I was reading my Twitter timeline during Saturday's "Improbable" documentary on the Nationals' run to a World Series ring and I saw a lot of mentions of Michael A. Taylor's play in the postseason and how important that has been over the years. Fans refer to Taylor as "MAT" because of his initials. It got me thinking what other players call Taylor for a nickname? Like "Mikey" or "Matty." Checking some of the official nicknames from MLB.com, I have never heard other players call them...

The Washington Nationals and Jostens, the leading provider of custom, hand-crafted fine jewelry for professional sports teams, today unveiled the 2019 Washington Nationals World Series Championship Ring. "The journey the Nationals took to become World Series Champions for the first time was incredible," said Chris Poitras VP andCOO of Jostens Professional Sports Division. "We had the absolute honor to partner with them to create a ring that celebrated not only this historic moment for the...

My optimism is growing that baseball will be played later this summer. Which in the past has meant nothing because I can become skeptical again in a matter of seconds. But it appears that progress is being made toward spring training 2.0 and an opening day in July. Contingencies are in place in case it doesn't happen, which I've heard from people who are close to the game. Have to be prepared for both scenarios. I'm still not buying the argument that fans will never return if there's no...

We have just over two weeks to this year's five-round First-Year Player Draft. The Orioles hold the No. 2 pick in the first round behind the Detroit Tigers at No. 1. The Orioles will also pick at No. 30 and No. 39. They are the only major league team with three picks among the first 39 selections. Many analysts seem to be predicting that Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson goes first to the Tigers. He hit 25 homers as a freshman and 23 as a sophomore. When this year's season was...

Well, it's May 24. And as everybody knows, May 24 is the most important day in Nationals history. Or something like that. Look, there's nothing wrong with noting the low point of a most improbable season. It serves as an obvious demarcation point that separates the wretched first portion of the 2019 campaign from the glorious five months that followed. And as has been said over and over since then, there really aren't many other teams in major league history that came back from such an...

The message from fans to baseball players and owners might be something like this: You guys got our hopes up for a season, so don't screw it up now. Sure, the dollars at stake are significant for both, and there are issues to work out - about health and money. But if they've come this far - and they already seem to be mostly in agreement on safety and health protocols - so it's time to get this to the finish line. It might look strange to see baseball with no fans in the stands and players...

With the exception of the 37 minor league players released last week, the Orioles haven't done much with their personnel since returning home from spring training. The sport is on hold and the camp roster is on ice. Infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle, pitcher David Hess, infielder Ramón Urías and outfielder Cedric Mullins were the last players cut, and those moves became official back on March 19. Five days after I boarded a flight out of Tampa. Mountcastle received most of his work...

After consulting with players who expressed a strong desire to wait to receive their World Series rings until they could all gather in person, the Nationals announced they will no longer hold their originally planned virtual ring ceremony Sunday night. The Nationals still will televise a show at 7 p.m. Sunday night on MASN in which the ring design is revealed and a handful of key players are interviewed, but they won't hand out the rings to players until a future date when everyone is gathered...

Our World Series rings were originally scheduled to be presented to our players and staff prior to the second home game of the 2020 season. As fans, media, employees, coaches and players continued to ask about when World Series rings would be distributed, the Nationals planned a special, first of its kind virtual ring ceremony. We knew it wouldn't be ideal, but it would offer the collective opportunity to reconnect with our fans and support important work being done in our community by Capital...

This was the day it all came to an end, the last day of a rough streak for the Nationals. From this date onward, the Nats turned it around. One year ago today. Following a 19-31 start in 2019, the Nats went 86-43 the rest of the way. That is right, the Nats played .667 baseball from May 24 to Oct. 30 in coming away with their first World Series title. Up to May 23, 2019, they posted a record of 19-31, the second-worst in the National League at the time, third worst in all of baseball. Be...