CHICAGO – Hello from The Friendly Confines, where it’s unseasonably warm for this time of year. The temperature reached the high 80s this afternoon, which is not the way it’s supposed to be in late September in Chicago. The wind will be blowing out to left field, though, so perhaps the Nationals can take advantage and actually hit the ball in the air for some power.

The lineup is missing Luis García Jr. for the second straight day, the second baseman still bothered by a sore right wrist. Getting the start in his place, though, is a new face: Darren Baker. Yes, the kid is in the lineup for the first time in the big leagues, and he’ll be playing in one of the ballparks he grew up in while his dad was managing the Cubs. That’s got to be a thrill for both him and Dusty.

The Nationals are facing right-hander Javier Assad, who they saw a few weeks ago in D.C. Assad tossed a quality start in that Aug. 31 game, allowing three runs over six innings. Andrés Chaparro got to him for a solo homer along the way.

It’s Patrick Corbin on the mound for the Nats in what looks to be his penultimate start for the franchise. With the team going to a six-man rotation the rest of the way with Trevor Williams coming off the injured list, Corbin is tentatively lined up to make his final start one week from today against the Royals. He’ll look to keep the Cubs within the confines tonight and give his teammates a chance.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 7:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 79 degrees, wind 9 mph right field to left field

The Orioles’ penultimate home series concludes this afternoon with Heston Kjerstad in right field and Jackson Holliday getting back-to-back starts at second base.

Coby Mayo is on the bench.

Zach Eflin is making his eighth start with the Orioles. He’s posted a 2.22 ERA and 1.030 WHIP in 44 2/3 innings.

Eflin has faced the Giants eight times (six starts) and registered a 4.79 ERA and 1.402 WHIP in 35 2/3 innings.

The Orioles trail the Yankees by five games in the division and still lead the Royals by 2 1/2 for the first wild card.

35,000 FEET OVER AMERICA – I always get a kick out of using this dateline.

As you read this, I am (I hope) en route from New York to Chicago for the final road series of the season. The Nationals just got swept in ugly fashion by the Mets. Now they've got a four-game weekend series at Wrigley Field against a Cubs team that's technically still in the race but would need a miracle to make up a seven-game deficit with only 10 games to play. So perhaps that plays to the Nats' advantage.

There will be plenty to discuss when the season ends next week, but let's go ahead and take the opportunity this morning to start addressing some of those pertinent Hot Stove topics. Where do the Nationals look to be in good shape heading into 2025? Where do they need to improve? What are the chances they will be able to adequately improve and actually become a contender again?

Submit your questions in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my answers. Fingers crossed the WiFi works and I'm able to crank out my responses while we're in the air. If for some reason you don't see anything from me by, say, 10:30 a.m. EDT, there unfortunately was a problem. Apologies in advance if that happens!

Dean Kremer’s first pitch of tonight’s game sailed 397 feet to right field for a leadoff home run. Gunnar Henderson began the bottom of the first inning by flying out and slamming his bat to the ground in anger.

Immediate signs of an Orioles’ turnaround weren’t detected. They’d flicker over the course of the night and burn out.

A lead in the third inning and subsequent rallies provided false hope. Walk-up music reverted back to the original playlist, but the Orioles maintained their post-break ways with a 5-3 loss to the Giants before an announced crowd of 23,856 at Camden Yards.

Kremer allowed four earned runs and five total in six innings, the victim of some tough luck, and the Orioles fell to 84-68 with their fifth loss in six games, eighth in 10 and ninth in 12. They’ve gone 26-30 in the second half but maintain a 2 1/2 game lead for the first wild card.

The Orioles are only 16 games above .500 for the first time since May 31. They're 19-26 against the National League.

NEW YORK – If the Mets make the postseason – and it’s increasingly looking like they will – the Nationals will have played a significant supporting role in making it happen.

Teams may not play as many intradivision games as they used to, but they still face each other 13 times a year. And the outcomes of those games can go a long way toward determining a pennant race.

They certainly have in the case of the National League Wild Card race between the Mets and Braves. Because the Nats’ head-to-head results against those two combatants turned out to be wildly different.

Tonight’s 10-0 shellacking at Citi Field completed a season-long thumping at the hands of the Mets. The Nationals finished a dismal 2-11 against them, including 0-6 on the road. Compare that with their impressive 8-5 mark against Atlanta, and you quickly understand how New York has opened up a two-game lead for that final postseason berth with 10 games to go.

"We talk all the time about playing in our division," manager Davey Martinez said. "We've played some teams really well in our division. Some teams, we haven't. The teams that we don't play good against, we have to get better against them."

Having fallen four games out in the American League East race with 11 games left, the Orioles host San Francisco tonight in Game 2 of a three-game series at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (84-67) were held to five hits and blanked 10-0 last night. They have been shut out twice in the last four games, three times in the last eight and eight times on the season.

They have scored six runs the past four games and just 21 over the last 11 games, going 3-8. In that span, they are batting .189 with a .577 OPS and are 9-for-64 (.141) with runners in scoring position. Baltimore batters have scored two runs or less seven times in this span.

The Orioles are now 17 games over the .500 mark, the fewest they have been over .500 since June 6.

The O's have lost four of five, seven of nine, eight of 11 and are 26-29 since the All-Star break, 19-23 since Aug. 1 and 31-36 since July 1.

NEW YORK – Trevor Williams is set to return from the injured list and start Friday in Chicago, which sets up the Nationals to finish out the season with a six-man rotation.

Williams has cleared all hurdles in his rehab from a flexor strain in his elbow and will be activated off the 60-day IL this weekend, making his return to the mound Friday afternoon against the Cubs.

“He says he feels good,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’ll get a chance to start, and we’ll get a chance to push these guys back a little bit.”

Williams hasn’t pitched since May 30, after which he reported elbow pain and the flexor strain was diagnosed. It took 3 1/2 months, but the right-hander made it through the entire rehab process in time to pitch again, even if he’ll only make two big league starts before season’s end.

Given how well he pitched prior to the injury – 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA and 1.076 WHIP in 11 starts – Williams earned the opportunity to come back and make these final starts, even if he doesn’t figure into the Nationals’ long-term plans. A pending free agent, the 32-year-old will get the chance to prove he’s healthy heading into the offseason.

Craig Kimbel’s old locker is empty except for a row of hangers. His belongings are gone.

The former closer has left the building.

The Orioles designated Kimbrel for assignment earlier today and recalled reliever Bryan Baker. They made the move after he was charged last night with a career-high six runs in two-thirds of an inning, the last straw with his chances for inclusion on the playoff roster dissolved a while ago.

“Tough day,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We have so much respect for Craig and his career and what he’s done for the game, how long he’s pitched, how long he’s pitched well. So it’s never easy to say goodbye to somebody who’s done a lot.”

Kimbrel, 36, was an All-Star snub after posting a 2.80 ERA and 0.962 WHIP in 39 appearances, but he had a 10.59 ERA and 2.177 WHIP in 18 games since the break and never responded to a second reset.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde described it as a “tough day” as the team designated for assignment closer Craig Kimbrel. Hyde called him a “great teammate and class act.”

When I asked ace right-hander Corbin Burnes about Kimbrel, he said similar things. He may have been a poor pitcher for the team in the second half but his teammates sure seemed to support and have respect for him. And Burnes said even as Kimbrel’s season was spiraling downward he was in the clubhouse helping other players.

But in the end, performance matters most. And he went from an ERA of 2.80 in the first half to a pitcher that in 18 second-half games was 1-3 with a 10.59 ERA and 2.177 WHIP.

“Obviously it’s tough,” said Burnes. “You never want to see a guy get designated. A guy that has been here all year and given a lot to this team. And been a leader in the clubhouse, been a leader in the bullpen. You never want to see that happen. You understand why it happens, how baseball and how the business goes.

“I wish him the best. He’s had a Hall of Fame career, if this is it. If he comes back to play, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Craig much about that. But he’s going to be a Hall of Famer.”

The Orioles have lost eight of 11 games and scored 21 runs in that stretch. Tonight’s lineup combination puts Jackson Holliday at second base after Livan Soto made three consecutive starts, and Heston Kjerstad at designated hitter after he came off the bench last night and singled twice.

James McCann is catching. Emmanuel Rivera is playing third base.

Dean Kremer has five quality starts in his last six outings. He’s posted a 3.76 ERA in the second half.

Kremer has made one career start against the Giants and allowed two runs in six innings. Matt Chapman is 2-for-17 with a home run against him, but San Francisco put him on the paternity list today.

Kremer’s fastballs are generating a whiff rate of 32.1 percent in September, per STATS, which is nearly double his 16.8 rate through August.

NEW YORK – As much as the Nationals dominated the Marlins this season, they’ve been completely dominated by the Mets. A loss tonight would drop the Nats to 2-11 vs. New York, the exact opposite of their record vs. Miami. Yes, there have been some close games, including three extra-inning losses, but overall this has been an incredibly lopsided matchup in 2024.

They’ll try to at least end on a positive note and win tonight’s finale at Citi Field, but it’s a stiff challenge. The Nationals have scored two runs so far in the series, which isn’t exactly a formula for success. They have to do more at the plate, and that will be tough against veteran left-hander Jose Quintana, who hasn’t allowed a run to them in 14 innings this year.

Luis García Jr., who departed Tuesday’s game with a sore right wrist, is not in tonight’s lineup. Though he may not have been anyway against the lefty, so we can’t say for certain whether the injury is keeping him out. Dylan Crews, meanwhile, gets bumped back up to the No. 2 spot after notching his first career three-hit game while batting seventh.

DJ Herz makes his third start of the season against the Mets. He was great in one of them (zero runs, 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings), not very good in the other one (four runs in four innings in his major league debut). The rookie will need to be on point tonight in what could be his second-to-last outing of the year.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain late, 72 degrees, wind 10 mph in from center field

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Recalled RHP Bryan Baker from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Designated RHP Craig Kimbrel for assignment.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 37 players.

The Orioles ran out of time trying to fix Craig Kimbrel.

The club announced today that it designated Kimbrel for assignment and recalled reliever Bryan Baker from Triple-A Norfolk. The 40-man roster has 37 players.

Kimbrel has been scored upon in 11 of his last 19 appearances to leave him with a 5.33 ERA and 1.357 WHIP in 57 games. He’s averaging 5.3 walks per nine innings, his highest total in a full season since his rookie campaign in 2010.

The six runs surrendered last night were two more than his previous career high. The nine-time All-Star allowed only seven runs in the entire 2012 season.

The Orioles signed Kimbrel to a contract at the Winter Meetings that paid $12 million this season with a $13 million club option for 2025. Bonuses were added for games pitched and finished.

NEW YORK – Shortly after the Nationals traded him to the Mets, Jesse Winker found himself facing the Mariners, one of his former teams. Then the Reds, with whom he spent the bulk of his time in the major leagues. And now, this week, the Nats, his most recent employer and the one that may have resurrected his career.

“It’s crazy. When I got traded, I’ve played every team that I’ve played for,” he said. “And then we play the Brewers the next road trip, so it’s great. It’s really cool, man.”

Winker has become a bit of a baseball nomad in recent years. After five seasons in Cincinnati that culminated with an All-Star selection, the outfielder has now played for four different teams the last three seasons, going from Seattle to Milwaukee to Washington to New York.

His stint in D.C. was the shortest, lasting only four months. But it might well have been the most important stint he’s had to date.

After struggling with performance and injuries last year with the Brewers, Winker faced a crossroads entering 2024. He said he received only one offer for a big league contract, declining to name the particular team, plus only two offers for minor league deals with an invitation to spring training. The Nationals were one of those two, and ultimately he decided to accept their offer and reported to West Palm Beach hoping to earn his way onto the Opening Day roster.

NEW YORK – The Nationals looked ready for primetime Monday night at Citi Field. They just couldn’t deliver the one clutch hit they would’ve needed to beat the Mets.

They looked very much not-ready-for-primetime tonight. From a poor start by Mitchell Parker to a mental mistake by James Wood to an unexpected early departure by Luis García Jr., the Nats never stood a chance of stacking up with their potentially postseason-bound division rivals, who coasted to a 10-1 victory before a raucous crowd of 24,932 at Citi Field.

In one of their uglier games in a while, the Nationals were routed by New York, which has now gone two games up on the Braves (who blew a lead in Cincinnati) in the race for the third and final Wild Card berth in the National League.

"Obviously, that's not how we envisioned this game going," said Wood, who won't want to remember many details from his 22nd birthday. "But we've just got to be able to learn from it and take it into tomorrow and be better tomorrow." 

If the Mets ultimately prevail, they’ll have done so on the strength of their dominance against the Nats. New York is now 10-2 in head-to-head matchups this season, with one more game to go here Wednesday night. The Braves, on the other hand, went 5-8 against Washington, which could spell doom for their chances of reaching the playoffs for the seventh straight year.

NEW YORK – CJ Abrams is good to go again.

Abrams is back in the Nationals lineup for tonight’s game against the Mets after a four-day absence with a left shoulder ailment, having convinced club personnel he was OK to play after going through a full round of pregame workouts.

Abrams last played Thursday against the Marlins, when he made a diving stop of a sharp grounder up the middle at shortstop and jammed his left shoulder in the process. He remained in that game through its conclusion but was scratched the following evening and remained on the bench throughout the rest of the weekend as well as Monday night’s series opener at Citi Field.

Upon reporting to the park this afternoon, Abrams said he felt good enough to play. The Nats had him go through a full round of pregame workouts – batting practice on the field, ground balls at shortstop – before announcing their lineup, but manager Davey Martinez sounded optimistic when he spoke to reporters shortly before 5 p.m.

“We’ve got him in the lineup right now,” Martinez said. “He’s going to do his stretches, take some ground balls, hit, and we’ll see if he can get through it. He said he wanted to try to play today, so we’ll see how he gets through his early work, and we’ll go from there.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals did a lot of things well in Monday night’s series opener against the Mets. They got a great start from Jake Irvin. They played crisp defense. They got some decent relief pitching. What they did not get is enough offense, especially in clutch situations late in the game. The Nats finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and that included 0-for-6 in the ninth and 10th innings alone, which is why they lost the game 2-1.

So more timely offense would really help the cause tonight. The Nationals will be facing Tylor Megill, who they got to for five runs in five innings back in June. They got a homer from Joey Gallo in that game, but it should be noted much of the damage that night was inflicted by guys no longer with the team (Lane Thomas, Jesse Winker, Eddie Rosario). So this will be a new group going up against Megill tonight.

Mitchell Parker faces the Mets for the second time, and the first outing didn’t go all that well. The lefty gave up five runs in six innings, including three home runs. Those were hit by Tyrone Taylor, Mark Vientos and Francisco Lindor, and while the latter is out again tonight with a back injury, the first two are playing. Parker has been good overall of late, though, and in his last five starts boasts a 3.38 ERA.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 74 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
3B José Tena
DH Juan Yepez
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Dylan Crews
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• INF/OF Nick Maton has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

NEW YORK – It was the first, and arguably only time Jake Irvin faced real danger Monday night. Having set down the first nine Mets he faced, now here was the Nationals right-hander dealing with a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the bottom of the fourth.

Mark Vientos had worked the count to 2-2, and as the Citi Field crowd stood and roared in search of a hit that would put the home team on top in a must-win game, it looked like Vientos had delivered. Albeit not with a line drive to a gap, but a little dribbler up the third base line.

It’s not always how you hit them, but where you hit them, and this looked like a perfectly placed infield single at the right moment.

For Irvin, it was a chance to put into practice what he and other Nationals pitchers had worked on countless times during spring training and on occasion during the season as well.

“In the moment, you can’t really think about it. You rely on your preparation,” the right-hander said. “I guess when you see the ball go down there, imagine in your head making that play. Be convicted in it.”

NEW YORK – These Nationals don’t know what postseason baseball feels like, and they won’t be finding out in 2024. They do want to experience it in 2025, though, at minimum the pressure of a September pennant race where the outcome of each game only magnifies down the stretch.

So consider the final two weeks of this season a dress rehearsal for the youngest team in the majors, with 13 games left on the schedule, all of them against teams still in the race. And the first set of games in this closing stretch – against the Mets at Citi Field – may have the most pressure-packed feeling of the bunch.

So how did the Nats handle it all in tonight’s series opener? They didn’t appear to be overwhelmed by the situation most of the night, certainly not Jake Irvin, who authored yet another gem against the Mets. But they could not deliver the one hit or the one pitch they needed with the game on the line late, and that’s why New York ultimately was celebrating a 2-1 10-inning win at the center of the diamond, a crowd of 21,694 roaring as the home team retook the final Wild Card position in the National League from the Braves.

"It's tough," manager Davey Martinez said. "(Irvin) threw the ball really well. I thought today was probably the best day I've seen him throw the ball. ... He gave us everything we needed. We just couldn't get those couple runs he needed."

Starling Marte won it with a line drive single to left off Jacob Barnes, the Nationals’ fourth pitcher of the night. Tasked with stranding the Mets’ automatic runner after his teammates couldn’t score theirs in the top of the 10th, Barnes got Francisco Alvarez to fly out to right for one out, though that allowed Harrison Bader to advance to third. Barnes then left a 3-1 fastball over the plate to Marte, who lined the ball into left field and was mobbed by his teammates as the Nats trudged off the field.