Opposite Dugout: Mets' hot start continues despite shortage of catchers
Manager: Mickey Callaway (1st season) Record: 12-2 Last 10 games: 9-1 Who to watch: 1B Adrián González (.242, 9 RBIs), SS Asdrúbal Cabrera (.315, 3 HR, 5 RBIs), LF Yoenis Céspedes (3 HR, 12 RBIs), RHP Jacob deGrom (2-0, 3.06 ERA), RHP Zack Wheeler (1-0, 1.29 ERA), RHP Jeurys Familia (0.00 ERA, 7 saves) Season series vs. Nationals: 3-0 Pitching probables: April 16: RHP Jeremy Hellickson...
Game 57 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
The Nationals enter the final series of the regular season knowing they have only four games against the Mets remaining on the schedule. With the Giants' 7-2 win over the Rockies late last night, the Nats were officially eliminated from postseason consideration a year after winning the World Series. Tonight, left-hander Patrick Corbin (2-6, 4.76 ERA) makes his final start of 2020 against Mets...
Game 58 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
The Nationals and the Mets are scheduled to play two seven-inning games today as part of a doubleheader, thanks to Friday's postponement. Max Scherzer will start the first game. AnÃbal Sánchez, already scheduled to pitch Saturday, will start the nightcap. Jacob deGrom to start game 1 for the Mets, who at 26-31 have a 1.2 percent chance of making the postseason. Scherzer enters today's final...
Game 38 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
The Nationals are back home after a 3-3 road trip and Thursday’s off-day. It’s an odd setup for this four-game series before the Nats head back on the road to Miami: They’ll play these four games against the Mets on Friday-Monday this Mother’s Day weekend. MacKenzie Gore returns to the mound to start this series for the home team. The young left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.65 ERA and 1.432 WHIP over...
Game 15 lineups: Nats at Mets
The Nationals love wearing their gray road uniforms. The Nats are finding all kinds of ways to win games, blowouts and pitcher's duels, all on the road. They won Monday night, 16-4, and Tuesday night, 2-1. Overall, they are 4-0 on the road this season, counting the two games with Toronto that had to be played at Nats Park. Manager Davey Martinez joked after their first game in New York they...
Game 33 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
Almost halfway through this six-game homestand, the Nationals need to win this afternoon to earn a series victory against the Mets before the Astros come to town this weekend. In the four home series before this one, the Nationals went 0-3-1, with the one tie coming in a four-game series three weeks ago in which they won the first two games against the Diamondbacks before dropping the last two....
Game 160 lineups: Nats at Mets
NEW YORK – You’ll never guess what the weather’s going to be like the next three days here at Citi Field! It’s like somebody purposely decided to have a massive storm follow the Nationals up the East Coast, because just as soon as things cleared up in D.C., the remnants of Hurricane Ian have made their way to New York, where tonight the Nats and Mets are supposed to open the final series of the...
Defense and team speed cornerstones to Nationals' success
Defense and speed are cornerstones of good teams, and they were important parts why the Nationals were so good in 2019. The Nats outfield was the best in baseball, based in Runs Prevented (26) and Outs Above Average (29) last season during their run to a first World Series title for the franchise. This combined total of 55 beat out the Houston Astros for the top spot by a wide margin. Houston...
Spring training games delayed until at least March 5
What had already been widely understood was made official by Major League Baseball this afternoon: Spring training is delayed due to the ongoing labor battle that has yet to produce a new collective bargaining agreement. With camps across Florida and Arizona supposed to open earlier this week, and with the Grapefruit and Cactus league schedules set to commence Feb. 26, a postponement had become...
Game 139 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
The Nationals don’t have to face the Marlins anymore this season, and if that isn’t cause for celebration, what is? Tonight they open a two-game series with the Mets, the last time they’ll face New York this year. A sweep would give the Nats the season series at 7-6; one loss would give it to the Mets (if you care about such things). This would’ve been MacKenzie Gore’s turn in the rotation, but...
Game 103 lineups: Nats at Mets
NEW YORK – The Nationals just completed their best homestand of the season. They’ve won nine of their last 14 overall. Now they’ll see if they can keep it up on the road against a Mets team that desperately needs to turn things on, lest they actually become sellers at next week’s trade deadline. Yeah, the situation is that dire here in Flushing, where the most expensive team in baseball has the...
Starting lineups: Nats vs. Mets in Port St. Lucie
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The day has come at last. It’s the final day of spring training. Later this evening, the Nationals will board their charter flight and head north to D.C. But first, there’s one last game to play down here. The Nats, who at 15-11-1 already are assured of finishing with a winning Grapefruit League record, head up the road to face the Mets in this afternoon’s finale. They’ll...
Game 39 lineups (resumed): Nats vs. Mets
So, here we are again. After a fiasco of a Saturday afternoon and evening, the Nationals and Mets are back at it this afternoon for what amounts to nearly a full doubleheader. Today’s originally scheduled 1:35 p.m. game has been pushed back to 4:35 p.m., with Jake Irvin and Max Scherzer still expected to start. But first, the teams have to complete Saturday’s game, which was suspended with one...
Revisiting our 2022 opening day predictions
We always knew the Nationals weren't going to be good this season. We just had no idea how bad it would get, not only in terms of their 55-107 record, but the fact they traded Juan Soto in early August in an attempt to completely revamp their farm system. Sometimes, it's tougher to predict how a bad season will play out than a good one. That certainly was the case for me and my colleagues on...
Game 31 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
The Nationals are finally back home after a long West Coast trip that included some legitimate highs and some awful lows, all of it coming together for a 4-5 record. Now they need to see if they can start playing better at home, which has been quite a challenge in 2022. Last time we saw them in D.C., the Nats were closing out a 10-game homestand with an eight-game losing streak. Overall,...
Starting lineups: Nats vs. Mets in Port St. Lucie
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – After Wednesday's eight-hour round trip to Tampa, the 45-minute ride up to Port St. Lucie today doesn’t seem all too bad for the Nationals. They were able to arrive at their home complex at a normal time, receive treatment and maybe get in some early work before boarding the bus to go play the Mets. Trevor Williams, making his second start of the spring, gets his first...
Split-squad lineups: Nats vs. Astros and Mets
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s day two of Grapefruit League play, and already the Nationals are pulling double duty. Yes, it’s the one and only split-squad day of the spring for the boys, with half the team staying here in West Palm Beach to face the Astros while the other half heads to Port St. Lucie to face Max Scherzer and the Mets. Davey Martinez decided to keep most of his veterans here, but...
2022 Nats media season predictions
Well, here we are. It’s opening day. Er, make that opening night after the Nationals pushed back first pitch against the Mets from 4:05 p.m. to 7:05 p.m. in hopes that all the rain will clear out before the team takes the field for the first time. This promises to be a season unlike any we’ve experienced around here in a long time. For the first time since 2011, the Nats are not expected to...
Game 39 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
It’s not exactly a beautiful day for baseball in the nation’s capital. Rain is expected all afternoon, so there’s a reasonable chance the second game of his four-game series between the Nationals and Mets doesn’t start on time. Will it be played at all today? Well, according to my sources (aka the same weather app all of you use), it’s supposed to rain from 2-7 p.m., then clear up after that....
Game 50 lineups: Nats at Mets
NEW YORK – The Nationals have won four of their last five. As such, they’ve improved to 18-31 on the season. Which means if they win tonight’s series opener against the Mets, they’ll be 19-31. And we all know what that means. OK, so it probably wouldn’t mean what it meant three years ago when the Nats got swept in this very ballpark to fall to 19-31. If anything, this time it would represent a...
