May 16
Max Scherzer’s 20-strikeout performance against the Detroit Tigers was certainly one for the ages, the highlight of one of the most remarkable weeks in the history of the Washington Nationals. But Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, whose contract extension was a key part of that week, owe a debt of gratitude to a man who might …
May 09
The old adage goes that good baseball teams play .500 on the road and have a winning record at home. Still, Nationals fans can’t help but have a bad taste in their mouths after dropping the last four games of a 5-5 road trip to the Chicago Cubs. It seems the Cubs have been edging …
May 02
When the Nationals visit the Kansas City Royals tonight, manager Dusty Baker will pencil a designated hitter into his lineup for the first time this season. But even playing in an American League park, Baker might actually think twice before he does so. Most Nationals fans could sense that Joe Ross was done for the …
Apr 25
The Nationals have a new slogan this season, and it’s probably not the one the marketing team envisioned. Instead of the “One Pursuit” tagline the team rolled out for the 2016 season, what seems to have caught on with the fans is Bryce Harper’s seemingly impromptu “Make Baseball Fun Again.” Spawned in the the wake …
Apr 18
Even with Sunday’s extra-inning loss to Philadelphia, courtesy of a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, the Nationals are still doing quite well, thanks. At 9-2 and four games ahead of Philadelphia, they have the best record and biggest division lead in all of baseball. That seems light years ahead of last season, when they struggled …
Apr 04
Many Nationals fans are still feeling the sting of disappointment from 2015, when preseason World Series predictions dissolved in a cloud of injuries, disappointing performances and clubhouse dissension. The Nats finished out of the postseason and watched as the NL East rival New York Mets stole their division, playoff and pennant dreams. For all but …
Sep 28
How did it come to this? Six months after after Bryce Harper essentially called out a World Series championship in the preseason, the Washington Nationals were eliminated from postseason contention with more than a week to play. Despite Harper’s MVP-caliber season and Max Scherzer‘s Cy Young-caliber first half, the defending National League East champions haven’t …
Sep 14
It seems like a natural instinct to judge based on failure, especially in baseball. So it might be easy to label the Nationals as a failure for falling short of their own expectations and those of many fans in the 2015 season. But it’s often in failure where success is born, and that’s how the …
Sep 07
For baseball fans, the season’s final weeks can be a manic-depressive time when fortunes turn on a dime. At least that’s how it’s been for followers of the Washington Nationals. We’ve gone from hope to despair and back so many times in the past few weeks, it’s hard to count. Remember that awful Western road …
Aug 31
When the Nationals learned Friday that leadoff man Denard San would have hip surgery and miss the rest of the season, it was certainly discouraging news. Without Span’s .365 OPB and base-stealing potential atop the lineup, the team’s offense takes a severe hit, and with it their chances to catch the New York Mets in …
