Teams can win games any number of ways during the regular season.
You can have a high-powered offense, one that lives by the home run. You can be aggressive on the basepaths, putting pressure on the opposing defense by taking extra bases. You can have a strong defensive club, one that makes all the routine plays and has a way of stealing a few outs, as well.
The Nationals have shown that they have the ability to win games in any of those ways. But in the postseason, pitching is paramount. You...
Major League Baseball has announced start times for the early Division Series games, and while we don't know exactly when the Nationals will play their first postseason game, we now have a better idea.
If the Pirates win the National League wild card Game on Wednesday, Game 1 of the NLDS at Nationals Park will start at 12:07 p.m. on Friday.
If the Giants win the wild card game, then they will take on the Nats in Game 1 starting at 3:07 p.m.
Saturday's Game 2 between the Nats and the wild card...
A no-hitter is thrown by the pitcher, so he gets most of the attention for his well-deserved accomplishment.
Jordan Zimmermann's name is plastered everywhere across the sports landscape today - newspapers, Web sites, national highlight shows. The right-hander pitched a gem yesterday, recorded the first no-hitter in Nationals history, and did it in grand fashion, on the final day of the regular season.
But everyone on the Nationals' roster got to experience the joy of Zimmermann's no-hitter...
The regular season finale belonged to Jordan Zimmermann.
A day that was supposed to be about getting the Nationals' regulars a couple of at-bats and then making sure they finished the season healthy suddenly turned into a, 'There's no way he could actually do this, right?' afternoon for a starting pitcher who hadn't appeared in a game in eight days and had been drilled on the right shoulder by a line drive in his last start.
Zimmermann cut through the Marlins' lineup in a swift 121...
We have reached the final game of the regular season.
With Ryan Zimmerman getting the start in left field, Bryce Harper will shift to right field and Jayson Werth will get the afternoon off.
Jordan Zimmermann is making his first start since Sept. 20 after being struck on the back of his right shoulder in Miami.
The Nationals want to make sure Zimmermann is OK as the team prepares for the playoffs.
Zimmermann is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four starts in September and is 7-0 with a 2.06 ERA...
Stephen Strasburg will go into the playoffs riding quite a hot streak.
He's not unlike his ballclub as a whole, in that regard.
Strasburg threw six scoreless innings today, allowing just two hits, walking a batter and striking out seven in picking up his 14th win of the season in the Nationals' 5-1 victory over the Marlins.
This gives Strasburg 20 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three starts, and he now has a 1.13 ERA over his last six outings.
Is that good?
Asdrubal Cabrera...
Ryan Zimmerman is the only Nationals regular not in the lineup for this afternoon's game against the Marlins.
Zimmerman played in each of the club's four games over the last two days, starting the first game of each doubleheader.
With Zimmerman opening the day on the bench, Asdrubal Cabrera is at second with Anthony Rendon at third and Bryce Harper in left field. Williams is starting close to his full lineup as the Nats hope to get the regulars ready for the National League Division...
It cannot be easy playing four games in two days.
Heck, all I did was sit around and watch four games in two days and talk about it on TV a bit, and I'm exhausted right now. I can't imagine how the players or coaches feel after going through that physical and mental wringer.
It cannot be easy, especially at this point in the season, when bodies are tired and pitchers' arms have logged dozens upon dozens of innings. Especially when there are bigger goals that still lie ahead, and the last...
The Nationals concluded their four-game-in-two-day stretch tonight by getting pounded by the Marlins 15-7, but that means nothing.
Matt Williams' ball club had already clinched home-field advantage through the National League side of the playoffs earlier today by way of their 4-0 win over Miami, so the nightcap was meaningless from a standings perspective.
The Nats got in their work, got a couple regulars some at-bats to stay fresh, and emerged healthy after a really rough last 48...
Denard Span is in the starting lineup for the first time since leaving Tuesday's game early with a scraped knee.
Span left in the third inning after making a diving catch to end the inning against the Mets.
Ryan Zimmerman will get the start in left field with Bryce Harper moving over to right.
Right-hander Doug Fister seeks his career-high 16th win of the season.
With a win, the Nationals can clinch home-field advantage in the National League throughout the playoffs.
For the...
A long day ends with a win, one that trims the Nationals' magic number to clinch the best record in the National League to one.
Gio Gonzalez threw seven stellar, scoreless innings, striking out a career-high 12, leading the Nats to a 3-0 win over the Mets.
Anthony Rendon went 2-for-3 with an RBI and the Nats did enough to get to Zack Wheeler the second time through the order, putting up three runs in the fourth.
That was all they needed.
Here's Matt Williams after the win:
On Gonzalez...
Following last night's postponement, the Nationals will have a slightly different lineup.
Michael A. Taylor will lead off and get the start in center field, with Denard Span still out with a scraped right knee. Ryan Zimmerman is starting in left field for the first time since Saturday.
Jayson Werth will also sit out Game 1 of the doubleheader and Bryce Harper will start in right.
Kevin Frandsen will start in favor of Anthony Rendon at third base.
Rookie right-hander Blake Treinen will...
As expected, Nationals center fielder Denard Span is getting today off. And as expected, Ryan Zimmerman is back in the lineup.
Span will rest tonight after banging and scraping his knee on the warning track while making a sliding catch last night. That will free up a spot for Zimmerman to return to the lineup after getting the last three days off. Zimmerman will play left field tonight, and Bryce Harper will slide over and play center.
Gio Gonzalez will make what's scheduled to be his last...
Back on July 29, the Nationals held a half-game lead over the Braves atop the National League East.
As of this morning, that division lead is now 16 1/2 games, which if the season finished today would rank as the fifth-most lopsided NL East division title since 1969 and the most lopsided since 2002.
Yup, in less than a two-month window, the Nats have gained 16 games on Atlanta, which is an indicator both of how well Washington has played in that time (the Nats have gone 35-17 since July 30),...
Nationals fans surely held their breath when they saw Denard Span get removed for a pinch-hitter in the third inning after making a remarkable, tumbling grab to end the top of the third, but the good news - on top of the 4-2 Washington win tonight - is that Span doesn't appear to have suffered a serious injury.
Manager Matt Williams said after tonight's win that Span just banged and scraped his right knee while making that sliding catch on a Matt den Dekker liner to the warning track in...
Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon both get a night off as the Nationals open a three-game series against the Mets tonight.
Zimmerman, who also sat out Sunday's game, was originally scheduled to start at third base today. But since he felt soreness in his hamstring on Saturday, manager Matt Williams wants him to go through a workout today.
Rendon sits for the second time in six games as Williams rests his regulars leading up to the playoffs.
Kevin Frandsen is at third and Asdrubal Cabrera...
Tanner Roark will get the ball today for his 31st start of the season, and should he happen to work 7 2/3 or more innings, he'll top the 200-inning mark for the 2014 campaign, a milestone for many pitchers.
Roark has posted a 2.85 ERA this season, which only ranks 17th among qualified major league starters. No big deal.
He has an ERA-plus (which is adjusted to the pitcher's ballpark, where a league-average mark is 100) of 131, eighth-best in the National League. Decent, I guess.
His...
When the Nationals' team plane landed at Dulles Airport last night following the team's long 11-game road trip, there was a sign waiting for them on the tarmac.
"Congrats NL East Champs," it read.
When the team buses pulled up to Nationals Park about an hour later, there were a bunch of visitors waiting for them.
A group of probably close to 100 fans had congregated at the park, chanting and cheering and holding up signs to welcome their ballclub home.
It's good to be back in D.C., all...
MIAMI - What do Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman, Denard Span, Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos have in common?
They're all on the bench for this afternoon's finale of a four-game series against the Marlins. Manager Matt Williams is taking advantage of his team's early clinching of the National League East to rest a significant portion of his starting nine.
The Nationals are going for their second four-game sweep of the season (they took four straight from Arizona from Aug. 18-21) and the eighth in...
MIAMI - Ryan Zimmerman returned from a nearly two-month absence and delivered two hits, including a triple. Jordan Zimmermann got drilled by a comebacker in his pitching shoulder but still delivered six strong innings. Denard Span faced a tough lefty with two outs and a runner in scoring position in a big spot, and delivered the game-winning hit.
The Nationals keep on rolling.
Zimmerman went 2-for-3 with a triple in his first game back from a strained hamstring, Zimmermann came out with just a...
