Nats savor the full Navy experience: "Today was awesome"

Nats savor the full Navy experience: "Today was awesome"
ANNAPOLIS - From the morning spent dining with a roomful of midshipmen and touring the United States Naval Academy grounds to the early afternoon spent dressing in a locker room in a football stadium down the road to the late afternoon spent playing an exhibition game in front of 1,030 fans (most of them in full dress uniform) in the tiniest ballpark most of them had seen in a long time, this was no typical day for the Nationals. Their spring training finale, which ended in a 4-4 tie with the...

Scherzer closes out abbreviated spring (Scherzer to start Friday)

Scherzer closes out abbreviated spring (Scherzer to start Friday)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAP Score: Nats 4, Red Sox 4 Recap: Playing at Max Bishop Stadium in front of several hundred U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen, the Nationals and Red Sox wrapped up spring training in a unique setting. Max Scherzer had to work against Boston's grind-it-out lineup, but the right-hander got better as his afternoon progressed and finished with two runs allowed in five innings, throwing 91 pitches. The Nats got two quick runs in the bottom of the first off left-hander Eduardo...

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Red Sox in Annapolis

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Red Sox in Annapolis
ANNAPOLIS - They say anytime you come to the ballpark, you have a chance to see something you've never seen before. Well, that's definitely going to be true today. Hello from Max Bishop Stadium at the United States Naval Academy, where this afternoon the Nationals and Red Sox are going to play a truly unique exhibition game. This is the first time a service academy has hosted anything like this, and the scene at this quant, 1,500-seat ballpark is going to be unlike anything we've ever...

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Red Sox in Fort Myers

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Red Sox in Fort Myers
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Hello from JetBlue Park, aka "Fenway South," spring training home of the Red Sox. This is my first time here, and I believe that means I've now hit for the Grapefruit League ballpark cycle. (Not sure if that's something I should be proud of or embarrassed by.) Anyways, the Nationals are here for their final Florida game of the spring, the first of three straight games they're playing the Red Sox, with tomorrow's exhibition at Nationals Park and Saturday's exhibition in...

Starting lineups: Red Sox vs. Nats in West Palm Beach

Starting lineups: Red Sox vs. Nats in West Palm Beach
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Right-hander Joe Ross makes his second start of the spring today when the Nationals host the Red Sox in a 1:05 p.m. game that will be aired live on MASN. You have to wonder who the Red Sox angered to draw three straight road games on the East Coast. Yesterday, they played at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches against the Astros. Tomorrow, they head up the coast to Port St. Lucie to face the Mets. Three straight roadies across the state from their spring headquarters in...

Beast of the East: Can anyone knock Boston off the top spot?

Beast of the East: Can anyone knock Boston off the top spot?
Just like the Orioles, the Boston Red Sox failed to win a playoff game in 2016. But unlike the Orioles, the Red Sox did use an 11-game September winning streak to surge to an American League East division championship. After finishing in last place in 2014 and 2015, Boston won 93 games last season and took the division by four games over both Baltimore and Toronto. Now that Boston is back on top in the AL East, the Red Sox look very much poised to stay there for a while. It would be very hard...

Nats to host Red Sox in newly created exhibition at Naval Academy

Nats to host Red Sox in newly created exhibition at Naval Academy
The Nationals' exhibition slate will once again conclude with a game against an American League opponent on South Capitol Street - and then a newly created final game in a unique venue: the United States Naval Academy's field. The club announced today it will host the Red Sox on March 31 at Nationals Park, then face Boston again the next day at Max Bishop Stadium in Annapolis. It's the first game in a three-year deal the Nationals have struck to play exhibition game at the Naval Academy,...

Rizzo on Sale: "We reached as far as we were going to reach"

Rizzo on Sale: "We reached as far as we were going to reach"
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - As talks with the White Sox about a potential Chris Sale trade progressed over the last week, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo found himself willing to part ways with some of the kind of elite prospects he normally would deem untouchable. The availability of Sale, a five-time All-Star left-hander under contract for the next three years at an affordable price, led Rizzo in a direction he hasn't gone before. But in order to pull off this blockbuster, the Nationals GM...

Red Sox top Nationals' offer, land Sale in blockbuster trade

Red Sox top Nationals' offer, land Sale in blockbuster trade
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Nationals finished runners-up in the Mark Melancon sweepstakes on Monday. And it appears they've now finished runners-up in the Chris Sale sweepstakes today. The White Sox have struck a deal to send Sale to the Red Sox for elite prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, plus two other minor-leaguers, according to multiple reports here at the Winter Meetings. It's a blockbuster trade featuring one of the game's best left-handers going to a powerhouse contender in...

Nationals' 2012 interleague schedule no easy task

Nationals' 2012 interleague schedule no easy task
The Nationals got on their biggest roll in 2011 when they feasted on Seattle, Baltimore and the Chicago White Sox in June. It was one of the many reasons that factor into how a season plays out: the strength of schedule. The Nationals won 15 of their final 20 games to finish with at least 80 wins for the first time since 2005. Those two runs turned out to be crucial in the 80-81 finish. The Nats were able to post winning records of 17-10 in June and September. Ironically, Washington was able...