The Nationals are finalizing their Wild Card roster!

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

The Nationals braintrust convened this afternoon to finalize their Wild Card roster, and manager Dave Martinez said it would be completed tonight. The Brewers are saying that Ryan Braun will be in their starting lineup, but they are not saying much beyond that except for Lorenzo Cain will be a game-time decision. The Wild Card roster for the winner can be redone for the NLDS so you can balance the Wild Card roster for one game only while your NLDS roster has to be engineered for possibly a five game series. Continue reading →

Posted in Feature | Leave a comment

Nats do the improbable to finish with 93-wins in the regular season + 8 in a row!

Posted on September 29, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears


Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals did the improbable to finish the regular season with 93 wins, and a season’s best eight straight wins! The Nats bats were strong in this game, and so was Joe Ross on the mound who capped a very good season when you only consider his 44 2/3 as a starter as he finished with a 3.02 starter’s ERA. The final score in this one was 8-2. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

Game #162 Can you believe we are here?

Posted on September 29, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

In the shadows of Spring Training 2019, you dream of what can be.

Can you believe we are here? That question could be answered in so many ways. The regular season ends today, but when you start out your season at 19-31, you have no realistic expectations that you can make it to the postseason. The 2005 Houston Astros could be the best “comp” to this 2019 Washington  Nationals squad. Both teams had early season setbacks then got healthy and found their way after being 12-games below .500. That Houston team won 89 for the season and went all the way to the World Series on the strength of their Big-3 of Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte. They even had a Strickland in their bullpen (Scott Strickland) and so many other similarities. For the Nationals, they could learn from that 2005 Astros team, and maybe general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez studied them. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

The Nats take care of business and “CLINCH” Home Field Advantage for the Wild Card

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nats needed to make a great showing to not leave their fate in the hands of the Brewers or Cardinals to secure Home Field Advantage.  With this win that was a laugher at one point, the Nationals have reached 92-games which was the top of what Fangraphs projected at the beginning of February, and before the Phillies made their big acquisition on March 2nd and before all of the final moves so the Nats had already exceeded Fangraphs’ Opening Day projections that had the Nats at 90 wins. Continue reading →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment

Game #161 How did the Nats get Asdrubal Cabrera?

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

When Mike Rizzo traded for Asdrubal Cabrera in 2014 for the stretch run, he had little impact on that team, and those who believe “the second time is the charm” were right. This time around, Cabera has been a star for this team. The national media so far have missed the ball on Cabrera given how much they talked about Yoenis Cespedes back in 2015 when the Mets acquired him. Cespedes batted a healthy . .287 with a .942 OPS after the Mets acquired him in 2015, but Asdrubal Cabrera is batting a healthier .322 and a .972 OPS with the Nats this season.  Droobs also has 39 RBIs in just 37 games which has given him 90 for the season so far. While Cabrera is not getting any accolades nationally, he seems fine in his role where he is flying below the radar and has played every infield position except shortstop and has also come off the bench as a pinch-hitter.  Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

Nats have their first six-game winning streak of the season!

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals rested Victor Robles tonight and inserted Gerardo Parra into the lineup, and all he did was go 3-3 with 4 RBIs to lead the Nats along with Austin Voth who pitched 6.0 innings of two-run baseball. This was another night that the Nationals bullpen threw up zeros to make this 8-2 win a no-drama win. Continue reading →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment

Game #160 Scherzer named Wild Card starter; Kurt Suzuki is back!

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

The schedule makers set the last series of the season for the Nationals to host the Cleveland Indians, and they created a meaningful series for the 160th game. The Indians are in third place for the Wild Card in the American League, and they need to win. If the Indians lose one game this weekend and the Tampa Bay Rays win just one — the Indians season will end as their Tragic # is 2. The Nats are fighting for Home Field Advantage in the Wild Card game and control their own destiny because they have a 1.0 game lead over the Brewers. Earlier today, the Nats made it official and named Max Scherzer as their starter for the Tuesday winner-take-all game. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

90th win ✔ 5-game sweep ✔ Pushing the Phillies below .500 ✔ Rest starters ✔

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

On Davey Martinez’s 55th birthday, the Nats won their 90th game!

The Nationals have been able to accomplish all goals in this series which started with winning at least four games to clinch the Wild Card and they did that with their third win of the series on Tuesday because the Cubs obliged with a loss leading to an earlier clinch. The Nats kept rolling and swept the Phillies in a 5-game series which is a rare feat. It is the first time the Nats have done that in franchise history. By sweeping the Phillies, they pushed them to a 79-80 losing record, and for the season, the Nationals record in head-to-head games against the Phillies is 14-5 which is incredible when you ponder how their first meeting went on April 2nd. All of this added up to the Nats 90th win of the season as the Nats are now 21 games above .500 and they did this on manager Dave Martinez’s 55th birthday. Continue reading →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment

Game #159 The 5-game series finale, Phils flirting with .500, and Nats 90-win goals!

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Mike Rizzo prior to his Hot Stove Q&A; Photo by Andrew Lang

There are so many numbers wrapped up in today’s outcome of the 19th and final meeting between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies this season. If the Nationals are fortunate enough to win their 90th game today, they would simultaneously push the Phillies below the .500 mark, and the Nats would notch the 48th time since 1961 that a team swept a 5-game series (h/t Steve Robison) which is a rare feat in the salaried controlled era of baseball as there have only been 5 five-game since 2015 and only one sweep so these are rare indeed. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

Nats have taken the first four games from the Phillies for win #89

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats.

Few Nationals fans can forget how the 2019 season series with the Phillies began on April 2nd as their rivals and their fans won the first game of the 19 games they would face each other, and the Phillies faithful were gloating like they won the World Series. There were taunts from the Broad Street Bullies of “We Got Harper” and yes, there were fights in the stands on that evening. Fast forward 17 games, the Nats are now up 13-5 in games this season against the Phillies. Their last game against the Phillies will be tomorrow afternoon. Continue reading →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment