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The Nationals face the Marlins tonight in Jupiter, Florida which is just north of West Palm Beach. The Marlins 11-game winning streak ended yesterday, and maybe their team chemistry had a bad reaction to their cuts. As expected, owner Derek Jeter‘s former Yankees teammate, Curtis Granderson, appears to have made their roster while they cut Austin Dean who was a standout in camp. Fangraphs had the Marlins projected at 99 losses, and you have to wonder if their final roster further impacts the final projections. Continue reading →

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

It’s the last night time game at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on the 2019 Grapefruit League schedule. The Nationals will play one more night game tomorrow in Jupiter. On Saturday and Sunday there are afternoon games scheduled with Sunday’s slate set for split-squad games. After Sunday’s games, the team will travel north to Washington, D.C. for an exhibition game on Monday evening against the Yankees, and Opening Day is a week from today. Continue reading →

Photo by Steve Mears of Disney’s baseball complex

This will be the Nationals last trip to the Disney baseball complex because after this season the Atlanta Braves will be moving to their new home in Sarasota. When the Nationals were in Viera, the trip to Disney was actually their closest drive about an hour and 20 minutes away. From West Palm Beach, the roundtrip is a 326 mile bus drive, and a lengthy 2 1/2 hours each way from FITTEAM to Champion Field.  Today’s starting pitcher for the Nats, Anibal Sanchez, could have asked to pitch on the minors side but instead chose to make the trek to start this game. All players taking the bus is set to leave at 7:00 AM from the FITTEAM complex in West Palm Beach. Continue reading →

MLB Network graphic

With the day-off on Wednesday, it is hard to say what the rotation will look like on Thursday to Sunday to complete the Grapefruit League schedule before the Nationals return to D.C. for next Monday’s exhibition game against the Yankees. Today is Patrick Corbin’s spot in the rotation at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on the Nats home field and Joe Ross will travel up the hour bus ride for a split-squad game in Port St. Lucie against the Mets. Ross has been pitching out of the bullpen recently with one-inning stints so we will see how long the Nats allow him to pitch today. The Mets were scheduled to start Kyle Dowdy today, but we are also seeing reports of Jeurys Familia starting.

Corbin will face the Miami Marlins who have the same amount of wins (13) as the Nationals have so far in this Spring Training. The Marlins have played one more game so far than the Nats have. Continue reading →

Photo courtesy of Kelly Collis for TalkNats

The Grapefruit League schedule ends in a week from today as the Nationals will fly back to D.C. at the conclusion of next Sunday’s split-squad games. Stephen Strasburg gets this St. Paddy’s start and will get one more start before he leaves Florida. The Nats have a few question marks remaining before they head north. Continue reading →