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Game 3: Alex Ovechkin’s Final Opener in D.C.
The hottest ticket in town is to see Alex Ovechkin ‘s final home opener of his career after he announced his retirement on Monday would begin after the season’s end. The Washington Capitals host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight at 7:30 p.m. EDT at Capital One Arena for their highly anticipated 2026-27 home opener. Tonight is so much about the legendary 22-year career of the “Great 8’s” retirement announcement, but also about the newest Capitals who will skate for the first time in front of their home crowd. Those key new additions were Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou, Boone Jenner, and Vincent…
Laundry Day
The NFL is setting records for penalties this year. Some 963-penalties have been accepted through 64-games this season. That works out to 15 per game. The Indianapolis/ Washington tilt this past weekend only had 11-penalties. The rub was that 10 of them were called against Washington. Thankfully that was the only overseas trip for the Burgundy and Gold this season. The faithful that made the trip had a good time…until the game got underway. Washington’s Defense came out of the chute like a Rodeo Bull; full of menace and mayhem. It didn’t last. The Offense couldn’t punch in Touchdowns on two close trips. If the old Spider Sense kicked in as you watched those 7-points turn into 3-pointers it should have. That unrequited early momentum stuff is always an ominous sign. In this case it the foreboding was realized in full. “Medic” At some point the League is going to have to come to grips with the fact that the modern version of the game is close to being beyond the capabilities of the human body. The “Injury Lists” are staggering. Some 4-weeks in some 54 different Quarterbacks have thrown a pass. That’s 1.7 per team. Washington has now contributed 3-QBs to the list. The total will grow to the mid-60s by the end of the season. Tottenham Hotspur stadium is a beauty. It even has the retractable grass much like Phoenix’ facility. It allows the grass to be outside getting sunshine apart from the partially covered roof. For what Americans call Soccer the grass is in the stadium. In fact, when the World Cup was in North America artificial-surfaced stadiums placed turf on the floors. FIFA won’t allow their lads to play on plastic in a tournament. It was not a problem. There are no shortage of pics of…
Are the Nats really trying to be the Milwaukee Brewers?
We have been saying it for years that the new Moneyball formula is what the Brewers and Royals were trying to put together with second-tier pitchers, above average bullpens, and that Billy Beane style of the Oakland A’s Moneyball era OBP that would turn into a top run scoring offense. While the Royals didn’t get there ultimately to prolonged winning, the Brewers seem to be the model here. They don’t have any big-time free agents. The average fan outside of Milwaukee would struggle to give one name on their roster beyond Christian Yelich or Jackson Chourio or Jacob Misiorowski. That Brewers team won 103 games with a payroll of $154 million this year. Did you know that in 2025, the Brewers and Nats had the same $140 million Opening Day payroll? True, the money is never really the same when you look at the roster and where the money was spent. Still, kind of amazing considering this year that the Brewers are paying Brandon Woodruff over $22 million, and he has been injured most of the season after only pitching in 46 full innings this season. It’s always about how you spend the money. The Brewers, besides missing on Woodruff, have spent wisely. They have a team leader in Yelich who was named their captain. Their top player was Brice Turang in the regular season. In the postseason, a whole bunch of players have stepped up. The Brewers were second in runs scored, just ahead of the Nationals. The Brewers…
Situational hitting and awareness for the Nats!
When you watch October baseball, you see a sense of urgency with the pitching. While facing the other team’s best pitching, you have to put together your best at-bats for a chance of getting on-base. In the regular season, the stakes are not as high. Situational hitting and situational awareness has to be worked on and the regular season is like the proving grounds for the postseason. The regular season should feel like the test kitchen for getting it all done correctly. As we look at the Washington Nationals, they were doing a lot of that on offense. James Wood started off slowly, and luckily Joey Wiemer came onto the scene en fuego. Yes, over time, Wood found his timing, and whatever Wiemer had to start the season proved to be short-lived unfortunately. Players like Jacob Young, Keibert Ruiz, Curtis Mead, Luis Garcia Jr., and Andres Chaparro had career years (listed lowest to highest OPS). In 2025, the Nats were the 20ᵗʰ scoring offense in baseball with 687 runs scored — this season, the Nats finished No. 3 in runs scored (821) with nearly the same lineup as last year. Before we take a victory lap on the offense, there is work to be done here with situational hitting. The Nats finished near the MLB middle for RISP hitting at.250, 1,350 strikeouts (8.33 per game), and swinging outside the strike zone at 33.4 percent (known as 0-Swing). Situational hitting is where the Nats must improve going forward. First off, the…
Breaking News: This will be Alex Ovechkin’s final season!
While many expected this to be Alex Ovechkin ‘s final season, he has now made that official by announcing he will retire from the NHL after the end of the season in 2027. The Washington Capitals captain released a statement through the team, saying in part, “I know in my heart it is the right decision.” Ovechkin, 41, is in his 22nd NHL season with 929 career goals, already well clear of Wayne Gretzky ‘s previous record of 894. Ovechkin signed a $4.25 million one-year (plus bonuses) deal this past offseason to return to Washington after playing his entire career…
Newcomers Impress in Exhibition Win
Winston Salem — The Georgetown Hoyas shot the lights out during a 94-77 exhibition win over Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Sunday. Georgetown shot 60% (33-55) from the field and a staggering 55.2% (16-29) from deep. Newcomers Vyctorius Miller, Chol Machot, Jaland Lowe, Elmarko Jackson, and Josiah Parker all delivered strong performances in their unofficial Hoya debuts. Returning juniors Kayvaun Mulready and Caleb Williams were both instrumental to the Hoya victory as well. While the Hoyas undoubtedly have several things to clean up before non-conference play begins, Georgetown fans should be excited about the new look Hoyas. Transfer Portal Additions Make Strong First Impression After an offseason filled with roster turnover, the Georgetown Hoyas Men’s Basketball roster looks wildly different from last season. During the Hoyas’ first exhibition game against Wake Forest on Sunday, several of the new additions made strong contributions in the Hoyas’ victory. Vyctorius Miller (Jr.), a…
Preparing for the 40-man roster moves this off-season
When your team is out of the postseason, this is the time of year to begin the process of who will and won’t be part of the future as the Nationals have to clear 40-man spots on the roster for 60-day IL players as well as Rule-5 prospects. There are some easy decisions and some difficult decisions in this process along with taking some calculated risks. MLB teams must reinstate all players from the 60-day injured list on the fifth day after the end of the World Series. In normal times, free agents would come off of the roster. That is the case for most teams, but not for the Washington Nationals as they have no pending free agents this offseason to be removed from the roster after the World Series. Key Offseason Deadlines: November 17: Rule-5 Draft protection deadline (40-man roster cutoff) November 20: Non-tender deadline for arbitration-eligible players December 11–14: MLB Winter Meetings (with the Rule-5 Draft held on the final day, December 14) The Nats could make those non-tender decisions early because they will need to create 60-day decisions/spots for: Drew Millas C Mitchell Parker LHP PJ Poulin LHP Ken Waldichuk LHP Matt Waldron RHP As we wrote about last week, any non-tender of an injured player will result in the Nationals covering the player’s medical and rehab costs. There are no salary implications for any of those players. Our thinking is Millas will be retained. The thinking is that Poulin will most likely to be retained…
Postgamer Game #2: Caps drop this one in Tampa
A sluggish opening period proved fatal for the Washington Capitals as they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday night. Coming off an energetic 5-2 opening-night victory against the Carolina Hurricanes less than 24 hours prior, Washington found itself immediately on its heels against a desperate Tampa Bay team eager to erase the memory of a season-opening blowout loss. The early schedule did the Capitals no favors, forcing them into a grueling road-road back-to-back sequence to start the 2026–27 campaign. While the physical toll of consecutive nights on the ice was evident…
Heat in the Desert Sun, Oh Susana
Yesterday was Opening Day for the Arizona Fall League in 93°F weather in the Arizona desert. Jarlin Susana, the Washington Nationals top pitching prospect, was chosen by his manager, Ted Tom, to make the start for the Salt River Rafters. And Susana was on fire! He showed the heat getting his fastball to nearly 104 mph on the radar gun. Between his two-seam (sinkers) and four-seam fastballs, Susana averaged 101.6 mph. He threw 36 fastballs with 35 hitting triple-digit plus velos with his max effort at 103.8 mph, according to Statcast. A stellar Fall League debut by Jarlin Susana pic.twitter.com/Q1L8WgJ8qX — MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) October 3, 2026 A breakdown of Susana’s fastballs: 100-100.9 mph — 9 pitches 101-101.9 mph — 13 pitches 102-102.9 mph — 7 pitches 103-or-higher mph — 6 pitches Maybe Susana was a little amp’d up as his first four pitches of the game were all arm-side high and above the zone for the dreaded lead-off walk (LoW). Next batter was a 3-pitch strikeout followed by another 4-pitch walk. With one out and two free passes, the cleanup hitter worked a 3-2 count, and connected for a long flyout off a 101.6 mph heater down central. With two on and two outs, Susana got into another 3-2 count and froze the batter on a slider for strike-3. That seemed like a typical Susana inning. Walks and strikeouts and one out in-play while not locating his pitches. His second inning was a quick 1-2-3 with two…
Game #4: Colts in London
For 30-years the Baltimore Colts and the Washington Redskins shared the same geographical area. Washington was in the Eastern Division. Baltimore was in the Western Division as a result of League reorganization following the absorption of teams from the All-America Football Conference. The two played a yearly tilt from Baltimore’s inclusion into the League in 1953 until 1968. Washington took it on the chin in all but 3 of the 15-games. The Colts would win back to back League Championships in 1958 and 1959 under Weeb Ewbank. Washington would have only 3-winning seasons during that run. Ironically Weeb coached the 1969 Jets to a Super Bowl victory over the same Colts. By 1983 Washington had lost two baseball franchises and the Colts had moved to Indiana. The Colts have retired 8-jersey numbers. Only one of them is from the Indianapolis era; Peyton Manning. The season moves near the Quarter-Pole this week. Washington should have a little pep in their step following a well-earned upset of the defending World Champions last week. They are going to need it. The guys in the desert have decided the Indianapolis Colts are more than a Field Goal favorite. One can never forget that the League is a week-to-week experience. Last week both of these teams were 0-2 staring down the barrel of a 0-3 playoff death sentence. Both won home games. Both are in Divisions that will, most likely, only send one team to the post-season. Both have a major incentive to win this week. This should be a very competitive affair. A Brief Exhale Washington’s win last week provided the opportunity to exhale for a minute. A week earlier the wheels were off of the cart; a storm was right on top of them; and the sniping toward the Afterguard was halfway up…
Arizona Fall League and a Nats’ Prospects Camp
Saturdays in October are about the change of seasons in so many parts of the country where the foliage is turning to a new color palette revealing underlying yellow and orange carotenoids and new red and purple anthocyanins. In the Arizona desert and the tropical climate of West Palm Beach in Florida, the cactus and palm trees are still green. Today is traditionally part of some big college football matchups and drinking pumpkin spiced selections at Starbucks. But baseball is on today’s schedule with the opening of the MLB Division Series in the postseason as well as Opening Day for the Arizona Fall League where all six teams are in action. Next Saturday opens “Strength Camp” at West Palm Beach for selected lower minor league top prospects, and that lasts for six weeks. The beginning of camp, per our source, will focus on proper workouts and strength training. The final two weeks of camp will conclude with some training on the field. A source tells us that starting on October 10 for six weeks, Paul Toboni's player development group will be holding a camp at the West Palm Beach facility for selected minor leaguers. — Nats.Talk (@TalkNats) September 16, 2026 This is a first for the Nats at a time when they would be traditionally bringing in prospects for Fall Instructs. This new camp is more specialized and will run for six weeks and finish up right before Thanksgiving. The camp will give these players a head-start on their offseason…
Arbitration salary projections are in, how does that affect the payroll?
Even with a possible lockout of baseball, teams still have to plan for their arbitration-eligible players. MLB Trade Rumors is an excellent resource for projecting those salaries. The Washington Nationals have eight arb-eligible players. The analyst who creates these arb projections for MLBTR is Matt Swartz who has been a consultant with the Nats since 2013. He has created a model to project salaries for arbitration players and does an excellent job. We feel good as we nailed the number on CJ Abrams ($10.2 million), but we were high on everyone else. The good news for Jake Irvin is that Swartz’s number is much more reasonable than ours, and that probably means that Irvin will be tendered at a number just over $3 million. Per MLBTR, “In the baseball industry, teams and agents determine arbitration salaries by identifying comparable players. To project the entire arbitration class in this way would take a massive amount of time and effort. So, Matt has developed an algorithm to project arbitration salaries that looks at the player’s playing time, position, role, and performance statistics while accounting for inflation. The performance of comparable players matters, but our system is not directly selecting individual comps for each individual player.” We have found over the years that Swartz’s numbers are almost always spot on. Last year we saw how Paul Toboni handled arb numbers and they were not comfortable with Cade Cavalli ‘s number and instead worked out a 2-year deal for him. After signing his extension…