Nats finally heading to Milwaukee after being grounded in Philly

MILWAUKEE - How banged up are the Nationals right now? Even the team's charter plane was physically unable to perform Sunday night.

A mechanical issue on the club's Delta charter left the entire team sitting on the tarmac in Philadelphia nearly eight hours late Sunday night and early Monday morning. After all that, the entire traveling party went back to its downtown hotel to get a little bit of sleep before returning to the airport this morning.

The Nationals finally took off from Philadelphia at 10:45 a.m. and are scheduled land in Milwaukee around 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, according to a source traveling with the team, roughly seven hours before scheduled first pitch of tonight's series opener against the Brewers.

Sunday's 7-1 loss to the Phillies - in which the Nationals fielded a makeshift lineup due to injuries to Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Adams and Michael A. Taylor - ended at 5:09 p.m. The team made the short drive to nearby Philadelphia International Airport and was fully boarded on its Boeing 757 charter around 6:30 p.m., with takeoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

At that point, the traveling party was informed the plane had engine problems, according to the source. They wound up stuck on the tarmac until 2:45 a.m., at which point they finally got off the plane. Around 3:25 a.m. a horde of taxis and Ubers arrived to transport everyone back to their downtown hotel.

Major League Baseball clubs' longtime practice has been to travel immediately following series finales, even after late-night games, in order to arrive in the next city in advance of a new series. A few teams have attempted to tweak their travel plans in recent years to fly in on the morning of a game, believing it may be better for players' sleep patterns.

This ordeal won't have been good for the Nationals' sleep patterns, but perhaps the altered travel schedule will turn around their on-field fortunes. The team is 1-10 in series openers so far this season, so it's not like a good night's sleep in advance has helped produce wins.

Update: The Nationals' charter finally landed in Milwaukee at 12:36 p.m. Eastern, roughly 16 hours later than originally scheduled.