Seven Nats exhibition games to be broadcast on MASN

Seven Nats exhibition games to be broadcast on MASN
MASN announced today that seven Nationals exhibition games will be televised this spring, including next week's highly anticipated Grapefruit League opener against the Astros and new manager Dusty Baker. The first six televised games will all come from FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The seventh broadcast game will come from Nationals Park, where the defending World Series champions will face a team made up of organizational prospects in a just-announced 4 p.m. exhibition finale dubbed...

As Baker joins Astros, Nats get ready to enter Bizarro World

As Baker joins Astros, Nats get ready to enter Bizarro World
The first time the Nationals take the field as defending World Series champions, they'll be facing the same Astros team they beat in Game 7 four months earlier, with one small exception: Houston's manager will be Dusty Baker. No, we haven't been transported to a parallel universe, folks. We're still living right here on good old Earth 1. Even if it feels like this place has suddenly turned into Bizarro World. The Astros, who spent the ensuing weeks after losing Game 7 getting embroiled in...

Zimmerman speaks out against Astros, Nats sign Bonifacio

Zimmerman speaks out against Astros, Nats sign Bonifacio
The Nationals beat the Astros in the 2019 World Series, and because that is true they will never have to look back at those nine days in late October with any sense of anger or feelings of "What if?" the way members of the 2017 and 2018 Dodgers will for the rest of their lives. Dodgers players and executives have been careful with their public statements in the two weeks since Major League Baseball punished the Astros for electronically stealing signs during their 2017 championship run and...

Martinez on his No. 3 hitter, Zimmerman, Doolittle and the Astros

Martinez on his No. 3 hitter, Zimmerman, Doolittle and the Astros
The most newsworthy thing Nationals manager Davey Martinez said Friday following his taping of an hour-long special with "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd at SiriusXM's local headquarters was that Carter Kieboom will have an opportunity to win the starting third baseman's job this spring. But it wasn't the only newsworthy thing Martinez said while talking to reporters for the first time since the Winter Meetings in early December. Here are some more highlights from the session ... *...

Astros scandal is more reason to be grateful Nats won title

Astros scandal is more reason to be grateful Nats won title
What if Howie Kendrick's hit landed just foul? What if the Nationals still trailed in the eighth and ninth innings of Game 7 of the World Series and sat and watched the Astros mob each other in the center of the diamond as the sellout crowd in Houston roared? How would everyone around here have felt about Monday's announcement by Commissioner Rob Manfred that general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch had been suspended for the 2020 season (and then later fired by owner Jim Crane) and...

Harris doesn't shy from role in Game 7, thrilled to join Nats

Harris doesn't shy from role in Game 7, thrilled to join Nats
Will Harris could've let the memory of Game 7 linger, could've decided the best way to forget about the championship-changing home run he surrendered was to get as far away from the two teams that were involved in that moment. But that's not Harris' style. When the Nationals came calling this winter, and certainly when they offered a three-year, $24 million deal to the man who gave up the homer that won them the World Series, he didn't hesitate to embrace the idea. "Everybody I talked to...

Three-year deal for Harris is worth the risk for Nationals

Three-year deal for Harris is worth the risk for Nationals
Try to forget for a moment the name of the reliever the Nationals just signed, who he previously pitched for and what happened the last time he took the mound. Instead, just look at his numbers over the last five seasons and how he ranks among the 119 big league relievers who have made at least 200 appearances during that time frame: * 2.36 ERA, third best (behind Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman) * 0.987 WHIP, fourth best (behind Kenley Jansen, Roberto Osuna and Andrew Miller) * 2.72 FIP,...

Source: Nats signing reliever Will Harris to three-year deal

Source: Nats signing reliever Will Harris to three-year deal
In their quest to fix the most notable hole in an otherwise talented and deep roster, the Nationals have signed the veteran reliever who gave up the home run that propelled them to their first World Series title only nine weeks ago. Will Harris, the former Astros right-hander who threw the pitch that Howie Kendrick clanked off the foul pole at Minute Maid Park in Game 7, has agreed to a three-year, $24 million contract with the Nationals, a source familiar with the terms confirmed tonight. The...

Star-studded, resilient Nationals earned this title

Star-studded, resilient Nationals earned this title
HOUSTON - It would be easy to look at the 2019 Washington Nationals as a good team that went on a great October run to win the World Series. Really, it's one of the great October runs (12-5 to topple the Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals and Astros) in baseball's wild card era. But that's still not entirely fair to this team. It seems to minimize the big picture and label the Nats as a team that simply got red-hot at the right time and rode the wave all the way to a championship. Here's how they...

National champs: D.C. rallies again to win World Series (updated)

HOUSTON - It had to happen this way. It could not have happened any other way.

If the Nationals were going to win the World Series, if they were going to deliver Washington its first Major League Baseball championship in 95 years, they were going to have to do it the same way they had done it all season long - and especially all postseason long.

They were going to have to get a courageous pitching performance from one of their two aces. They were going to have to come from behind - and late - in a winner-take-all October classic. And they were going to have to trust the back end of their bullpen to hang on and finish off the biggest victory by a ballclub from Washington since 1924.

So when it happened, when it actually happened, when Max Scherzer gutted out five innings without his best stuff, when Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick homered during a stunning seventh-inning rally, and when Patrick Corbin and Daniel Hudson combined to pitch four innings of scoreless relief, when the Nationals mobbed each other at the center of the diamond upon sealing a 6-2 victory over the Astros in Game 7 of the World Series, it just felt right.

"This is the most 2019 Nats thing ever," reliever Sean Doolittle said. "Another elimination game. Another come-from-behind win."

Suzuki scratched from lineup, Gomes to catch (Nats win 6-2)

Suzuki scratched from lineup, Gomes to catch (Nats win 6-2)
HOUSTON - Much as he hoped to be behind the plate one more time in 2019, Kurt Suzuki instead will have to watch Game 7 of the World Series from the bench, with perhaps a chance he comes off the bench at some point. Suzuki, who hasn't played since injuring his right hip flexor in Game 3 on Friday, was initially included in tonight's starting lineup, batting eighth and catching Max Scherzer. But he was scratched by the Nationals about 2 1/2 hours before first pitch, with Yan Gomes taking his...

World Series Game 7 lineups: Nats at Astros (updated)

World Series Game 7 lineups: Nats at Astros (updated)
HOUSTON - Well, here we are. It's the day before Halloween. There's one baseball game remaining on the 2019 schedule. And the Nationals are playing in it. Who'd have thunk it? There's really nothing like Game 7 of the World Series. It's something so many other teams and fan bases have experienced before, including the Astros only two years ago, but it's completely new for the Nationals, who had never even been involved in a Game 6 in any round of the postseason prior to Tuesday night....

"It had to be this way": Remarkable season comes down to Game 7

"It had to be this way": Remarkable season comes down to Game 7
HOUSTON - Sean Doolittle was holding court with a large group of reporters long after Game 6 had ended Tuesday night. There were some familiar faces in attendance, but most of those interviewing the veteran reliever don't regularly cover the Nationals and perhaps are just now starting to get a real sense of what this 2019 campaign has been like. Was Doolittle surprised, someone asked, that the World Series was now going to a decisive Game 7? He was not. "For the people that followed the team...

With chaos around him, Strasburg sends Nats to Game 7 (updated)

With chaos around him, Strasburg sends Nats to Game 7 (updated)
HOUSTON - Chaos was consuming every corner of Minute Maid Park, Game 6 of the World Series having turned into one of the wildest, most entertaining, most infuriating contests the Fall Classic has ever experienced. Alex Bregman and Juan Soto were trying to out-homer and out-celebrate each other. Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon were getting in on the act as well, at least the home run part. Trea Turner was trying not to blow his stack after the latest (and probably most egregious) call to go...

Suzuki sits again, but would catch Game 7 (Nats win 7-2)

Suzuki sits again, but would catch Game 7 (Nats win 7-2)
HOUSTON - Though he's not in the lineup tonight for the third consecutive game, Kurt Suzuki is expected to return to the Nationals lineup and catch Max Scherzer if the World Series is extended to Game 7. Suzuki, who suffered a right hip flexor injury during Game 3 on Friday, said Monday he was getting better and hoped he'd be ready to start Game 6 tonight. But manager Davey Martinez elected to go with Yan Gomes, who will catch Stephen Strasburg and try to extend the season one more...

Scherzer throws, able to start potential Game 7

Scherzer throws, able to start potential Game 7
HOUSTON - If there's a Game 7 to the 2019 World Series, Max Scherzer will start it for the Nationals. Manager Davey Martinez made that proclamation late this afternoon after Scherzer completed a 10-minute throwing session in left field at Minute Maid Park and reported himself good to go just two days after he was scratched from his scheduled Game 5 start and received a cortisone injection in his neck. "He threw, he felt good," Martinez said. "We'll see what transpires between now and...

World Series Game 6 lineups: Nats at Astros

World Series Game 6 lineups: Nats at Astros
HOUSTON - They've played 177 games, won 103 of them, three of those when staring elimination in the face. They'll play Game 178 tonight, and the only way they can ensure there will be a Game 179 is to win. Is this the biggest game in Nationals history? Well, yeah. The Nats themselves, of course, will insist they can't think of it that way. They've specialized all year long in focusing on the daily task at hand and ignoring the larger significance. It's worked up until now. Might as well...

Backs against wall again, Nats try to pull off rare World Series feat

Backs against wall again, Nats try to pull off rare World Series feat
HOUSTON - They've won three elimination games in the last month, twice when trailing by multiple runs in the eighth inning. And that's to say nothing of the uphill climb they faced after opening this remarkable season 19-31 before reaching the World Series. So while there are plenty of reasons to doubt the Nationals' ability to come back from three straight home losses to the Astros over the weekend and now flip the 115th Fall Classic back in their favor the next two nights at Minute Maid...

Nats head back to Houston uncertain of Scherzer's status

Nats head back to Houston uncertain of Scherzer's status
The Nationals, at least publicly, don't appear to be any closer to knowing today if Max Scherzer will be able to return to pitch in the World Series than they were Sunday after scratching their ace from his scheduled Game 5 start due to nerve irritation and spasms in his neck and upper back. "I haven't yet spoken to Max today. I'm waiting for him to get here," manager Davey Martinez said during a conference call with reporters shortly after 12:30 p.m. "Hopefully, he's a little bit...

No Scherzer, no offense leave Nats with backs to the wall (updated)

No Scherzer, no offense leave Nats with backs to the wall (updated)
Once the shock of the mid-afternoon news that Max Scherzer wouldn't be starting Game 5 of the World Series tonight wore off, a harsh realization must have crossed the minds of everyone wearing a Nationals uniform: If they were going to pull this off and regain control of the Fall Classic, they were going to have to score some runs. Against Gerrit Cole. And hope Joe Ross and whoever came out of the bullpen tonight could hold the Astros down enough to give them a chance. It was an extremely...