 hitter, hadn't been allowed to come to Nationals Park upon first arriving from the Dominican Republic. Team officials have not been able to provide specific details related to players' absences during the first...
They aren't 100 percent sure they'll be able to start and complete the 2020 season yet, but Major League Baseball is already moving forward with plans for the 2021 season, releasing next year's schedule two weeks before this unprecedented campaign is set to begin.
The Nationals are scheduled to host the Mets on opening day, which falls on April 1. Their opening homestand features three games apiece with division rivals New York and Atlanta.
The Nats then hit the road and will serve as the...
When last we saw him on a baseball field, nearly four long months ago, Carter Kieboom was under an intense spotlight. And feeling the heat more often than not.
The Nationals' top hitting prospect, Kieboom was trying to prove he was ready to replace Anthony Rendon as the club's starting third baseman, despite precious little experience at the position. His performances through one month of spring training, both in exhibition games and on back fields, suggested he was far from comfortable at...
Three Nationals pitchers were confirmed today as having not participated in summer training yet, joining a group of five position players who have not yet been seen by reporters on the field through the first four workouts at Nationals Park.
Pitchers Wander Suero, Roenis ElÃas and Joan Adon have not been cleared to join the rest of the club for summer training at Nationals Park, Davey Martinez acknowledged today, though the manager added each has tested negative for COVID-19.
Suero and Adon...
A 162-game season separates the great teams from the good teams, the good teams from the average teams, the average teams from the bad teams, the bad teams from the truly wretched teams.
A 60-game season in which everybody's playing different schedules? Probably not.
As foolish as it may be right now to look ahead three months and try to deduce how a season as tenuous as this one is might play out, it's worth at least a little bit of examination. Because even though Major League Baseball will...
As the regular season creeps closer - opening night versus the Yankees is 16 days away - the Nationals are starting to ramp up baseball activities following an initial period of light individual work to begin summer training.
This morning, all available position players were on the field together for the first time since March 12. With multiple players at each position, they ran through the kind of defensive fundamental drills that are a daily staple of spring training but stand out right now...
The Nationals returned to work today, and they did so in a manner we hadn't yet seen during these first days of summer training. Every available position player was on the field at Nationals Park at the same time this morning, coaches hitting balls to various outfielders so they could work on relay throws. At the same time, a few pitchers were throwing in the bullpen.
It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a normal workout day.
"It was a good day, it really was," manager Davey...
Major League Baseball's attempt to play the 2020 season will begin at Nationals Park with a nationally televised matchup between the reigning World Series champions and the sport's most storied franchise.
The Nationals will host the Yankees on July 23 at 7:08 p.m., the first half of an opening night doubleheader on ESPN that - if successfully pulled off - will serve as the highly anticipated return of major professional team sports in America.
MLB's shortened, 60-game planned schedule, which...
The Nationals have called off today's scheduled workouts at Nationals Park amid concerns about the delay in getting COVID-19 test results back from Major League Baseball's lab.
Despite assurances from MLB that results sent to the league's lab in Salt Lake City would be available 24 hours after testing, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said players and staff members still haven't received results from the tests they all took 72 hours ago.
"We cannot have our players and staff work at...
I've been getting the question multiple times a day, from family, friends and colleagues, all curious to know: What's it been like at Nationals Park during these first three days of summer training?
Well, sorry to disappoint you, but the answer is: Pretty boring.
That's not to say my time spent at the ballpark is worthless, or normal. It's just been rather uneventful.
For those who don't know, media members are allowed to watch a portion of the daily workout (roughly 2-3 hours) from the...
Sean Doolittle is here. He's been on the field, participating fully in early summer training workouts. He has thrown off the mound, at times while wearing a mask. He wants to be around for the entire 2020 season.
But he's not completely convinced yet he's willing to take the risk.
"So far - and we're only three days into this - our medical staff has been doing an incredible job," the Nationals reliever said. "I think it's running as smoothly as it can at this point. Like a lot of...
Two Nationals players tested positive for COVID-19 during the team's initial intake testing program, manager Davey Martinez revealed today.
The club has not publicly identified the names of the two players and may only do so with the players' permission, per Major League Baseball's protocols this season. No player is allowed to report to Nationals Park before the intake testing results are returned, so neither player who tested positive has been to the stadium yet and come into contact with...
Max Scherzer laughed when a reporter mentioned hearing he threw 65 pitches to live hitters Friday during the Nationals' first workout of the summer, then made sure to clarify that manager Davey Martinez may not have conveyed that information with 100 percent accuracy.
Turns out Scherzer threw 32 pitches to hitters over two simulated innings. The 65 total Martinez revealed most likely included his warmup pitches before the batters stepped in.
Still, it's a good sign of the current state of...