Orioles and Red Sox lineups, Hector Velázquez outrighted
Orioles and Red Sox lineups, Hector Velázquez outrighted
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The Orioles are opening their season in Boston tonight for the first time since 1966 and they're sending out a lineup that includes Austin Hays leading off and José Iglesias batting third. Iglesias has hit third in two career games before tonight. Anthony Santander is slotted in between Hays and Iglesias. Chris Davis is fifth and Hanser Alberto sixth. DJ Stewart gets the start in left field and is batting ninth. Tommy Milone and Nathan Eovaldi are making their first career opening day...
O's game blog: The season opener arrives
O's game blog: The season opener arrives
Steve Melewski
Orioles
The Orioles begin their 2020 season tonight with the beginning of a three-game series at Fenway Park in Boston. Tonight the Orioles begin their 67th season in Baltimore. The year starts with a five-game trip to Boston and Miami. The Orioles tuned up for this with three exhibition games. They won 5-1 at Philadelphia and lost by scores of 4-2 and 6-4 to the Washington Nationals. The Orioles lost on opening day last year to the Yankees in New York. Before that they had won the previous three...
Nats on kneeling with black ribbon as symbol of unity prior to national anthem
Nats on kneeling with black ribbon as symbol of unity prior to national anthem
Byron Kerr
Nationals
Nationals players and coaching staff knelt down prior to the national anthem on opening night alongside the Yankees, holding a black ribbon that extended from the left field foul pole around home plate all the way out to the right field foul pole at Nationals Park. The moment was planned and agreed upon by all involved to be a unifying show of support for Black Lives Matter, and to raise awareness of the issues of police brutality and injustice toward Black people that has been rampant in the...
Mancini focused on health as Orioles open season without him
Mancini focused on health as Orioles open season without him
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
Trey Mancini can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The final chemotherapy treatment and ride from D.C. to Johns Hopkins Hospital. The change in mindset from beating cancer, a fight that leaves him weak and with no appetite for about 48 hours after that trip into Baltimore, to beginning workouts that get him ready for the 2021 baseball season. He's so close. Five more treatments every other Monday, the last on Sept. 21, and he's hopefully defeated his most formidable opponent. "I'm...
Scherzer blames fastball location problems early in 4-1 loss
Scherzer blames fastball location problems early in 4-1 loss
Byron Kerr
Nationals
Max Scherzer wanted to get off to a good start on opening night, but it just didn't happen. Against a strong Yankees lineup, Scherzer did his best to avoid trouble, but when you have to face the likes of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton multiple times in a game, trouble can find you. Scherzer allowed a two-run homer and a run-scoring single to Stanton, and Judge delivered a single and an RBI double as the Yankees took down the Nationals 4-1 in rain-shortened five innings to finally jumpstart...
Friday morning Nats Q&A
Friday morning Nats Q&A
Mark Zuckerman
Nationals
Well, opening day certainly proved to be eventful, if not exactly satisfying for the Nationals. They learned Juan Soto had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and couldn't open the season on the active roster. They raised their World Series flag and pennant in an empty stadium with no fans to cheer them on. They joined the Yankees in kneeling on the field following a recorded video on racial justice before standing for the national anthem. Then they got to play only five full innings...
Rain-shortened loss caps sad day for Nationals (updated)
Rain-shortened loss caps sad day for Nationals (updated)
Mark Zuckerman
Nationals
It should've been a glorious day, a chance to celebrate what happened at the end of the 2019 season and begin the 2020 season with a marquee matchup. Alas, July 23, 2020 will not be remembered fondly by anyone in these parts. Unless you're a Yankees fan glad your team was awarded a rain-shortened 4-1 victory over the Nationals to cap off an evening that didn't go according to anyone's plan. The Nationals lost their season opener after managing one hit (Adam Eaton's first-inning homer) in...
MLB, players union roll the dice on expanded postseason for 2020
MLB, players union roll the dice on expanded postseason for 2020
Mel Antonen
Orioles
Baseball's postseason will have a new NBA- and NHL-like wrinkle when October arrives, at least with the number of playoff teams. Baseball's wacky season will continue into a newly designed postseason. As the 60-game schedule began Thursday night in Washington, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced an agreement that six more teams will be added to the postseason. Originally, there were 10 teams. Now 16 teams have a chance to make the World Series. The NBA and NHL each...
Yankees up early on Scherzer (Nats fall 4-1 in five innings)
Yankees up early on Scherzer (Nats fall 4-1 in five innings)
Byron Kerr
Nationals
The Nationals celebrated their first world championship with a flag raising in the center field plaza and a hoisting of the 2019 World Series pennant above the video board in right field before tonight's Major League Baseball opener against the Yankees at Nationals Park. One can only imagine how loud Nats Park would have been in any other season opener with 43,000 fans on their feet to share in the accomplishment. But this is 2020, and with the world in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic,...
It's the Orioles and Red Sox as a new season begins
It's the Orioles and Red Sox as a new season begins
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Their opening day roster does not include John Means, Hunter Harvey or Trey Mancini. But ready or not, the Orioles begin their 67th season tonight at Fenway Park in Boston. The Orioles, individually and collectively, seem anxious to show the rest of baseball they are not a complete pushover and that they are making improvements. In a season shortened to 60 games, could they make a playoff run? Sure they could. It seems quite improbable. But I guess it became even more possible as Major League...