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Winner-Take-All semi-final for Triple-A Rochester!
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Everything comes down to tonight at AutoZone Park in a winner-take-all elimination game. The Rochester Red Wings (1-1) and the Memphis Redbirds (1-1) will meet in Game 3 of the Triple-A International League Championship Series. The victor punches their ticket directly to the Triple-A National Championship Game at Las Vegas Ballpark on Saturday, September 26. Last night’s victory by Memphis gave them momentum — but as they say, today is a new day. The Red Wings’ most recent league title came in 1997 when they defeated Columbus in five games to capture their record 10th Governors’ Cup. Rochester goes with an opener tonight with reliever Zak Kent, and Memphis has RHP Ryan Fernandez starting their game. Key Matchup Focus Keep a close eye on Rochester shortstop Seaver King. The Nationals’ 2024 first-rounder has been a standout in this series, going 3-for-4 with a go-ahead home run in the Game 1 victory. He will be a crucial bat in the lineup for the Red Wings. Rochester Red Wings (1-1, 90-58) vs. Memphis Redbirds (1-1, 83-67) Thursday, September 24, 2026 – 7:45 p.m. ET – AutoZone Park – Memphis, TN Radio: Fox Sports 1280/iHeartRadio TV: Bally Sports Live and via the MLB TV App and MiLB TV App Your starting lineup for tonight’s WINNER TAKE ALL Game 3 in Memphis. The International League Championship is on the line, and a win sends the Wings to Las Vegas Starting Lineup | @GreenlightFiber pic.twitter.com/wBFfPnrFja — Rochester Red Wings (@RocRedWings) September 24…
Game #4 Terps open their Big-10 schedule against UCLA in College Park!
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Maryland Terrapins (2-1) open their Big-10 schedule on Saturday against UCLA. Last year the Terps traveled to California to play UCLA, and this year the Terps are back home for this showdown. Coach Michael Locksley came into criticism after last week’s loss to Virginia Tech, and mostly about the poor defense in the first half. Hopefully Maryland cleans up those defensive mistakes and gets a much needed win to get the season back on track. The visiting UCLA Bruins football team enters the matchup riding high at 3-0 under dynamic first-year head coach Bob Chesney. The Bruins possess one of the most explosive offenses in the country, fresh off a dominant 52-38 victory over Purdue where they accumulated a staggering 645 yards of total offense. UCLA’s offensive surge is powered by the lethal combination of quarterback Nico Iamaleava and running back Wayne Knight, who tore…
Those who thought 2026 was going to be another 2022 were wrong! What about 2027?
There is a reason they play the games. Everyone has opinions — and most stink. Facts are facts, and all we want are the facts, ma’am. On Sunday evening, we will have the facts. The final standings. The Washington Nationals, as some said in March, would test the team’s worst record set in 2022 with 107 losses. Others felt this could be a 2011 (80 wins) or better “if everything goes right.” That 2011 team improved +11 wins from their previous season. This 2026 team improved by ___ wins. Guess what?!? This season will be a lot closer to 2011 when that team won 80 games with Jayson Werth leading them. We thought this 2026 team needed that type of leadership, and maybe they did. But they did really well with who they had on the positional roster. Congratulations to @JessicaCamerato for taking what she saw in Spring Training and believing this Washington Nationals team could improve dramatically over last year. Still 3 games remaining to play. The ones who had the Nats losing 100-or-more games really swung & missed. Vegas… https://t.co/Fqv2MTKtjQ — Nats.Talk (@TalkNats) September 24, 2026 Yes, hindsight will torment you that a better bullpen and a better back of the starting rotation were the real reasons why this 2026 team didn’t fully over-achieve. As President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, said on the radio yesterday, his regret was the blown saves. As he said, if just half of those blown saves that turned into losses (24) were…
Game #2: Rochester is 1-win from moving to the championship game!
The Rochester Red Wings (1-0) are in the driver’s seat in the best-of-3 playoff series with the the Memphis Redbirds (0-1) for the Triple-A International League semi-final. If the Red Wings win tonight, they will head to Las Vegas for a 1-game winner-take-all championship game on Saturday. Last night’s victory moved Rochester within one win of its first International League championship in 29 year. The Red Wings’ most recent league title came in 1997 when they defeated Columbus in five games to capture their record 10th Governors’ Cup. As mentioned, a victory tonight would send Rochester to the Triple-A National Championship Game against the Pacific Coast League to crown a champion on Saturday in Las Vegas. Tonight’s starters are RHP Isaac Lyon for Rochester and LHP Mason Molina for the Redbirds. Lyon makes his fifth Triple-A start tonight. The Utah native has allowed three earned runs across 17.2 innings with Rochester for a 1.53 ERA, striking out 18 while posting a 1.08 WHIP and.217 batting average against. Lyon has surrendered no more than one earned run in any of his first four Red Wings starts and enters tonight set to make his professional postseason debut. There were some roster moves for Rochester before the game. Catcher Kyle Hayes, was reinstated from the Development List as the Nats recalled RHP Gus Varland. Rochester Red Wings (1-0, 90-58) vs. Memphis Redbirds (0-1, 83-67) Wednesday, September 23, 2026 – 7:45 p.m. ET – AutoZone Park – Memphis, TN Radio: Fox Sports 1280/iHeartRadio TV…
Postgamer: Nats powered by YoYo for win №75
The Washington Nationals got their 75th win of the season and continued their strong finish to 2026. With today’s win, the Nats are on an 8-3 run in their last 11 games. Also, the Nats finish interleague play with a strong 28-20 record against American League teams. There are now three games remaining in Washington’s season. This win was powered by a YoYo Morales 2-run homer, and a Nats’ bullpen that only yielded two runs in 7⅔ innings after opener Richard Lovelady did his job to start the game. In this game, the Nationals set another team record, Nasim Nuñez put up the high mark to secure the stolen base record with №48. Then Nuñez also swiped №49 for good measure and manufactured a run in the process as he scored from 3rd base on a James Wood groundout for the final run in this 4-2 win. “[ Nasim Nunez ] made that run happen. He steals second. He steals third. Now a ground ball to first and he scores and gives us a little bit of a cushion there.” — manager Blake Butera said The Nats scored their first run on a CJ Abrams single. That makes it 103 RBIs for Abrams in 2026 with three games remaining. With every RBI, home run, double and stolen base, Abrams is adding to his incredible season. He is the 15th player in baseball history to drive in 103 RBIs, 33, home runs, 30 doubles, and 33 stolen bases. Reliever Yovanny Cruz…
Game #159 Nat go for the series win in the Detroit finale!
The Washington Nationals organization has an important day of baseball. The Nats can wrap-up their series with a win in Detroit as they have an early afternoon game and will fly back to Washington afterwards. At 7:45 pm is the first pitch for the best-of-3 game Triple-A International League playoff for the Nats’ affiliate Rochester Red Wings as they play in Memphis, and Rochester is up 1-0. With a win today, Rochester would fly to Las Vegas for a Saturday winner-take-all one game championship. First order of business for the Washington Nationals is a win against the Tigers. The Nats will go with a bullpen game with Richard Lovelady as the opener and expect Brad Lord and Will Dion as the bulk relievers. The Rochester Red Wings will start Isaac Lyon in this crucial game. The Nats enter this game with 74 wins and have already improved over 12 percent in year-over-year for wins above the 66 total wins from the 2025 season. Each extra win from here represents progress and also what they could do to improve going into next season. ❝“It’s a lot to look forward to, it’s a lot to be excited about, and I think it sets the tone for the rest of this group in terms of what we’re capable of achieving.❞ — said Blake Butera On offense, the Nats have the third most runs scored in MLB this season at 800 runs, and that is an impressive 5.09 runs per game. With the Nats…
Postgamer: Some CJ Abrams history as he powers the Nats 74th win!
The Washington Nationals saw CJ Abrams carry the team with two home runs and knocking in all three runs in this 3-1 win for the Nats 74th game in the Curly W column this season with four games to go. With Abrams huge game, he began his day with 99 RBIs, and finished with 102 via two long home runs to get him to 33 home runs. Add to Abrams’ stats his 30 doubles, and 33 stolen bases to put him in some rare air of company as the 16th player in MLB history with those stats. “He’s so talented and gifted. … Getting over 100 RBIs, I mean just talk about that, and what CJ has done this year. The amount of stolen bases he has, the home runs, the doubles, and ribbies. A superstar in the making. It’s been a lot of fun to watch him do his thing and just sit in the dugout and know he’s on our team. Just couldn’t be more impressed with what CJ has done. I’m proud of him.” — manager Blake Butera said CJ Abrams becomes the 16th player in MLB history with 102 RBIs to go with 33 home runs, 33 stolen bases, and 30 doubles. #Nats pic.twitter.com/03MiWXM9qn — Nats.Talk (@TalkNats) September 23, 2026 Also, putting up some numbers was Dylan Crews with his 10th and 11th stolen bases in the game, he is the 5th Nats player this season to be in the 10 home run and 10 stolen…
Game #158 Nats look to even series
The Washington Nationals have a packed day for baseball. The Nats play at 6:40 pm and at 7:45 pm is the first pitch for the best-of-3 game Triple-A International League playoff for the Nats’ affiliate Rochester Red Wings as they play in Memphis. First order of business for the Washington Nationals is a win against the Tigers. The Nats will go with Riley Cornelio as their opener and followed by Jackson Kent as their bulk starter. Tomorrow is listed as a TBD for the starter and could be a Brad Lord opener game. The Rochester Red Wings will start reliever Matt Krook in their game. The Nats enter this game with 73 wins and have already improved over 11 percent in year-over-year for wins above the 66 total wins from the 2025 season. Each extra win from here represents progress and also what they could do to improve going into next season. ❝The biggest thing is in the first inning there. You’re just getting back out there after a long time, and when things start to go sideways like that, the ability he had to stop momentum and get going again, that was huge.❞ — said Blake Butera On offense, the Nats have the third most runs scored in MLB this season at 800 runs, and that is an impressive 5.10 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.69 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats…
What would it take to extend CJ ABRAMS? 🤔
The Washington Nationals turned out to be the surprise team of the National League. For a few months, they were in the playoff hunt and had a winning record. In the end, you are what the record says you are. That’s fine. We know the Nats history going from 2011 with 80 wins and improving by 18 wins the next season with the best record in team history with 98 wins. The Nats should be contending in 2027. Should. Will they? That is a fair question to ask. For the youngest team in MLB, they should be on a line of progression. They are loaded with star talent, and their farm system is getting ripe with top prospects. This is exactly how the Nats did it in 2012. They added one new star pitcher to the two they had, and the rest was history. Yes, the Nats have some holes, and these holes are easily identifiable. Some are gaping potholes. There is no window dressing needed here. We can all see it clearly. Get another star starting pitcher, a couple of back of the bullpen studs, and then look at extending the window. Every current player with a WAR value above +2.0 is projected to be with this team at least through the 2030 season except for CJ Abrams (2028) and Jacob Young (2029). The million dollar question is: ❝What would it take to extend Abrams?❞ Answer: ❝At least 9-digits of millions of dollars.❞ Let’s face it, foresight was the…
Game #157 DJ Herz is back
The Washington Nationals will roster their 43ʳᵈ pitcher of the season on the mound tonight as DJ Herz will pitch in his first MLB game since the end of the 2024 season. After struggling in Spring Training of 2025, the reasons turned out that Herz tore his UCL ligament in his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. He missed all of the 2025 season and made three rehab starts in June of this year before he suffered a minor flexor strain in his forearm and had to be shutdown. He built back up and now is ready to go. Don’t expect Herz to go much more than 75 pitches in this one as he will probably be amp’d up — and he just got to 65 pitches in his last outing going 4⅓ innings of 1-run baseball. In 2024 on the MLB mound, Herz had a 3.70 ERA in mid-September before he had his worst start that season with a 7-run outing as he probably hit arm fatigue — or maybe that was the start of his UCL tearing. Up until that point, Herz looked like he could turn into a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. Of his 19 starts that season, he had 13 starts of 2-runs or less, one start with 3-runs, and four starts of 4-runs. Back in 2024, the team seemed to be managing his pitch counts well. Then on July 7 of that year, they allowed him to go past his career high of 92 pitches and that…
Triple-A Rochester wins the 2nd-half International League title!
The final score of a 15-8 blow-out might not give you the full gist of how Triple-A Rochester stormed back from an early deficit due to poor defense to win the final game of the Triple-A regular season schedule to clinch the second-half Triple-A International League title. This is their first postseason since 2013. That is a tribute to Paul Toboni and VP of Player Development Devin Pearson plus all of the other coaches there. Think about adding all of the new technology and doubling the coaching staff. They added a Trajekt Arc machine to the Triple-A training facility in Rochester. The progress doesn’t happen for no reason. Players improved. The Red Wings finished the second half with a 45-30 record and a.600 winning percentage, closing the regular season at 90-58 overall. Those 90 wins are the most for a Red Wings team since 1953. The championship marks Rochester’s first postseason berth as a Washington Nationals affiliate and the first for Washington’s Triple-A affiliate since Syracuse qualified in 2014. While it might have felt like the Washington Nationals sent a ringer to start the game for Rochester, LHP Connelly Early was there for a rehab start and was promptly pulled at 40-pitches and left in a 0-0 game with bases loaded due to a costly error. Paxton Schultz relieved Early with two outs and allowed all three of his inherited runners to score. That made Early’s final line: 1⅔ IP, 0H, 3R, 0ER, 3BB, 2K. “We had a tough first…
Nice Things Not Allowed
The good ship Washington hard aground on a shoal. In sports hopes and dreams come easily. They evaporate over time or are vaporized quickly. Only rarely are they requited. John Madden once said that the longer a team goes into the playoff run before being eliminated the more it hurts when they lose. What, then if the dagger comes at the very beginning with the season still in infancy? Both scenarios end up in the same boat. But, they are far different experiences. Sadly, the former is unfamiliar. The latter is like an old pair of shoes. There’s little thought required to slip into them. Manic Monday There’s little use in going through numbers this week. The only numbers that matter are 37-20. Another loss in Dallas. September has been traditionally their month to shine and summons Super Bowl aspirations. Dak Prescott has serious ownage on Washington to the tune of 20-Touchdowns and 0-interceptions at home. So, if left to simply read the final score there’s hardly any shock value. But, then there’s Jayden Daniels prone on the plastic turf. Three-seconds to go in the first half, an Offense that has sprung to life, the ball on the 3-yard line. What to do? Coaches send messages to their players in various ways. One is that he trusts his charges to get those yards. Success then brings confidence. Failure plants doubt. It was high risk and high reward all the way. The game wasn’t on the line. But, Dallas would have been shook to have dominated early only to see it all evaporate. Washington was getting the ball to start the second-half. In Quinn’s mind there were two possible outcomes; success or failure. Seeing his star QB on the field writhing in pain was not on the option list…except in invisible…