Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 1

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 1
The Nationals and their fans waited a long time to reach the World Series for the first time. So, really, who was going to complain about the extra six days they had to wait after sweeping the National League Championship Series before finally taking the field in Houston for their first appearance in the Fall Classic? The long layoff may have been a dominant storyline entering the World Series, but it sure didn't hold up for long. By the end of their tense Game 1 victory - 5-4 over the...

Harris confident he'll be ready for opener (Nats win 6-2)

Harris confident he'll be ready for opener (Nats win 6-2)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Will Harris hasn't pitched in a Grapefruit League game yet, but the veteran reliever is confident he has enough time left to build his body up after suffering an abdominal strain to be part of the Nationals bullpen on opening day. "As of right now, I'll be there," he said. "I'll have cleats on. I'll be ready." Harris, the club's key bullpen acquisition over the winter, threw another bullpen session this morning and said he's progressing as he wants from the...

Lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach

Lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - As opening day inches closer, lineups start to look more and more legit. Well, for some teams, anyway. The Nationals have a whole bunch of regulars playing this afternoon, including Adam Eaton, who will be the DH eight days after he had to leave a game with tightness in his hamstring. That's obviously a good sign. Eaton is batting in his customary No. 2 spot, behind Trea Turner and ahead of Eric Thames, who is the No. 3 hitter du jour. Juan Soto, Howie Kendrick,...

Virginia native Snyder gets to enjoy his moment vs. Astros

Virginia native Snyder gets to enjoy his moment vs. Astros
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Brandon Snyder would be the first to admit this was nothing like what the rest of the Nationals experienced the last time they faced the Astros, when the stakes were just a bit higher. While his teammates were hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy in Houston on Oct. 30, Snyder was watching on television with a buddy at his home in Warrenton, Va. He was a member of the organization and knew all the guys who had just won the World Series, but he spent the season playing at...

Voth succeeds, Fedde struggles in Round 1 of competition

Voth succeeds, Fedde struggles in Round 1 of competition
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Austin Voth, Joe Ross and Erick Fedde all sit next to each other in the Nationals clubhouse this spring. They all hang out together. They all want one another to do well. And yet, each knows the harsh truth: Only one of the three is going to open the season in the Nats rotation. One other is likely to get a spot in the bullpen. Which means one is destined for the minor leagues. "These two guys are my friends, and if I had it my way, I would want them on the team," Voth...

Split-squad lineups: Nats vs. Astros and Marlins

Split-squad lineups: Nats vs. Astros and Marlins
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Good news: The skies have cleared, the rain is long gone and it should be a beautiful day for baseball. So beautiful, the Nationals are going to play two - at the same time. It's a split-squad day, with half of the guys staying home to face the Astros again while the other half of the roster goes to Jupiter to face the Marlins. t'll be our first opportunity to see two of the pitchers battling for the No. 5 starter's job, with Austin Voth going up against the Astros...

Unable to replicate October vibe, Scherzer content with '20 debut

Unable to replicate October vibe, Scherzer content with '20 debut
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If Max Scherzer has proven nothing else, it's that he'll never take the mound with anything less than 100 percent commitment to compete. Having said that, not all starts are created equal. And a start on Feb. 22 can never compare to a start on Oct. 30, even if the opponent is the same. "The last game I pitched was Game 7 of the World Series. And we're talking about spring training," Scherzer said Saturday night after making his 2020 exhibition debut. "So it's a...

Nats cheered, Astros booed during rained-out spring opener

Nats cheered, Astros booed during rained-out spring opener
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - They came to cheer the defending World Series champs and boo the runners up. And they did so at every possible opportunity. Any mention of the Nationals (technically, the visiting team) tonight in the Grapefruit League opener at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches - a game that wound up getting canceled after two scoreless innings due to a persistent rain that would not go away - was met with rousing cheers from the thousands of red-clad fans who made their way down...

Castillo has sore shoulder, plus other notes (game canceled)

Castillo has sore shoulder, plus other notes (game canceled)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals' first injury of the spring may not involve a member of the 40-man roster, but it does involve a veteran trying to squeeze his way onto the opening day roster. Welington Castillo, a catcher with 10 years of big league experience, was due to DH in tonight's Grapefruit League opener but was scratched with a sore right shoulder. Davey Martinez said Castillo approached him earlier today and informed him of the ailment. The manager didn't hesitate to give him...

Lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach (updated)

Lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach (updated)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - One hundred fifteen days have passed since the Nationals and Astros last took the field, a late October night that will forever bring smiles to anyone who lives in Washington and tears to anyone who lives in Houston. Tonight, both teams return to begin their quest to reach late October again. The Grapefruit League opener is a big deal any spring, but it's never been as big a deal as it is tonight. In a perfect convergence of events, this game between co-inhabitants of...

Baker still close with Nats: "I left my heart over there when I left"

Baker still close with Nats: "I left my heart over there when I left"
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Dusty Baker stood near one of the practice fields outside FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Thursday morning, wearing an Astros cap and pullover, answering questions about the team he now manages. He looked very much at home, very much in his element. The 70-year-old baseball lifer has done everything there is to do in this sport, and yet he has now found perhaps the ultimate challenge of his career: guiding a Houston roster loaded with talent but stained by proof...

Union chief addresses players' vitriol toward Astros

Union chief addresses players' vitriol toward Astros
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Tony Clark, head of the Major League Baseball Players' Association, visits every club every spring. Those meetings can run long, sometimes topping two hours, depending on the list of topics that need to be discussed. This morning, Clark and his associates with the players' union, walked into the Astros clubhouse at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and did not emerge until nearly four hours had passed. Suffice it to say, this was no ordinary spring training meeting,...

Handful of Nats regulars will play in exhibition opener

Handful of Nats regulars will play in exhibition opener
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - After more than a week of bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-80s, the Nationals walked outside this morning to an unfamiliar sight this spring: rain. For the first time in camp, weather altered the club's plans. What should've been a two-hour full squad workout instead was condensed into a quick session that took care of the day's most pressing needs (a group of pitchers throwing live batting practice, moved to the covered batting cages) and little...

Martinez on today's workout and what he expects Saturday

Martinez on today's workout and what he expects Saturday
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Starlin Castro came to Nationals camp with a revamped swing that results in more balls pulled in the air and fewer balls on the ground, a swing that produced big numbers late last season with the Marlins. But the first live pitcher he had to face here was immune to such tweaks. Castro groaned Wednesday when he found out he was hitting against Max Scherzer, a longtime nemesis when facing him as an opponent. And sure enough, there wasn't much contact to speak of when the...

"Sore in all the right spots," Scherzer will start Saturday

"Sore in all the right spots," Scherzer will start Saturday
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Max Scherzer offered up a simple, yet important, takeaway from his first session throwing to live hitters this spring. "I'm sore in all the right spots," he said. For the uninitiated, there's no reason to be alarmed. Scherzer knows the difference between being "sore," being "hurt" and being "injured." Sore is good. Hurt is potentially worrisome. Injured is full-blown panic attack. After a long and grueling season that saw him make a prolonged stint on the...

Suzuki takes the high road after Correa lashes out

Suzuki takes the high road after Correa lashes out
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Kurt Suzuki wasn't expecting to find himself in the middle of the war of words between the Astros and players around the majors who are now blasting the 2017 champs for cheating by illegally stealing signs. But when the Nationals catcher was quoted in The Washington Post saying he believed the Astros were still cheating during the 2019 World Series - "We could hear it from their dugout. We heard their whistling." - he suddenly was thrust into the fray and earned the...

Rizzo won't be satisfied until Astros admit they "cheated"

Rizzo won't be satisfied until Astros admit they "cheated"
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - At some point this spring, the Astros sign-stealing scandal will dissipate into the background and earn only occasional mention. Not yet, though. The saga that has engulfed the baseball world for weeks continues to be front and center at camps across Florida and Arizona, especially this particular camp that houses both of the 2019 World Series participants. It didn't help that Thursday's press conference outside the Houston clubhouse, in which owner Jim Crane and stars...

As Astros apologize, Nats players share thoughts on scandal

As Astros apologize, Nats players share thoughts on scandal
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The contrast was impossible to ignore. On one side of FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, more than 50 reporters and photographers listened to Astros owner Jim Crane and players Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve apologize for the sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed baseball since it was revealed three months ago. It was not, by all accounts, well received. On the other side of this sprawling complex, a grand total of seven media members (four writers, one print...

A wild first day of spring expected in West Palm Beach

A wild first day of spring expected in West Palm Beach
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Sometime around 9:30 a.m. today, every pitcher and catcher in Nationals camp will emerge from the clubhouse and gather on the adjacent agility field outside for the first of 37 planned "Circle of Trust" morning meetings. Davey Martinez will set the tone for the day - and the spring in general - with some combination of instruction, wisdom and laughter. Perhaps a live animal will be involved. It's happened before. The World Series champions will be loose and free,...

Spring training storylines: Life as defending champs

Spring training storylines: Life as defending champs
We've reached the final countdown to spring training, so we're counting down the most important storylines surrounding the Nationals this spring. We conclude today with the quest to repeat as World Series champions ... Nationals pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach today. Just as they've done each of the last three springs. And just as they did the previous 12 springs in Viera. Nothing special happens. Guys just show up at the complex, reunite with teammates, coaches and support...