by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
Year 20 for Washington Nationals baseball. We have semi-real baseball today as it is Opening Day for these Nationals in their first Spring Training game today of the 2025 season. The team opens up their Grapefruit League schedule against the Houston Astros and that is the team the Nationals share the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches complex.
This will be a 1:05 pm start and the game will be available on TV via the Houston feed, and on Nats Radio via The Team 980 AM.
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On January 10, 2023, we broke the news to the baseball world that the Washington Nationals had moved to a No Sale mode, and the only reason the team technically remained for sale for a few months longer was because the team was under contract with the investment banking firm of Allen & Co. That source who gave us that scoop, messaged us yesterday to give us the real scoop behind the scenes on some scathing reports of the owner-GM situation that was in the news from a local media person. We felt like we received a good grasp of the facts vs. the fiction from our source.
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Remember when Washington Nationals’ principal owner Mark Lerner was photographed with his former-World Series outfielder, Juan Soto, before Dylan Crews‘ MLB debut game? Many thought that was a good sign that the Nationals had a shot to sign Soto. That shot was served in a highball glass with a jolt of reality and a bitter lemon.
Maybe the the consolation prize on Soto was not falling in the trap of the Yankees, thinking they could retain him for the rest of his career. They failed to extend his contract and then couldn’t sign him as a free agent. All the Yankees got for their going-away present was a compensatory draft pick after the third round. But the Bronx Bombers also had to endure the embarrassment of seeing Soto go across the borough to Queens. At least the Nats got an absolute queen’s haul of MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood who combined for +6.3 WAR last year — and Wood only played half the season! Add to the haul the two other players the Nats received in the trade with Top-100 prospect Jarlin Susana and former Top-100 prospect Robert Hassell III.
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You will never lose a game in any sport if the other team does not score, right? In baseball, that is known as a shutout. Usually those come in the form of team shutouts as complete-game shutouts are rare in today’s game of baseball. Pitchers are part of the defense. “Good pitching will beat good hitting any time, and vice versa.” – Bob Veale
The Kansas City Royals are a small market team that cannot afford a $200 million payroll. They won a World Series in 2015 based on a formula of building a good lineup with a great bullpen and a decent starting rotation. The following year they collapsed and only won 81-games. By 2018, they were back to losing 100+ games and collecting top draft picks. By tanking, it put them in a position to pick second in the 2019 draft, and they got their franchise player in Bobby Witt Jr. They devised a plan to build with middle tier starting pitchers buoyed by great defense and Witt as their star hitter.
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Greatness is a process. CJ Abrams is embracing that on-and-off the field. Wakeup calls resonate in many different forms. Abrams answered the call. A source told us that Abrams did not go close to a casino during the offseason. His family took a more active role, and he spent most of his offseason in his parent’s home in Georgia before heading to Spring Training early.
The young shortstop had a long conversation in December with manager Dave Martinez that cleared the air and set expectations. But our source told us that Abrams had already gone well beyond Martinez’s expectations with his own list. A family friend messaged us during the offseason, “He’s doing great! Ready for the season!”
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"Opening Day should be a National holiday"
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