The Nats finish their season on a 3-game winning streak and Juan Soto crowned the batting champ!

Juan Soto finishes the season as the NL batting champ!; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

In the Washington Nationals final 9 games of the season, they finished a very strong 7-2. But it was too little too late to do anything in the playoff race for this year. There is always next year as the team will certainly look different in 2021. That sudden surge at the end will also seed the Nationals 11th in the 2021 amateur draft most likely. The great news is the Nats had several standout performers including Juan Soto who had the highest batting average, OBP, Slugging %, and OPS in the league. Not far behind him was Trea Turner who put up some eye-popping numbers this season. In addition, the 20-year-old rookie, Luis Garcia, debuted and put up a great season with a .276 batting average and a very mature approach at the plate. Continue reading

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Game #60 puts a stamp on a bittersweet season that ends today for the #Nats

Trea Turner had a breakout year; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

It is a bittersweet finish to a season that was a sprint to the finish. Sixty games within the confines of COVID. The Nats made it to the end with no in-season issues at all with COVID infections. The same cannot be said before the season started. There were also plenty to be frustrated about a last place finish in the NL East. Continue reading

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Nats sweep the doubleheader and that will affect the draft order!

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Since the Nats were 19-31 they have gone 6-3 for some of their best baseball of the season. Where was this in August? Oh well, it is nice to see the effort, and Anibal Sanchez pitched a solid game en route to a 5-3 win and a sweep of this doubleheader from the Mets. The Nats beat two former Cy Youngs in this doubleheader sweep beating both Jacob deGrom and Rick Porcello. Continue reading

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Game #59 is Anibal on the mound to try for a doubleheader sweep!

Max earned his 175th career win in Game 1; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The birthday boy, Dave Martinez, got a win he really wanted and he also got to see Max Scherzer record that win. Max finished his 2020 season with a winning record, and he won the 175th of his career. Continue reading

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Game #58 is a long day for the “Birthday Boy” who officially got a multi-year contract! Marquee match-up on the mound!

Photo courtesy of Kelly Collis for TalkNats

Smile Davey, it’s your birthday! He is 56 years young today, and was rewarded with a multi-year contract, exact terms undisclosed. Continue reading

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With tonight’s rain in DC, the big news is Davey Martinez has a new 3-year deal!

Davey and Mike are the first ones off the escalator: Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The big news of the day isn’t the rain in Washington D.C., but something more positive which is manager Dave Martinez is getting a new 3-year deal that will keep him under contract through at least the 2023 season and inline with the same contractual point in time that general manager Mike Rizzo currently has with the team. What that means is the two biggest priorities from the past month is done with Rizzo and Davey tied up.

That moves our morning “Priority List” to a much more succinct list of team off-season priorities. The Nats off-season starts officially after their game goes final on Sunday on September 27th. Continue reading

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Game #58 postponed until 3 pm tomorrow

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Off-season priorities for the Washington Nationals start with 10 keys to make it a successful winter!

Soto pitching BP in Spring Training; Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals have clear priorities for next year. We will take you through the Top-10. Continue reading

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Game #57 is an audition for next year

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

When manager Dave Martinez talked about the future, he spoke optimistically about the All-Star and MVP candidates on his roster next year. He also spoke about wanting to manage long-term for this Washington Nationals team.  Continue reading

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The Nats were built for marathons and short sprints; Officially eliminated, what’s next?

Photo by Laura Peebles for TalkNats

You probably heard that the Washington Nationals were officially eliminated from the postseason late last night. Not a shocker at all when you start a 60-game season at 19-31.

The next time you see the Washington Nationals after Sunday, it will probably be Mike Rizzo and his manager standing behind a batting cage at one of the practice fields at the FITTEAM spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida. While we expect that manager to be Dave Martinez — it is not official at this point in time.

The roster is a huge question mark going into 2021 in terms of turnover and the budget and who Rizzo will target for acquisitions. We know who is under team control for next year, but some of those players could be let go either under declined options, non-tenders, DFA or trades.  Continue reading

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