Click to Read an Important Member Update Regarding Our Comment System
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.
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Starlin Castro is struggling at 2nd base; Photo by Katie Moran for TalkNats
The Nats fell to 1-4 in this early season, and the “little things” came up big in this loss. This is the third game of the Nats five games where the offense scored only one run. Add two errors by Starlin Castro that resulted in a disappointing 3 unearned runs, and it was game over. The Blue Jays first run of the game came off of a home run but the ball was in Victor Robles glove after he timed a leap over the bullpen wall in left-centerfield — but left fielder Emilio Bonifacio collided with Robles and the impact knocked Robles’ glove off his hand and the ball fell into the bullpen for a home run. Continue reading →
Tanner Roark exits out of Nats Park from the new visiting team’s exit; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The Nationals and their braintrust decided not to skip their number five starter, Austin Voth, and utilize the off-day last Friday to pitch Max Scherzer today on regular rest to face an old friend, Tanner Roark, at Nationals Park in the fifth game of the season. Continue reading →
On paper, the Nats looked like the better team, but it did not matter as the Nats only scored one-run and Anibal Sanchez gave up four solo home runs to take the loss. The Nats hit into four doubleplays including a line drive where Victor Robles did not freeze and he was thrown out for one of the doubleplays. There was also a costly baserunning mistake by veteran Eric Thames who set-up for a tag-up with one-out on ball Robles hit off of the right-center wall. Instead of Thames going half-way and scoring and Kurt Suzuki running to third base and Robles with a double — it was a long single due to the baserunning gaffe by Thames. He didn’t score in the inning. Did that cost the Nats the game? No, but it was part of “the little things” that added up. Continue reading →
The baseball world’s sum of all fears came to a reality today when upwards of a dozen players and staff from the Miami Marlins tested positive for COVID-19 over the last few days. The team stayed in Philadelphia overnight while they ponder their next move as their game against the Orioles for today was cancelled as well as the Phillies and Yankees game scheduled for today.
The Nationals finally gave confirmation of a negative MLB lab test for Juan Soto according to manager Dave Martinez, but there is still a lot of mystery surrounding if he took an MLB lab test on Thursday with the rest of his teammates. The theory of the ‘false positive‘ is making more sense as previously discussed. The Washington Nationals could reinstate Soto once he has two negative tests consecutively. Continue reading →
When you waste an ace start like the Nats did with Patrick Corbin‘s gem, with a blown save and loss in the bullpen, it magnifies the issues we saw in April and May of last season. Sure, the Nats didn’t get much offense from the middle and end of the order, but you have to save these ‘playoff’ type games and put them in the ‘win’ column. Newbie to the Nats, Will Harris, gets the blown save, and Sean Doolittle took the loss.
This tweet is a big part of the story,
The story of the game so far is that Patrick Corbin went 6 1/3 innings & only yielded 1 run. Davey Martinez’s “A” bullpen came in & went 1 2/3 innings and gave up 2 runs for a blown save. That is what cost the Nats in Apr/May 2019 and one of the big reasons they were 19-31. pic.twitter.com/itfQxPctrm
The rest of the story was not cashing in on the Yankees mistakes. The Nats had Trea Turner on 3rd base with one out and Starlin Castro struck out. Eric Thames had one RBI hit earlier but left five runners on-base.
Maybe the biggest play was Emilio Bonifacio overslid third base on a steal with no outs in the 9th inning.
Overall, the biggest question mark continues from Spring Training to Summer Training to today’s 2020 debut for Doolittle, what is wrong with him? His velo was up but he was not sharp, and was saved by some perfect positioning by his defense when Aaron Judge lined a baseball that was clocked at 101 mph right at Michael Taylor. In 2/3 of an inning he gave up a lead-off walk, two hits, and the winning run before he was pulled.
Besides Patrick Corbin being so great, the other positive was Trea Turner getting off the schneid with a home run, infield hit, and forcing an error to get on-base three times. Adam Eaton remains hot.
Tough luck for Roenis Elias who is all but done for the season.
The Nats will be without Roenis Elias for most, if not all of the season, as he has been diagnosed with a left flexor elbow strain and placed on the 45 day IL. That opens up a second spot on the 40-man roster. One spot could go to Josh Harrison if he is signed.
Last year, it looked like the Yankees and Nationals could face each other in the World Series as a real possibility. On October 18th of 2019, the Yankees forced a Game #6 in the ALCS as the Nationals had already swept the Cardinals in the NLCS and lied in wait to see who they would face in the World Series. Sports write themselves from reality and it did not happen, but the MLB schedulers took the best matchup of the Eastern region of the ten teams from the NL East and AL East and got smart and went Yankees and Nationals to open the 2020 revised and truncated season instead of the tired matchup of the Yankees and Red Sox. While ratings were at an all-time high for a regular season Nats game on Thursday’s ESPN opener, it was painful for Nats fans to listen to Alex Rodriguez call the game just like yesterday’s FOX game with Joe Buck and John Smoltz. Continue reading →
When it was announced that Stephen Strasburg was scratched, and Erick Fedde was making a spot start, the sportsbooks went nuts for the Yankees. Well, there’s a reason we play the games. Fedde was excellent even though there were four errors behind him, and his only mistake was grooving a 3-0 fastball to Giancarlo Stanton that he obliterated for the only earnie on his ledger. Fedde, who exited with 4.0 innings in the books and a lead, was the star of the game. This game could have been disastrous with Juan Soto still in the COVID protocol, Strasburg scratched, and only 1-hit in the Nats first game. The Nats bullpen shutdown the Bronx Bombers, and Victor Robles bombed the Yankees for 4 RBIs on a 3-4 game as the offensive star. Continue reading →
With a day to gather in their emotions, the Washington Nationals have an opportunity for a do-over of sorts. The Juan Soto COVID-19 news seemed to shake everyone to their core and took the collective air out of the reigning World Champs on Opening Day. Contact tracing interviews took place as well as every player, coach, and all field personnel had to do rapid COVID tests to be cleared to play and/or appear on Opening Day. Instead of the normal pregame prep, it was a total change in routine for physical and mental preparedness. Even the unflappable Max Scherzer seemed off in intensity. Of course there is a level of trepidation about the tests players took on Thursday that were shipped to the lab. Continue reading →
The storm that ended the game after the 5th inning wasn’t the only thing that ruined the day; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The Nationals posted their Opening Day roster at 2:24 PM EDT. They were the last team to post, and before their tweet came the bombshellTweet from Jeff Passan about Juan Soto testing positive for COVID which came out at 2:19 PM EDT.
But I knew something was wrong before the Passan tweet. I sat on the story because my source went with this provision “if it’s off the record I’ll spill” was his exact message followed by these words that sunk my sleep deprived body into a dark hole “soto tested positive for COVID this morning“.
It cut me like a knife. I had not slept a wink as I was trying to break news all night on who was making the roster. We already had Sam Freeman, Emilio Bonifacio, Javy Guerra, Wilmer Difo and Carter Kieboom as in. But we didn’t have Soto as “out”. It was a crushing blow on the day — on Opening Day. You could feel the change. It was a gut punch that sucks all the air out of you. Continue reading →
Champions jersey; Photo from the Nationals team store
Before today’s Opening Day game that gets started at at 7:08 p.m. ET on ESPN against the Yankees, there will be some special pomp and circumstance. Along with that, this game will mark the first major American sport (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) to play a regular season game since COVID-19 sent the U.S. into a national emergency.
“It’s an honor to be the first game being played this season,” manager Dave Martinez said.
The Washington Nationals will raise their World Series champion flag in the centerfield plaza for their well-earned 2019 triumph as well as the 2019 division pennant for playing in the World Series. That pennant flag will fly on top of the scoreboard to form a quartet with the Washington Senators’ 1924, 1925 and 1933 pennants. Also, the team is adorning the players and coaches in the gold threaded “champions” jerseys which now have a fifteen year history to honor the World Series champs from the prior season. The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by the head of NIAID, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has pledged his allegiance previously as a Nats fan from New York City. Social justice and Nationals star, Sean Doolittle, will catch that ceremonial first pitch. This is all part of honoring and memorializing the frontline heroes of COVID-19. Continue reading →
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.