SPRING TRAINING COVERAGE 2025

THE LEAD

Yesterday’s spring training tilt was so cover-your-eyes sloppy that Screech and that look of permanent surprise may be scarred for life - but although the play was ugly on both sides, the Nats (for once) did not look as bad as their opponent. The writing appears to be on the wall for several decisions, but Thursday will likely be the day bringing more changes.

 SPRING TRAINING COVERAGE 2025

Game Recap

The Nationals and the Astros both looked like road teams (instead of both looking like home teams, as they are at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches) yesterday in a 4-3 Nats win that saw four errors, three wild pitches, two HBPs, and a near-TOOTBLAN (saved by one of those errors!). Trevor Williams started and did what he has done since last spring, record fifteen outs while limiting damage to three runs, only two of which were earned (there’s that defense again), and one scored as an inherited runner after Williams had departed. Brad Lord, pitching on consecutive days for the first time, was the pitcher who allowed Williams’s last batter to score, but he pitched well enough to not scare Mike Rizzo off of potentially making him the long reliever in the Opening Day bullpen. Lord’s perhaps chief competition for that role, Jackson Rutledge, pitched a scoreless seventh after Lord. Offensively, the Nats cashed in on three sacrifice flies and an error by newly converted Astros left fielder José Altuve, who somehow manages to look even smaller as an outfielder. They collected zero extra-base hits and made an out on the bases - the Nats played like a distillation of their 2024 selves.

Today, the Nats hope to look like a different team and not the same old team on the road against the Cardinals, with the first pitch slated for 1:05 PM. Jake Irvin will be on the bump against Steven Matz.

Read more about Brad Lord and the possibility of him making the team coming out of Spring Training.

 STORY TYPE

Step Up and Claim Your 26-Man Spot!

Yesterday’s starting lineup of SS Abrams-CF Crews-2B García-1B Bell-DH Ruiz-LF Rosario-3B Tena-RF Call-C Adams was missing four presumed Opening Day regulars (Nathaniel Lowe, James Wood, Paul DeJong, and Jacob Young) and played like a getaway day lineup. Tena looked bad at the plate and in the field, and looks to have just about given away his opportunity to be a utility infielder for the Nats and is probably looking on Redfin in Rochester. Amed Rosario looks like a solid bet to make the 26-man roster but just is not the same twitchy athlete who first came up with the Mets - although he doesn’t turn 30 until November, he looks half again as old moving around (he did tattoo a couple of loud outs yesterday). Williams did what he has done best over the past twelve months, keep the ball low and off the barrel, but it looks like the Nats would like to carry at least one of Rutledge (has two options) or Lord (not currently on the 40-man) to piggyback Williams starts - he is mostly limited to 15-18 outs max - and pitch another time or two a week. That might be the most interesting roster battle left, given Tena’s flatlining, Andrés Chaparro’s oblique injury and Alex Call continuing to grind at-bats finer than King Arthur ‘00’ pizza flour.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 Good Lord (MLB.com)

📌 Japan Series (The Athletic)

📌 Hideo Nomo’s Legacy (Yahoo!)