Stone Garrett stood in front of the same locker he occupied in the Nationals Park clubhouse last season, right next to good friend MacKenzie Gore, and smiled wide as he was asked what it felt like to be back here for the first time in 2024.

“It’s like getting called up to the big leagues again,” the outfielder said. “Honestly, it feels like the first time I ever got called up.”

Garrett is indeed back in the big leagues, even if for only a few days during the final week of the season. With Andrés Chaparro going on paternity leave, the Nationals called Garrett up from Triple-A Rochester, rewarding the 28-year-old for his perseverance following last year’s devastating left leg injury.

On Aug. 23, 2023, Garrett attempted to make a leaping catch at the right field wall in Yankee Stadium and fell to the ground in agony. He was eventually carted off the field, having suffered a broken left fibula. He also tore a ligament in his ankle on the play, which required “tightrope” surgery to be repaired and ultimately prolonged his full recovery from the gruesome injury.

Though he was able to play in the minor league games by mid-April and made it through the entire season with few interruptions, Garrett clearly wasn’t 100 percent for some time. The Nationals managed his workload, rarely playing him on back-to-back days during the first half. His power numbers regressed. His running form still didn’t look right.

Standouts from across the Washington Nationals Minor League system will be recognized as part of a special pregame ceremony on Tuesday, as the club recognizes its 2024 Minor League Award winners. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo and Vice President and Assistant General Manager, Player Development & Administration Eddie Longosz selected the following players in recognition of their outstanding 2024 seasons.

• Hitter of the Year – Outfielder Dylan Crews
• Pitcher of the Year – Right-handed pitcher Travis Sykora
• Defensive Player of the Year – Outfielder Elijah Green
• Baserunner of the Year – Infielder/Outfielder Darren Baker
• Nationals Way Award – Outfielder Daylen Lile and Right-handed pitcher Brad Lord

Crews, 22, is currently the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLBPipeline.com and the No. 3 prospect, according to Baseball America. He ranked in Washington’s Minor League system in extra-base hits (2^nd, 40), triples (2^nd, 6), slugging percentage (3^rd, .451), OPS (3^rd, .793), RBI (3^rd, 68), doubles (T3^rd, 21), home runs (4^th, 13), average (4^th, .270) and stolen bases (T4^th, 25) prior to his Major League call-up on Aug. 26. For his efforts in the first half of the season, Crews was selected to represent the Nationals in the 2024 All-Star Futures Game in July.

Crews finished his 2024 Minor League campaign hitting .270 with 21 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs, 68 RBI, 36 walks, 25 stolen bases and 60 runs scored in 100 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester. Crews hit .309 (21-for-68) with a .385 on-base percentage (5 BB, 4 HBP) and a .529 slugging percentage (2B, 3B, 4 HR) in 16 games from Aug. 3-Aug. 23 before joining Washington. He reached base safely in all 16 of those games and hit safely in 13 of the 16.

Crews was the second overall pick in the 2023 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Louisiana State University, where he made his mark as one of the most accomplished and decorated players in the history of college baseball. In addition to leading LSU to the 2023 National Championship, he was a consensus First-Team All-American in 2023 and 2022 and became the first player to win Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in back-to-back-seasons (2022, 2023).

Sykora, 20, was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year after going 5-3 with a 2.33 ERA, 129 strikeouts and 27 walks in 85.0 innings across 20 starts for Single-A Fredericksburg in his first professional season. From his debut on May 1 through the end of the season, Sykora led all Minor League pitchers (min. 85.0 IP) with a .168 opponent’s batting average and 5.29 hits per 9.0 innings, while he ranked among them in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (2^nd, 13.66) and WHIP (3^rd, 0.91). His 129 strikeouts paced all of Single-A and ranked fourth among Nationals Minor Leaguers, despite his later start.

We have reached the final week of the season, and that means six more scheduled home games, all against teams still playing for something. The Phillies, who have clinched the division but are fighting with the Dodgers for home field advantage, will be here this weekend. First up, though, it’s the Royals, who had been among the season’s best stories, trying to make the playoffs after losing 106 games last year. Now, though, Kansas City is fighting for its life, having lost seven in a row while seeing the Tigers shockingly come out of nowhere to catch them in the standings.

The Royals have a lot of young talent, and that includes tonight’s starting pitcher: Cole Ragans. The 26-year-old left-hander was an All-Star this season and enters this game with a 3.24 ERA and 217 strikeouts in 180 1/3 innings. This is the first time he’s facing the Nationals in his career.

Kansas City’s lineup, featuring MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr., will be facing an unfamiliar foe as well in Mitchell Parker. The rookie left-hander makes his final start of the season, hoping to bounce back from a rough outing against the Mets last week and close out what has been an impressive debut campaign on a high note.

The Nationals made a roster move today: Stone Garrett is back in the major leagues, recalled from Triple-A Rochester about 13 months after breaking his leg at Yankee Stadium. He takes the roster spot of Andrés Chaparro, who has gone on paternity leave.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 69 degrees, wind 8 mph right field to left field

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated INF Ryan Mountcastle from the 10-day Injured List (left wrist sprain).
• Optioned OF/DH Eloy Jiménez to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Released RHP Craig Kimbrel.

A simple ground ball single up the middle may never have felt so good to Dylan Crews.

The Nationals rookie needed that eighth-inning base hit Sunday in Chicago to snap out of the worst slump of his brief big league career, perhaps the worst slump he’s experienced in a long time at any level of the sport.

Crews had been hitless in his previous 19 at-bats before that sharp grounder past Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, a slump that left him staring at a .196 batting average across 106 major league plate appearances. The single didn’t really mean much during his team’s 5-0 loss, but it did at least get that average back over the Mendoza Line.

Heading into the final week of the season, Crews is trying to rediscover his swing. It may be too late to salvage his rookie stat line, but it might do some wonders for his confidence heading into the offseason.

“He’s really fighting through some things,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I’m proud of him, because he’s going to give you everything he has. We’ve just got to get him to slow down a little bit, stay behind the baseball a little bit better.”

CHICAGO – CJ Abrams’ demotion to the minors with one week to go in the season seemingly came out of nowhere. It shocked teammates. It confused the rest of the baseball world. It produced an endless supply of instant takes and opinions that may or may not have been all that informed.

But when the dust settled Sunday and the magnitude of the move sunk in, this much became clear: The Nationals are taking an awfully big risk here. What’s at stake? Abrams’ career trajectory, and the reputation of a franchise trying to re-establish itself as a successful and well-respected ballclub.

The Nats clearly felt they needed to send a message, both to Abrams and to the rest of the clubhouse, that a certain level of maturity and responsibility is expected. To be clear, Abrams didn’t break any official rules. There’s no mandatory curfew on the road. He didn’t get himself into any legal trouble.

So the disciplinary demotion was about making a larger point. To Abrams: It’s time to make smarter decisions. To the rest of the players: Everyone is expected to adhere to certain standards of professionalism, and those who don’t are going to risk the consequences.

It’s not unlike the time Mike Rizzo designated Shawn Kelley for assignment after the reliever showed up manager Davey Martinez during a blowout game in July 2018. Rizzo famously declared after making that transaction, “You’re either in, or you’re in the way,” a quote that would then be displayed prominently in the tunnel that leads from the clubhouse to the dugout at Nationals Park.

Well, Captain Obvious said that losing five straight late-season series is no way to win the American League East or build momentum for the playoffs.

With the AL East now all but gone, the Orioles have one week left to get more at-bats for returning players like Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías and innings for relievers Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb. Grayson Rodriguez hasn't made it back yet and neither has Ryan Mountcastle, but at least he is playing in games.

In their past five series, the Orioles are 1-2 versus the Rays, Red Sox, Tigers, Giants and Tigers.

The Orioles (86-70) are six games behind the Yankees (92-64) with six to play. Their only chance at the division is to go 6-0 while New York goes 0-6.

When the Orioles won last Saturday night at Detroit, on Sept. 14, they were just two games out of first place. On Sept. 10 they were a 1/2 game behind.

Jordan Westburg’s return from the injured list yesterday pushed Jackson Holliday to the bench. Westburg wasn’t playing third base due to Ramón Urías’ simultaneous return. The setup was cemented.

The times are changing, and back to the norm.

Holliday won’t be buried but his opportunities to start could be impacted, and especially against left-handed opposing pitchers. Urías was the club’s hottest hitter at the time that his right ankle rolled on Aug. 31 in Colorado while he covered the bag on a stolen base. Sending him back to his previous utility role might have to wait until 2025 if he’s back with the club as expected.

Asked yesterday whether he’d stay with Westburg at second and Urías at third, with maybe the occasional starts for Holliday, manager Brandon Hyde said it depends how the Orioles are hitting.

“Ramón was swinging the bat great until he got hurt, swung the bat great today, and Westy will be in there,” he said. “So it’ll be day-to-day.”

CHICAGO – A road trip that began with a sweep at the hands of a playoff contender, saw one cornerstone of the franchise’s rebuild get demoted for disciplinary reasons and saw another flirt with a no-hitter, came to an end this evening with another loss that was dragged out a couple extra hours for good measure.

The Nationals’ rain-delayed, 5-0 loss to the Cubs completed a dismal, 1-6 final road trip of the season that didn’t include many uplifting moments.

From a three-game sweep in New York to three losses in four days at Wrigley Field that included CJ Abrams’ surprise demotion and MacKenzie Gore’s lone bright spot on the mound Saturday, the Nats now limp home to finish out the 2024 season with six games against a pair of contenders with plenty still at stake: the Royals (American League wild card) and Phillies (National League home field advantage).

At 69-87, the Nationals need to win three of those final six games to surpass last year’s win total of 71. The way they hit the ball on this trip, that could be a tall order.

They scored a grand total of 14 runs in these seven games, and 11 of those came in two contests alone. They were held to zero or one run in the other five games.

CHICAGO – It’s been a lovely weekend, weather-wise, here, but that’s not the case today. It’s been raining all morning, and it’s supposed to continue to rain all afternoon. That complicates the scheduled series finale between the Nationals and Cubs

The Nats are off Monday, but the Cubs play in Philadelphia, so they can’t just spend the night here and try again Monday. Chicago was officially eliminated from the National League wild card race Sunday, so technically this game no longer means anything. Major League Baseball doesn’t like to cancel games altogether, but it’s been known to happen when there’s a late-season rainout like this between two teams out of the race, so we’ll have to see how this plays out.

If they play, it’s Jake Irvin on the mound for the Nationals looking to continue his late-season surge. The right-hander has allowed a total of two runs on six hits over 13 1/3 innings his last two outings. He’s got his ERA down to 4.07, and if he gets the chance to make two more starts he could get that number under 4.00 by season’s end.

Shoto Imanaga gets the ball for the Cubs, and the Nats did not see him well when they met last month in D.C. Imanaga, who might win NL Rookie of the Year, allowed three runs on four hits over seven innings, striking out eight. He gave up a homer to Dylan Crews but not much else that evening.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 72 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field

CHICAGO – This wasn’t the season Trey Lipscomb expected. And it’s certainly not the way he expected it to end, with a surprise promotion to the majors for the final week after CJ Abrams’ unexpected, disciplinary demotion.

But here Lipscomb is, getting one last chance to make an impression on the Nationals before season’s end. And he wants to make the most of it and head into the winter feeling good about the way things wrapped up.

“Honestly, just finish strong,” the infielder said. “That’s been my mentality at Triple-A: Finish strong. And I feel like I’ve been able to do that. I feel like the last week of the year, that’s what you want to do.”

This is, remarkably, Lipscomb’s fifth stint in the big leagues this year. He didn’t technically make the Opening Day roster, but he joined the Nats in Cincinnati the next day after Nick Senzel suffered a freak thumb injury during warmups. He spent the next six months bouncing back and forth between the majors and Triple-A, unable to produce enough offensively to stick up here but always on the club’s speed dial when a roster need arose.

His major league totals – a .207/.276/.239 slash line with three doubles, one homer and 11 stolen bases in 205 plate appearances – don’t look great. But his glovework - especially at third base, where he has four Defensive Runs Saved - was top-notch.

The Orioles are in communication with Baltimore City, Maryland Department of Transportation, and Maryland Transit Administration officials on traffic implications due to a fire at S. Lombard St. and Eutaw St.

Fans should use caution and allot for increased traffic in the downtown area if heading to this afternoon’s game. The impacted grid is from Paca St. to Eutaw St. and Pratt St. to Baltimore St.

Official communication from MTA:

All Light Rail service south of North Avenue is suspended. This six-alarm fire downtown occurred as we were pulling trains out for today’s service and it has prohibited us from getting any trains south of North Avenue. MTA will be implementing a Bus Bridge from North Avenue to Cromwell and BWI. We also recommend using regular bus service as we expect this to be a prolonged incident and response.

For further updates, please monitor Baltimore Fire, Baltimore County Police, MDOT, and the Orioles on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated INF Ramón Urías from the 10-day Injured List (right ankle sprain).
• Reinstated INF Jordan Westburg from the 10-day Injured List (right hand fracture).
• Optioned OF Daniel Johnson to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Optioned INF Livan Soto to Triple-A Norfolk.

The baseball math can’t be manipulated tonight to give the Orioles a playoff-clinching scenario. It only worked if they won.

Cade Povich held the Tigers to two runs for the second time in less than a week and the Orioles rallied for two in the ninth to send the game into extras, but the Tigers scored twice against Yennier Cano in the 10th and won 6-4 before an announced crowd of 39,647 at Camden Yards.

An Orioles win coupled with a Mariners loss tonight would have delivered back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since 1996-97. Now, we wait a little longer.

A possible alternative is clinching in their final home game of the regular season. Otherwise, they must do it on a trip that takes them to New York and Minnesota.

The Orioles are 86-69 and in danger of losing their fifth series in a row.

CHICAGO – CJ Abrams’ 2024 season is over, and not for any baseball-related reasons.

The Nationals optioned Abrams to Triple-A Rochester this morning, a stunning transaction at this late stage of the season that club officials said was made not for performance or service-time reasons.

“It’s an internal issue,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I’m not going to get into specifics, or talk about specifics, because I need to keep these guys and everything on the down-low. I’ve got other guys out there I want to support. I’m going to support CJ. He’s a big part of our Nats family, and he will be. But at this point, for me, it’s the right thing to do.”

Abrams, who earned the first All-Star selection of his career with an impressive first half, had been mired in a prolonged slump since July but had one of his best games in months Thursday night when he went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two stolen bases in the Nats’ 7-6 loss to the Cubs. He was back in the lineup Friday afternoon and went 0-for-3 with a walk, then was summoned to Martinez’s office for a long postgame meeting and was informed he was being demoted.

Prior to the game, an X post from Cody Delmendo of CHGO Sports said Abrams “was at the Bally’s casino in the loop until 8 am this morning,” citing a source. Asked about that report, Martinez said: “I’m not going to get into any specifics. I’m going to handle this internally.”

CHICAGO – MacKenzie Gore’s emotions already were running high long before he took the mound this afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Gore is close friends with CJ Abrams, the fellow first-round picks of the Padres forever joined at the hip for their inclusion in the August 2022 blockbuster that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego. Now, here was the 25-year-old left-hander preparing to face the Cubs while his 23-year-old shortstop was preparing to head to West Palm Beach for the season’s final week as part of his disciplinary demotion by the club.

How would Gore channel all that emotion today? As well as the Nationals could possibly have hoped.

Carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Gore thoroughly dominated Chicago’s lineup in one of the best performances of his career, leading the Nats to a 5-1 victory on a sun-splashed Saturday at the Friendly Confines that was played under less-than-normal circumstances.

"I thought they did really well. We kept it together," said manager Davey Martinez, who held a pregame meeting to inform his players of Abrams' demotion. "They went out there, and it all really started with MacKenzie. MacKenzie got out to a good start, and the guys were just very comfortable.”

If you didn't think a team could erase a magic number of three in one day, you are wrong. The Orioles begin today with a magic number of three to wrap up a 2024 MLB playoff spot. They can get there with a win over Detroit this afternoon and a loss by Seattle tonight at 7:05 p.m.

A potential Clinchmas is here for an Orioles team that heading into Thursday's game having lost five of six, eight of 10 and nine of the last 12 games and was 26-30 in the second half.

The Orioles (86-68) take the field today with eight games remaining. They are four games behind New York for the American League East lead and four ahead of Kansas City for the No. 1 AL wild-card spot. If the O's wrap up the No. 1 wild-card berth, should they not win the AL East, they will host all games in the best two-of-three wild-card playoff round beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

The Orioles hit a season-best five home runs last night in beating a hot Detroit team 7-1. The Tigers (80-74) entered the night having won four in a row, nine of 11 and 18 of 25. And since Aug. 11 Detroit was 25-10, best in the majors in that span.

But Anthony Santander hit his 43rd home run while Colton Cowser and James McCann hit two homers each. It was Cowser's second career multi-homer game and McCann's third.

Major League Baseball has adjusted its playoff math and the Orioles actually could clinch a berth tonight rather than Sunday.

The magic number remains at three, but the Orioles will reach the postseason again with a win this afternoon against the Tigers and a Mariners loss tonight in Texas. They’d claim the tie-breaker over Detroit in a complicated scenario.

The Mariners’ game begins at 7:05 p.m., setting up the possibility that the Orioles won't celebrate in the clubhouse. It’s happened in the past, with the team's playoff berth confirmed in 2012 while on a flight to Tampa.

Adding to the unusual circumstances that day was how the charter made an emergency landing in Jacksonville after smoke began pouring out of an oven in the kitchen area. Players reboarded and toasted their first postseason berth since 1997. Seats and windows weren't covered in plastic.

The Orioles haven’t made the playoffs in consecutive years since 1996-97. They qualified in 2012, ’14 and ’16 under former manager Buck Showalter and won the division last season.

Cedric Mullins is back in the Orioles’ lineup today, playing center field and batting second.

Mullins took early batting practice on the field this afternoon with head athletic trainer Brian Ebel watching and also ran the bases. Mullins wasn’t available last night due to neck soreness caused by his collision Thursday with right fielder Austin Slater.

The Orioles selected outfielder Daniel Johnson’s contract to provide a left-handed bat for the outfield in case Mullins couldn’t play. Terrin Vavra is on the 24-hour taxi squad.

Ramón Urías wasn’t reinstated today from the 15-day injured list.

Heston Kjerstad is the designated hitter. Jackson Holliday is playing second base. Colton Cowser is the cleanup hitter.

CHICAGO – It hasn’t been an especially uplifting road trip for the Nationals. They’ve lost all five games they’ve played so far against the Mets and Cubs. They lost Luis García Jr. and Jacob Young to injuries. They’ve scored a grand total of nine runs, and six of those came in Thursday night’s loss here.

But it’s a new day, so maybe today is the day things click again for the boys and they combine good pitching, hitting and defense and emerge victorious. They’ll look for a good start out of MacKenzie Gore, who has been excellent. Over his last five starts, the left-hander sports a 1.95 ERA and 1.048 WHIP with 27 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings. (There was one dud in there against the Braves, but despite giving up seven runs he was only charged with two earned runs in that one, so the ERA wasn’t destroyed.)

More than anything, the Nats need to hit and they need to score runs. They’re facing a wily veteran today in Kyle Hendricks, who is 4-11 with a 6.25 ERA over 118 innings this season. But it should be noted the right-hander has been much better recently, with a 2.93 ERA over his last three starts.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 84 degrees, wind 9 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
CF Dylan Crews
LF James Wood
DH Luis García Jr. 
1B Juan Yepez
2B José Tena
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Joey Gallo
3B Ildemaro Vargas
SS Nasim Nuñez