Should opening series encourage or discourage Nats?

Should opening series encourage or discourage Nats?
There are a couple of ways to think about the Nationals' season-opening series. You can take the optimistic view and point out that in spite of their severely depleted roster, the Nats showed themselves to be pretty much on par with the Braves and very easily could've won the three-game series or even swept it. Or you can take the pessimistic view and lament the fact that the series was indeed right there for the taking, and the Nats instead gave it to the Braves by blowing an early lead in...

Nats waste Strasburg's gem, get shut out by Braves (updated)

Nats waste Strasburg's gem, get shut out by Braves (updated)
Needing a good start from Stephen Strasburg to have a chance at winning their season-opening series against the Braves despite a roster missing nine key veterans, the Nationals got more than that. Strasburg was great, tossing six innings of one-hit ball this afternoon. What they didn't get, however, was a run of their own. Or scoreless work from their bullpen. And because of it, a three-game series that was right there for the taking slipped from their hands. Pablo Sandoval's two-run homer...

Fedde squanders early lead, Nats lose twinbill opener (updated)

Fedde squanders early lead, Nats lose twinbill opener (updated)
Five runs in two innings against the opposing ace should be a pretty air-tight formula for success. For the Nationals, it somehow meant a frustrating loss in the opener of a 14-inning doubleheader. Despite getting to Braves left-hander Max Fried early and often, the Nats watched helplessly as Erick Fedde gave it all back and then some during an eventual 7-6 loss at Nationals Park that took some of the luster out of Tuesday's thrilling opening day win. They nearly pulled off another last-second...

Nats could get some players back in L.A., but it's complicated

Nats could get some players back in L.A., but it's complicated
The Nationals could have some of their quarantined players back on the active roster at some point during this weekend's series in Los Angeles, but there will be complications to get them to Dodger Stadium and available under Major League Baseball's strict protocols. "It's a possibility, it really is," manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "The good news is these guys are testing negative with the nasal swab and the saliva test. They have been, so...

Game 2 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 2 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
And we're back. Already. For a doubleheader. Already. Hey, no complaining about anything this season, alright? It's certainly got to be easier for the Nationals to get right back to work after Tuesday's walk-off win over the Braves in the season opener. Now, they realistically just need to think about winning at least one of today's seven-inning games to win the series against the three-time defending division champs. It's a nice position to be in. It'll be Erick Fedde on the mound for...

Lucroy finds himself thrust into spotlight in Nats debut

Lucroy finds himself thrust into spotlight in Nats debut
Jonathan Lucroy wasn't a National on Saturday. Three days later, he somehow found himself squatting behind the plate to catch Max Scherzer's first pitch of the 2021 season. And then playing a significant role in the Nationals' 6-5 walk-off win over the Braves. How did the 34-year-old catcher process all of that? "It's kind of funny, but I feel like a mercenary," he said during a postgame Zoom session with reporters. "You know the movie 'The Replacements' with Keanu Reeves as the...

Soto delivers walk-off to cap stirring opening day win (updated)

Soto delivers walk-off to cap stirring opening day win (updated)
They came wearing their masks and had their temperatures taken and stayed distanced from everyone else in attendance because they wanted to witness precisely this moment. Bottom of the ninth, tie game, Juan Soto at the plate. It's the kind of situation the sellout crowd of 4,801 for the first ballgame at Nationals Park with fans in attendance in 18 months live for. And, to be honest, it's exactly the kind of situation the team itself sorely missed experiencing. The 2019 Nationals owned those...

Game 1 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 1 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
The day has arrived. At last. It required four postponements, four positive tests for COVID-19, nine other players and staff members placed into quarantine and three straight days of negative tests for everyone else, but the Nationals are finally going to open their 2021 season this afternoon. They will do so not against the Mets, but the Braves, who already are 0-3 after a rough weekend in Philadelphia. And they will do so not with the lineup anybody anticipated a week ago, but with a batting...

As rest of team deals with chaos, Scherzer just wants to pitch

As rest of team deals with chaos, Scherzer just wants to pitch
This past week has been difficult for everyone associated with the Nationals. For the four players who learned they tested positive for COVID-19, for the nine players and staff members who were forced into quarantine because they were deemed close contacts, for all the others who were nervous about their teammates' and their own health. And then there's Max Scherzer, who endured though a completely different kind of agony. The Nationals ace knew he wasn't in danger of contracting the virus,...

Nationals prepared to be without five regulars in opener

Nationals prepared to be without five regulars in opener
As he emerged from the dugout at Nationals Park this afternoon and scanned the group of players assembling for one cobbled together workout in advance of Tuesday's rescheduled season opener, Davey Martinez could've chosen to focus on who wasn't there. That list, by the way, would include the likes of Trea Turner, Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber, Josh Harrison, Patrick Corbin, Jon Lester, Brad Hand, Yan Gomes, Alex Avila and Jordy Mercer. Anyone who knows Martinez, though, knows that's not how his...

Workout will give depleted Nats chance to prepare for opener

Workout will give depleted Nats chance to prepare for opener
Here's some good news to brighten your Monday morning: The Nationals are going to hold a workout today at Nationals Park, and they're finally going to open their season Tuesday. It's far from ideal, and the roster that takes the field Tuesday afternoon to face the Braves is going to be missing a significant number of big league players. But given the apparent severity of the situation when the weekend began, it's probably the best possible scenario they realistically could've asked for. At...

Nats cleared to work out Monday, play Tuesday (updated)

Nats cleared to work out Monday, play Tuesday (updated)
The Nationals were cleared to open their season Tuesday against the Braves after another round of tests came back negative for COVID-19, and will be given the opportunity to hold a full workout for all healthy and eligible players at Nationals Park on Monday. Major League Baseball made the much anticipated announcement late tonight after another long day of uncertainty. Though the Nationals (who now have 11 players and two staff members in quarantine) saw their fourth consecutive game postponed...

As frustrating wait continues, Nationals sign catcher Lucroy

As frustrating wait continues, Nationals sign catcher Lucroy
As they waited for approval to resume full workouts in preparation for the delayed start to their season, the Nationals added the first player from outside the organization who could find himself on an opening day roster that will be stacked with unexpected reinforcements. Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy agreed to terms on a minor league contract Saturday night, a source familiar with the deal confirmed, and presumably will be available should the Nats need to replace one or both of their major...

Depleted Nats now face physical, psychological challenges

Depleted Nats now face physical, psychological challenges
The Nationals have for the last 72 hours been in what Mike Rizzo referred to as "crisis management mode." Every moment the longtime general manager has been awake since learning one of his players tested positive for COVID-19 has been spent trying to coordinate contact tracing, trying to figure out who's healthy and who isn't healthy and trying to figure out which 26 players ultimately are going to take the field on opening day (whenever that is). "That's often the way that this job is,"...

Full series postponed, nine players now in quarantine (updated)

Full series postponed, nine players now in quarantine (updated)
The Nationals' entire weekend series against the Mets was postponed today by Major League Baseball, with four players having officially tested positive for COVID-19 and six others (five players, one staff member) in mandatory quarantine after being designated close contacts. The postponement of all three scheduled games at Nationals Park wasn't a terribly surprising announcement, given the news of the last 24 hours, but it's nonetheless another disappointing development for both clubs, which...

The state of the NL East heading into spring training

The state of the NL East heading into spring training
We've been surmising all winter that the National League East is going to be a beast in 2021. And now that winter is turning into spring (at least, in Florida and Arizona) we're starting to get a true sense of what each of the division's five clubs will actually look like this season. That was especially true Friday when the Nationals' two likeliest challengers were directly involved in the two biggest free agent signings of the day: Marcell Ozuna, who went back to the Braves for four years...

Every NL East club has reason to be motivated this winter

Every NL East club has reason to be motivated this winter
Mike Rizzo will tell you he doesn't make a single offseason decision based on what other clubs are doing to their roster. The Nationals general manager's sole focus is on improving his team, no matter what anyone else around the league is doing. It's an admirable philosophy, of course, and it has served Rizzo well in his decade-plus in charge of the Nats. It also may be increasingly difficult to adhere to this winter, because there's reason to believe every other club in the National League...

Martinez leaves Scherzer in, pays the price in 8-4 loss (updated)

Martinez leaves Scherzer in, pays the price in 8-4 loss (updated)
Max Scherzer expended a lot to get through five innings today against the toughest lineup he's faced in 2020. Though the Nationals ace had some of the best pure stuff he's had all season, the Braves wore him down (like they've done to so many opposing pitchers) and left him with a pitch count of 104 as he walked off the mound at the end of the fifth. And once his team scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead, Davey Martinez could've made the decision to pull Scherzer and...

Game 45 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 45 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
When the 2020 regular season ends two weeks from today - How crazy is that? - and we try to find answers for what went wrong for the Nationals, it might be easy to point out the heartbreakers they lost to the Braves as especially low points. To be sure, there have been some really tough losses in there, a couple of blown saves by Daniel Hudson and a couple more one-run losses this week. And yet, if they can win this afternoon behind Max Scherzer, the Nationals will have split the season series...

After disastrous ninth, Nats find a way to win in 12th (updated)

After disastrous ninth, Nats find a way to win in 12th (updated)
They already played this game Thursday night. Seriously, tonight's contest on South Capitol Street felt like a perfect carbon copy of the one that preceded it, the Nationals jumping out to an early five-run lead, their starter fading in the middle innings, their bullpen asked to hang on for dear life the rest of the way. It didn't work out in the series opener against the Braves. It did work this time. But only after a ghastly blown save in the top of the ninth forced a game-winning rally in...