It's a couple weeks earlier than in previous years, and it's back on South Capitol Street for the first time in nearly a decade, but it's time again for Winterfest.
The Nationals' annual offseason gathering will have a different look and feel this year, with the event being held the first weekend in December and at Nationals Park after a steady run later in the month at the Washington Convention Center.
Among the new activities this year are opportunities for fans to hit in the Nationals'...
Just a few short days ago, we were sitting around a lovely Thanksgiving table setting with family and friends while shoveling turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and all sorts of food into our mouths. What a beautiful, American tradition.
And now, with Thanksgiving come and gone, we are officially settling into the holiday season, which means only one thing for Nationals fans: Winterfest!
The Nats' annual weekend-long celebration of baseball and the holidays is back and earlier than ever!...
Matt Wieters would be the first to admit that his 2017 offensive numbers were not close to where he wanted them to be.
Unfortunately, his first season outside of the American League was his worst with the bat in his nine big league seasons.
Wieters hit .225 in 2017, a year after hitting .243 with the Orioles.
In April, he started off hot, hitting .301. Steadily, though, he saw his average drop each month as the season progressed: .247, .202, .230, .213, .118. Wieters had seven homers before the...
Fired by the Cardinals at the end of the regular season, Derek Lilliquist had to wonder if it would take a while to find another pitching coach job as good as the one he held the previous six seasons. That kind of job opening, for a perennial postseason contender, doesn't come around all that often.
And then one did.
When the Nationals came calling last month, needing a new pitching coach after Dusty Baker's departure led to Mike Maddux leaving (for St. Louis, of all places), Lilliquist...
Stephen Strasburg quieted his critics last season, his seven shutout innings in the Nationals' Game 4 of the National League Division Series victory capping a workmanlike season that saw the right-hander take the ball from opening day until final outing, the dominant start-to-finish season that had eluded him.
Yes, there were some speed bumps along the way, just to test his mettle. His spot in the rotation changed when staff ace Max Scherzer's start of the season was delayed by a fractured...
It is the moment every playoff team never wants to have happen.
The smack of handshakes, bear hugs and pats on the back in any other situation would be a welcome sight, but the sounds of these gestures after a Game 5 loss are eerily hard to take.
Harder to stomach than a loss in the playoffs might be the feeling of not being called on to contribute when you were set to start a pivotal season-saving game, then ended up not being used at all.
Such was the plight of right-hander Tanner Roark as he...
If you think Michael A. Taylor is resting on his laurels after a breakthrough season that catapulted him back into the long-range plans of the Nationals, think again.
Taylor said yesterday at Nationals Winterfest that he isn't taking anything for granted, and that he's approaching spring training in February the way he's approached every one of the major league camps he's attended.
"I take the same approach as I have in years past and every year: just come out, be ready to go and be in the...
As much as he wanted to bring back Brandon Kintzler and keep the back end of his bullpen intact for the 2018 season, Mike Rizzo admittedly thought the Nationals would be at a disadvantage in negotiations.
Kintzler, who recorded 29 saves this season (28 while with the Twins), figured to get offers to close somewhere else. And sure enough, he did. Only to decide to re-sign with the Nationals after all.
"I think there were those offers to go pitch the ninth inning exclusively, to have more save...
The Nationals' first major league signing of the offseason still isn't official because Brandon Kintzler still needs to pass his physical. But that didn't stop those who were at Nats Winterfest on Saturday from raving about the re-signing of the veteran reliever, which preserves the three-man unit that so effectively locked down games late this season.
"That was awesome to see," said Sean Doolittle, who along with Ryan Madson joined Kintzler to form the so-called "Law Firm" bullpen over...
Injured time is hard time for ballplayers, never more so than injured time that overtakes nearly an entire season and leaves a player watching from the outside as his teammates lose in the postseason. Adam Eaton just experienced all of that in 2017, and it left him determined never to experience it again.
"Oh, it was brutal," the outfielder said Saturday at Nationals Winterfest. "The worst year of my life, I think it's safe to say. The longest summer of my life. That's what I told all of...
Daniel Murphy hobbled into his scheduled interview session on crutches and said made sure everyone knew he's already begun walking. He's learned a lot about the microfracture surgery performed on his right knee on Oct. 20, eight days after the Nationals ended their season with another first-round playoff exit in the National League Division Series.
He's not sure if the injury was the result of overuse or just an acute condition. And despite general manager Mike Rizzo's assurances at the...
Like many Nationals fans, right-hander Koda Glover keeps replaying the fateful fifth inning in Game 5 of the National League Division Series in his mind. Unlike most Nats fans, however, Glover isn't focusing on the fact that eventual National League Cy Young winner Max Scherzer failed to throttle the Cubs in a rare relief appearance when his team most needed him to.
Glover thinks about Scherzer being undone by bloops and bleeders, bad luck and a debatable call by a home plate umpire and...
He battled through a grind of a season that included a string of fluky, nagging ailments only to emerge with the third Cy Young Award of his career, an achievement that already creates talk of his Hall of Fame resume.
For Max Scherzer, though, the greatest pleasure of this offseason so far has been the mundane task now required of him several times a day. What exactly is the right-hander up to at the moment?
"Changing diapers," he said. "Wiping butts."
Brooklyn, the first child of Max and...
After a week's worth of rumors and a lot of time spent hearing from the Nationals general manager and manager, this weekend we'll get a chance to hear from a whole bunch of players who have come from all parts of the country (and beyond) to attend Nats Winterfest.
Yes, it's time for the annual, two-day winter event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. It has turned into quite a major event over the years, going all the way back to the days when the team hosted a one-day gathering...
It's that time of year again. A chill is in the air, everything is decorated in lights and garland, and Nationals fans are gearing up for their favorite event of the offseason!
That's right, Nats Winterfest is back and approaching fast, meaning in just a few short weeks, Nationals fans from far and wide will gather at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for a weekend of baseball and holiday cheer.
And we'll be there with plenty of chances for you to win exclusive MASN Nationals...
Oh, there's no place like Winterfest for the holidays!
As the weather gets colder, we're already thinking about gathering around the MASN booth at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. We'll have tons of presents for you, including photo sessions with some of your favorite players and broadcasters, multiple chances to win autographed prizes and a new, exclusive prize you can take home!
Just in time for the holidays, we're giving away ugly sweater-themed long-sleeve...
After so much time spent wondering who the Nationals would acquire this winter to become their new center fielder in 2017, it's easy to forget the organization thought it knew the answer to that question a year ago.
The Nationals had a promising, young center fielder with all kinds of skills. And had Michael A. Taylor put those skills together the way many hoped, this month's trade for Adam Eaton might never have been necessary.
Alas, 2016 was not kind to Taylor, who despite ample...
When last we saw Max Scherzer, he was on a boat in the British Virgin Islands, watching the National League Cy Young Award announcement on his iPad, doused with champagne by friends upon learning he had won the hardware.
It was truly a unique way to celebrate such an occasion, and it made for a wonderful visual for anyone watching from the boring comforts of a living room on dry land.
For Scherzer, it was a remarkable experience, one he'll never forget. In the month that has passed since,...
Stephen Strasburg desperately wanted to be part of the Nationals' postseason staff, so much so that he kept throwing off the bullpen mound every other day while his teammates faced the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
The hope, at least in the right-hander's mind, was that his elbow would have been healthy enough and his arm strength built up enough to contribute if the Nationals advanced.
The Nationals, of course, did not, and so Strasburg was left to watch his teammates...
Ryan Zimmerman has been around baseball long enough to know that there's only one thing a player can do after a disappointing season: turn the page, committing himself to do better in the coming year.
That's just what the Nationals first baseman is doing after posting a career-low slash line of .218/.272/.370 in 115 games during a season interrupted by stints on the disabled list for rib and wrist injuries.
"I think I ended the season strong last year," Zimmerman said Sunday at Nats...