The Nationals are going to undergo change this winter, of that there's no doubt. Nine prominent players (Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Eaton, Howie Kendrick, Asdrúbal Cabrera, Aníbal Sánchez, Sean Doolittle, Kurt Suzuki, Eric Thames and Josh Harrison) will either become free agents or could become free agents if their options aren't picked up. Several others (most notably Michael A. Taylor and Roenis Elías) could be in danger of being non-tendered. They aren't all coming back, that much...

Teams in a rebuild, and specifically the people behind it, wonder about the obsession over a defined closer for the bullpen Fans ask about it. The media tracks it. The first reliever to rise after the eighth with his club holding a slim lead is crowned. Five pitchers recorded saves for the Orioles this year and Hunter Harvey wasn't counted among them. He was supposed to handle the responsibility, according to everything written and reported over the winter and spring and during summer training...

The truncated 2020 regular season is over, and it was used this year to eliminate just 14 teams. Now 16 play on in search of the World Series championship. Bracket playoff baseball is about to begin later today with four American League playoff games. The National League series begin tomorrow. So on Wednesday, there will be eight playoff games. Yep, eight. They'll start at Noon, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 p.m. Should be a wild day and night of baseball. There will be at least four more games on...

MASNsports.com has obtained a copy of the Nationals' official fall instructional league 65-player roster for 2020. Players in attendance whom MLBPipeline.com lists as top Nats prospects include pitchers Jackson Rutledge, Cade Cavalli, Tim Cate, Mason Denaburg, Cole Henry, Andry Lara, Eddy Yean, Matt Cronin and Seth Romero, who is on a major league rehab assignment with a broken right hand. Top 20 rated Nats position players on hand: first baseman Drew Mendoza, shortstop/third baseman Yasel...

The Marlins finished in last place in the National League East in 2018 with 95 losses and 2019 with 105 losses. In the first week of this season, they were quarantined in a Philadelphia hotel for a week after 20 positive coronavirus tests that disrupted their schedule, as well as schedules for other teams, and they needed 17 new players to compete, including former Orioles reliever Richard Bleier helping their bullpen. The Marlins, who tore down World Series title teams after championships in...

The next step after waking up without baseball is to gauge your own interest in the playoffs - hard for me to root against the Padres with those familiar faces - and wonder what's next for the Orioles beyond the fall instructional league. Will they be active at the Winter Meetings? Will there be a Winter Meetings? At least remotely, I'd assume. Hold onto that Zoom account. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is going to determine the interest in his trade chips, including...

In his September for the Nationals, outfielder Andrew Stevenson got at least one base hit in all 12 games he played, a new career-high. Stevenson, 26, returned to the Nats on Sept. 18, playing in nearly every game for the rest of the season, which included appearing in three doubleheaders in that span. During the final two weeks of the season, the Nats went 8-4 with Stevenson on the field. He hit .417 with seven doubles, one triple, two homers and 12 RBIs in those 36 at-bats. For 2020,...

From the moment the Nationals took the field on opening night, one thing was obvious: The 2020 season was going to be different. Really, really different. By the time it ended Sunday evening, perhaps some aspects of what took place out there were starting to feel normal. We got used to the sight of managers, coaches and umpires wearing masks. We got used to the sight of empty stands and the sounds of artificial crowd noise. We even got used to the designated hitter in National League games,...

For the Orioles, the 2020 season, turned out to be about progress and improvement. They moved the organization forward in bringing young talent onto the team, much of it homegrown, that performed well. They made improvement in the won-loss record. But, yes, the bar was low for that latter achievement. * The 2018 Orioles went 47-115 and played .290 baseball.* The 2019 Orioles went 54-108 and played .333 baseball.* The 2020 Orioles went 25-35 and played .417 baseball. The club had finished in...

Juan Soto won the 2020 National League batting title on the last day of the season after going 1-for-1 with a walk in the Nationals' 15-5 trouncing of the Mets at Nats Park Sunday. "Outstanding," said manager Davey Martinez of the accomplishment during the postgame Zoom video session. "Not only a batting champ, but I think he's one of the youngest in over 100 years. What can we say about Juan Soto. He comes every day ready to play, not just hitting but his defense, his baserunning,...