The Nationals' scheduled game tonight against the Mets has been postponed due to rain that is forecast to fall throughout the evening and continue into Saturday morning.
The two teams are now scheduled to play a doubleheader, each game lasting seven innings, on Saturday beginning at 3:05 p.m. The Mets remain mathematically alive for the final wild card berth in the National League, and though they could be eliminated later tonight based on the results of other games, Major League Baseball will...
For the first time since they arrived in town a decade and a half ago, the Nationals know they have a manager for the long haul.
The organization and Davey Martinez agreed to a contract extension today, ensuring the manager who guided the franchise to its first World Series title in 2019 will remain in his position beyond 2021 and become the longest-tenured skipper in club history.
The deal has not been officially finalized yet, according to a source familiar with the discussions, but an...
This hasn't been the season Max Scherzer or the Nationals envisioned. All they can do now is try to finish strong and head into the winter with something of a positive taste left in their mouths. For Scherzer, the final opportunity to do that comes tonight against the Mets.
Though his overall numbers (4-4, 3.67 ERA, 1.386 WHIP) are not up to his usual standards, Scherzer has pitched pretty well over the second half of this season. In his last five starts, he has a 3.00 ERA and 41 strikeouts...
The Nationals have never had a batting champion since arriving in D.C. in 2005. They've had one player lead the National League in OPS.
With four days to go in the 2020 season, they might just wind up with their first player who did both.
Thanks to a strong couple of games to wrap up their just-completed series with the Phillies, Juan Soto heads into the season's final series against the Mets leading the NL in a host of offensive categories.
Soto is batting .352, tops in the NL. His.486...
Nobody has repeated as World Series champions in two decades. Suffice it to say, it's a huge challenge trying to go back-to-back under normal circumstances. And the 2020 season has been the most abnormal season of our lives.
We've accepted for some time the Nationals would not be repeating this year. Injuries, poor performances, a lack of depth and the understandable diminished motivation that was part of this season all came together to produce a disappointing, losing record.
Yet when they...
Despite hopes of a return before the season ends Sunday, Carter Kieboom's hand injury proved too severe to take the chance, so the Nationals placed their rookie third baseman on the 10-day injured list this afternoon.
Kieboom officially has a left wrist contusion after getting hit by a pitch from Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler during the sixth inning Monday night at Nationals Park. X-rays were negative, showing no fracture, but Kieboom's hand was swollen and he immediately departed the...
The Nationals opened this bizarre season 0-6 against the Phillies. Who'd have thought they'd have a chance to finish 4-6 against their division rivals? A win tonight would complete a four-game sweep, deal Philadelphia another blow to its postseason chances and keep the Nats' minuscule chances alive for another day.
A loss tonight doesn't automatically eliminate the Nationals. One of the Cardinals, Brewers or Giants would also need to win, raising their season win total to 28 (which the Nats...
Some more things to ponder after a long, wild, ultimately successful Tuesday afternoon and evening at the ballpark ...
* Yadiel Hernández's walk-off homer won it for the Nationals, but some unheralded bullpen work earlier made it possible in the first place.
Even though he got a complete game from Austin Voth in the doubleheader opener, manager Davey Martinez said he was working with a depleted relief corps in the nightcap. Will Harris was unavailable after pitching Sunday and Monday. Kyle...
When he was sent down Friday, hitless in seven at-bats, Yadiel Hernández couldn't help but wonder if he had just blown his first and only chance in the big leagues. His first call-up didn't come until he was nearly 33. Would he even get a second one?
"A lot of bad things ran through my head in that moment," the rookie outfielder said tonight, Octavio Martinez interpreting for him in a Zoom session with reporters. "Frustrated. And I felt like moreso I kept reflecting and telling myself:...
Well, the Nationals remain mathematically alive. They've won three in a row, including the first two in this series against the Phillies, and they'll try to pull off a doubleheader sweep here tonight and keep that dim flame from burning out.
After Austin Voth tossed the first complete game of his career this afternoon, the Nats bullpen is as fresh as it could be. Which means they may not need to rely on too much out of Paolo Espino, who makes his first major league start since 2017. The...
If you're one of those who likes to cling to faint hopes and won't concede anything until it's 100 percent guaranteed, you're in luck. Because the Nationals, despite their ridiculously long odds, are still mathematically alive in the National League pennant race.
And pretty much everything they needed to happen Monday night around the league actually happened.
The evening began with the Nats having no more margin for error. Their tragic number to be eliminated from contention was two, with...
The Nationals took the field tonight knowing it could be the last time they do so this season for an officially meaningful game. Though they've privately conceded they aren't going to the playoffs for some time now, there was a chance they could actually be eliminated tonight, if they lost to the Phillies and the Reds beat the Brewers.
Cincinnati did its part. But the Nationals did theirs, beating the Phillies 5-1 and surviving for at least one more day.
Behind five effective (if elongated)...
Aaron Barrett's latest return to the Nationals bullpen came to an abrupt halt due to another injury. And James Bourque's first opportunity to pitch regularly in the big leagues has also been cut short due to injury.
Barrett, who made national headlines last season when he pitched in the majors three years after breaking his arm while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, was placed on the 10-day injured list today with a right triceps strain, one of a flurry of transactions announced by the...
We have reached the final week of a most unusual regular season. Around these parts, that usually means a pennant race, a potential clincher for the Nationals and maybe a few days to rest guys up for the postseason. Not in 2020. Though the Nats are technically still alive, practically speaking they're done. Their elimination number, if you're wondering, is currently three, so the earliest they could be officially knocked out is Tuesday. (Update: It turns out they actually could be eliminated...
Eric Thames, only minutes removed from dropping the throw that sent the Nationals to an agonizing, 2-1 loss to the Marlins in the opener of Sunday's doubleheader, was asked during his Zoom session with reporters how high the frustration level has become on the majors' most disappointing team of 2020.
His answer, which grew more and more exasperated with each sentence, revealed a lot more than that.
"It's very frustrating living life as it is now," Thames said. "It's not just on-the-field...
If this wasn't the epitome of the Nationals' 2020 season, it's tough to imagine a sequence that could define this agonizing campaign any better.
Max Scherzer on the mound, his pitch count well into triple digits. The Marlins threatening to take a late lead. Manager Davey Martinez trusting his ace to get out of the jam over anyone out of his bullpen. And then a defensive miscue costing Scherzer and his team the game.
Despite thinking for a split-second he had escaped a bases-loaded jam with a...
Some quick-hit news and notes before the Nationals take the field in Miami for the start of today's doubleheader against the Marlins ...
* Yan Gomes is behind the plate for the opener, a bit of a surprise because Max Scherzer is on the mound. Scherzer typically pairs up with Kurt Suzuki; in fact, Suzuki caught all 10 of his previous starts this season.
"Just wanted to change it up," manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "I talked to Max and Yan before...
OK, it's time for the second of three doubleheaders the Nationals have scheduled in a five-day span. Slowly but surely, they're getting through this rough stretch and approaching the finish line of a difficult season.
Davey Martinez decided to have Max Scherzer start this afternoon's opener in Miami, thinking he can hopefully get six or even seven innings out of his ace and save his entire bullpen for the nightcap, in which Ben Braymer will start but several relievers will be needed....
Cade Cavalli could justifiably look at the summer of 2020 and be bitter he missed out on his first season of professional baseball. With no minor leagues and no opponents to face, the Nationals' first-round pick could only spend the last two months working out every single day at the club's alternate training site in Fredericksburg, pitching simulated games to the same group of hitters over and over and over.
You'll hear no such complaints from Cavalli. If anything, you'll hear nothing but...
It's impossible to look at the Nationals' record following tonight's 7-3 loss in Miami and not feel something.
Yes, they're now 19-31. That might make you laugh. It might make you cry. It might make you roll your eyes and wonder if the baseball gods have some kind of perverse sense of humor.
"Just so you know," Davey Martinez interjected tonight in his postgame Zoom session with reporters, "I really don't like that number. It worked out last year, but I'd rather be 31-19."
Fair...
