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July 3, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nats bounce back from adversity

After the horrendous series of stunning 9th-inning reversals against the Phillies on June 22, 23, and 24, one might wonder how the Washington Nationals would react. Pretty well, actually. Even though they lost the first game against the Orioles in Baltimore last Friday, they won the next two, thus winning yet another series on the road. On Saturday Foster Griffin had a splendid outing, striking out 10 batters over 7 innings, but then the bullpen blew it as usual, and the game was tied 2-2. In the top of the 10th inning, Daylen Lile batted in the "ghost runner" from 2nd base base, and the Nats held on to win. On Sunday Luis Garcia almost single-handedly won the game, with 2 home runs, a double, and 5 RBIs. Nats 6, Orioles 4.

On Monday the Nats headed to Boston, where the Red Sox had just beaten the Yankees in a thrilling 10-inning game that was broadcast on NBC. Unfortunately, the Nats starter Miles Mikolas was totally ineffective, while the Red Sox still had lots of momentum from the night before. Final score: 6-3. But on Tuesday there was a real pitchers' duel, with the score 1-1 after 6 innings. Then the Nationals unleashed their awesome offensive firepower, with multiple doubles and another home run by C.J. Abrams. Nats 8, Red Sox 1. In the game on Wednesday afternoon, Cade Cavalli had his best day pitching of his entire career, striking out 13 batters over 7 innings. The Red Sox' only runs came off relief pitcher Riley Cornelio. Final score: 10-2.

That series (and the one before it) erased any doubt about whether those adverse outcomes last week might have a lingering effect. The Nats may still be in 4th place in the NL East, but they are still in the running for a wild card spot. In tonight's game back home in Washington against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Nats have hit 3 home runs so far, and lead 5-1 after 4 innings. [UPDATE: The Nats built a 9-1 lead in the latter innings, as both Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile hit two home runs each, but the bullpen flinched once again and the Pirates scored 4 runs in the top of the 9th. Final score: Nats 9, Pirates 5.]

[I should have mentioned that Luis Garcia was named NL Player of the Week for the week of June 28. He hit 11 home runs in June, and has 18 for the year now, tied with C.J. Abrams and 2 behind James Wood, who is tied for 7th in the major leagues. Kyle Schwarber has 30 already, setting a Phillies club record for the first half of the year, and on his way to challenging Aaron Judge's MLB record* of 62.]

[* excluding the steroid era]

[That fracas in Boston]

[I also should have mentioned the unpleasantness in Fenway Park on Tuesday after Wilson Contreras struck out. There was an ugly glance and Cade Cavalli said "Sit down, boy," prompting Contreras to start fighting. Contreras had tossed his bat high in the air after homering on Monday, and that apparently angered the Nats. It took a few minutes for the melee to die down, and Contreras, Cavalli, and Miles Mikolas were all suspended for multiple games. Trash talk is often risky business, and Cavalli acknowledged his mistake. He'll only miss one game in the Nats rotation.]

Follow-up on the Phillies

To amplify what jaw-dropping feat the Philadelphia Phillies accomplished in Washington last week, it was the first time in MLB history that a team hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning of three consecutive games. The "heroes" (from the visitors' point of view) were Bryson Stott on Tuesday, on an 0-0 count (final score 14-9), Derek Hill on Wednesday, on a 1-2 count (final score 5-4), and Bryce Harper on Thursday, on a 1-0 count (final score 10-5). I'm pretty sure it was the first time in many years that a team came back to win after being so many runs behind with two outs and two strikes in the 9th inning.

Follow-up on FIFA stadium names

I neglected to include a link to the article upon which much of my recent summary of FIFA stadium name changes was based. For the record, it was in the Washington Post. (For those who are trying to keep up with the World Cup, the U.S. national men's team beat Bosnia-Hercegovina on Wednesday, thus going to the Round of 16.)

Washington Nationals page update

The Washington Nationals page has been updated to include the month of June, just a couple days after I did the updates for May. It now includes the head-to-head records against all opponents the Nats have played during the first three full months of the 2026 season. The Nats' best record is against the Milwaukee Brewers (4-2), and their worst record is against the L.A. Dodgers (0-3) and the Miami Marlins (1-5).

Rate Field update

As noted on May 15, the name of Guaranteed Rate Field has been changed to simply "Rate Field." This was reported in December 2024 apnews.com. Accordingly, [the Stadium name chronology page has been updated] with the new name for Rate Field, "UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium," etc. I have made the usual tweaks to formatting [to the renamed Rate Field page], with a transitional photo section. In the interests of simplification, [there will be fewer photos on stadium pages in] the future. This is the composite "preview" [similar to what most stadium pages will eventually have]:

Views of what was then called "U.S. Cellular Field" when I saw a White Sox-Cardinals game there in July 2015.

City and stadium composite photos

In addition to the stadium composite photos, there are now [larger-size] composite photos for cities as well. [These will appear on most or all pages of stadiums currently in use.] Here is the one for Chicago, consisting of photos that I took in 2008 and 2014:

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chicago River, downtown, the Calder steel sculpture, skyline from (Guaranteed) Rate Field, and one of the typical elevated trains.

June 26, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Baseball (and football!) road trip 2026: partly rained out

I had high ambitions for my trip out to the Midwest and back this month, but unfortunately I was only able to accomplish about half of my goals as far as visiting baseball stadiums. My itinerary included only one large city while heading west to South Dakota (Indianapolis), but I made a slight detour to visit the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, Iowa. Thanks to a tip from Mark London I learned that construction on the new permanent stadium is nearing completion. I must say, it looks very impressive! (The last time I was there, in 2024, I was disappointed to discover that there was nothing at the site where the 2021 and 2022 MLB games had been played there, just dugouts, light towers, and a utility building or two. As I learned, the stands themselves were nothing but temporary, removable bleachers.) In western Iowa I drove past a minor league venue: Lewis & Clark Park in Sioux City.

On my way back east, on Friday June 12th, I took a northerly route through the Great Lakes region, for a variety of reasons. (These would include my interests in birds, state capitol buildings, and -- as described below -- football stadiums.) My first stop was in the Twin Cities, where I visited Target Field for a second time. (I saw a game there in August 2010, which was the very first year the Twins played there.) It being a Friday in the early afternoon, the nearby streets were all congested, discouraging me from making a longer visit there. The fact that Target Field is virtually surrounded by freeways is one of the factors weighing against it; it's just not very easy for pedestrians to get to. I was extremely time conscious, so I quickly drove a mile or two east to see the NFL Vikings' new home. (See below.)

Detroit ended up being the real highlight of my baseball stadium "chase." On Sunday, June 14th I first visited the historic Negro League venue known as Hamtramck Stadium, located in the ethnic enclave [of Hamtramck, northeast of the city center], in which Polish people once predominated but appears to be mainly Middle Eastern or East African nowadays. Then I headed downtown and drove past Comerica Park (and Ford Field next door), and finally stopped at the new "Corner Ballpark," which is located where Tiger Stadium once stood. (The last time I was in Detroit, in 2015, there was a fenced-off area with a sign indicating that the area was being maintained by the "Navin Field Grounds Crew.") The ballpark itself was fenced off, but from peeking inside I was able to determine that the original field perimeter has been replicated, evidently with the same outfield dimensions as in the old days. Indeed, "Kaline's Corner" (right field) is clearly marked! The same flagpole that once stood to the left of center field is still there. Underneath the small roof-covered grandstand along the third base side is the "Hank Greenberg Walk of Heroes." Oddly, the only seats behind home plate are picnic tables, but there is a small bleacher section along the first base side. (Future diagram? You bet!) This was part of an initiative to improve community relations with the Detroit police force. Indeed, the new building adjacent to the ballpark is labeled "Detroit Police Athletic League." Along Michigan Avenue between Cochrane and Trumbull Streets is a row of condominiums with various shops and restaurants on the bottom level.

NOTE: New photos already appear on some of those stadium pages, and others will be added soon.

It was raining [lightly] pretty much the whole time I was in the Detroit area (including Hamtramck), so my photos weren't as good as I had been hoping. [The rain got heavier as I drove into Ohio, which was] why the final phase of my trip (into Cleveland and Pittsburgh) was literally washed out. There were games in both cities that day, and I had vague notions of attending the one in Pittsburgh, but given all my other travel objectives, that just wasn't realistic. I thought I might be able to at least get some photos in either of those cities, but due to traffic delays and poor visibility, that was simply not a viable option.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Target Field in Minneapolis; Lewis & Clark Park in Sioux City, Iowa; Comerica Park and the Corner Ballpark in Detroit; Hamtramck Stadium in Hamtramck, Michigan; and the new (yet unnamed?) stadium at the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, Iowa.

Some football stadiums as well!

As for football, I managed to see and photograph two stadiums for the very first time -- Lambeau Field, the legendary home of the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin, and U.S. Bank Stadium, the relatively new home of the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. (I was at the latter location in 2010, when the Metrodome was still standing.) While in Detroit I also got some photos of Ford Field from the north side for the first time, and while passing through Indianapolis on the westward leg of my trip, I likewise captured an image of Lucas Oil Stadium from the south. But my hopes to see either the home fields of the Cleveland Browns (First Energy Stadium*) or the Pittsburgh Steelers (Acrisure Stadium, formerly known as Heinz Field) were set aside for some future opportunity. I have at least seen the latter stadium, but the photo I took of it isn't very good.

* For some reason, probably involving money, the Browns decided they "need" a new stadium, and plans are underway to build a replacement venue just west of Cleveland near the city's main airport.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

"Football" stadium name switches

Speaking of "football," there is a big international event taking place in cities across North America: the World Cup of soccer! I was confused when I saw something on TV about a World Cup soccer match at "Los Angeles Stadium," which is officially "SoFi Stadium," home of the L.A. Rams and Chargers. FIFA (the international body governing soccer) has some kind of rule against any kind of commercial promotion via stadium names, etc., so for the World Cup they went to considerable expense to cover up the corporate-sponsor names on the various stadiums, replacing them with generic city names. And so as a public service, I present a complete list of those venues:

You're welcome!

Winter sports end in summertime

Speaking of other sports, the professional basketball and hockey seasons finally came to an end about two weeks ago. First, the New York Knickerbockers (which is what the "Knicks" nickname actually stands for) beat the San Antonio Spurs, thus winning the NBA championship (also on the road) by 4 games to 1. This series was noted for the repeated highly improbable comeback wins by the Knicks, and the fact that it was the Knicks' first championship since 1973 -- over a half century! But you probably already knew that. Second, on June 14, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0, thus winning the NHL Stanley Cup by 4 games to 2. At least I think so. Many years ago, I kept goofing up the description of hockey playoffs and gave up even trying to do so for a while.

For the record, this world would be a better place if all of the professional sports seasons would be curtailed by a month or so. NO MLB in March or November, NO NFL in February, and NO NBA or NHL in May or June!!!

The Nationals fall from 2nd to 4th place

Through the first half of June, the Washington Nationals were keeping up a solid string of series victories, managing to keep pace with the (until-recently) red-hot Atlanta Braves. After winning the second and third games of their home series against the San Diego Padres, they ended the month of May in sole possession of 2nd place. That didn't last long, however: the Philadelphia Phillies were doing even better, and pulled ahead of the Nationals in the NL East race. Getting swept at home by the Miami Marlins was a lousy way to start the month of June, but things soon got better.

Indeed, on their road trip out west, the Nats almost swept the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants, losing the third game in both series. The 14-1 win in Phoenix on June June 5 was fueled by 5 home runs, two of which were hit by Luis Garcia, one of which was a grand slam! In contrast the defeat [in San Francisco] on June 10 was a debacle of historic proportions, as the Nats had a 9-1 lead going into the bottom of the 8th inning (when relief pitcher Paxton Schultz was charged with 5 earned runs without getting anybody out), and a 10-6 lead going into the bottom of the 9th inning (when Gus Varland was charged with 3 and Mitchell Parker was charged with 2). Neither of those pitchers recorded any outs, and the game ended on a walk-off grand slam by 21-year old Bryce Eldridge. Apart from that horrifying game, the Nats' woeful bullpen had shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, managing to hold onto leads and keep the Nats' hopes alive. But as we shall see, things got a lot worse once again this week...

Anyway, the Nationals returned home on June 12 and welcomed the Seattle Mariners to town, losing the first game but taking the next two. Likewise, the Nats won 2 out of 3 games against the Kansas City Royals. In both of the losing games in those two series, Zack Littell was charged with the losses. The Nats' record after the June 16 game was 39-35 -- 4 games over .500! The Nats then faced a challenging opponent in St. Petersburg: the Tampa Bay Rays [who were in 1st place in the AL East earlier this season]. All 3 games were competitive, [the Nats winning the 2nd one], but they came up short in the final game of the series. Worth noting is that C.J. Abrams hit a home run in all 3 of those games [in Tropicana Field].

Then came what proved to be an even stiffer challenge, as the Philadelphia Phillies came to play in Washington. The Nats won the first one (on Monday), thanks to another superb outing by their ace pitcher Foster Griffin. He went 7 1/3 innings and struck out 9 batters. A 2-run homer by Curtis Mead provided enough "insurance" for the relievers to get the job done. But the next day something truly awful happened that will haunt the Nationals for the rest of this season. After both teams scored 3 runs in the 8th inning, the Nats had an 8-6 lead. [Brad Lord, one of the Nats' most reliable relief pitchers,] got the first two batters out, and there were 2 strikes on Trea Turner (a former Nat). Against all odds, he singled, and then Brandon Marsh hit a home run to tie the game. Arghhh! But then it got worse. A walk, followed by a single, followed by a home run by Bryson Stott: all of a sudden the Phillies were ahead, 11-8! But then it got even worse. More walks, more hits, and the Phillies chalked up a total of EIGHT (8) runs in the 9th inning!! Luis Garcia hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 9th, but it was irrelevant. Final score: Phillies 14, Nats 9.

So how would the Nats react to that punch in the gut? Pretty well, actually. Home runs by Luis Garcia and Jorbit Vivas in the first two innings put them on top, but a fielding error by Nasim Nunez in the 4th inning enabled the Phillies to take a 3-2 lead. In the 6th inning a 2-run homer by Curtis Mead put the Nats back on top, 4-3. But in the top of the 9th, the Phillies were down to their last out, and Derek Hill was sent in to pinch hit, just after Kyle Schwarber (who had a tight back) took a walk as a pinch hitter. Once again with one strike away from a victory, Richard Lovelady tossed a pitch that Hill knocked into the right field stands to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead. And that was the final score. Two straight days of outrageously improbable twists of fate!

So how would the Nats react to yet another punch in the gut? Very well, actually! In the first inning, Curtis Mead hit yet another home run, and that sparked a rally giving the home team an early 4-0 lead. In the 3rd inning Jacob Young hit a clutch 2-out RBI single to add a run. But with the Nats' shaky bullpen, would a 5-0 lead be enough? You know the answer. In the 6th inning, Brandon Marsh hit a 2-run homer, ending Cade Cavalli's bid for a shuthout. In the 7th inning the Phillies rallied to tie the game 5-5, as neither Mitchell Parker nor Clayton could throw strikes consistently enough. The tying run scored on a bases-loaded walk, and a sense of doom engulfed Nationals Park. Gus Varland pitched fine in the 8th inning, but all heck broke loose in the 9th inning when Bryce Harper hit a 2-run homer to give the visitors a 7-5 lead. The rally continued, and there was really no point in replacing the pitcher. Derek Hill hit another home run, capping the Phillies' 10-5 comeback victory. In those three games, the Phillies scored, respectively, 8, 2, and 5 runs in the top of the 9th inning: 15 runs altogether!!! I swear, this sport will drive a fan mad.

After briefly taking one of the three NL wild card slots earlier this month, raising high hopes for a return to postseason baseball in D.C., all of a sudden, the magic seem to have vanished from the Nationals' very promising season. Even with those losses against the Phillies, they were still above .500 at the midpoint of the season: 41-40. But the Miami Marlins have improved once again, pulling into 3rd placed ahead of the Nats. Playing in Baltimore tonight, they wasted a chance to score in the top of the 4th inning when James Wood was thrown out at home on a ground ball to 3rd base, where Wood had been. In the bottom of that inning the Orioles loaded the bases and took a 2-0 lead. It was a dull, uninspired game, and the Orioles came out on top, 3-1.

NOTE: Subsequent corrections and clarifications above are indicated by [brackets].

Washington Nationals page update

The Washington Nationals page will soon be updated to include the month of May.

May 30, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nationals almost sweep the Guardians

Tensions were high in Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon as the first two Washington Nationals batters singled in the 9th inning at Progressive Field . The AL Central first-place Guardians were in jeopardy of being swept by the (until-recently) lowly Nationals, who had won the first two games with relative ease. Daylen Lile then hit a sac fly that allowed Curtis Mead to score from third base, and C.J. Abrams stole 2nd base. One more single would tie the game! But instead, Jose Tena and Jorbit Vivas both struck out and the game ended. Vivas has a streak of 24 or more at bats with runners in scoring position without getting a hit. And so, Cleveland eked out a 3-2 win to avoid being swept.

The games on Monday and Tuesday were both very encouraging for the Nationals, who keep rising to the occasion in spite of facing a very challenging schedule, against one first-place team after another. I already recounted in an unintended "live blog" sort of way how the Nats racked up six home runs on Monday, with Curtis Mead hitting two four-baggers. That game ended 10-2 in Washington's favor. The next day the Nationals scored 4 runs in the 2nd inning, thanks to a clutch 2-run single by the suddenly-hot Keibert Ruiz, followed immediately by a home run by James Wood. Both teams scored 2 runs in the 9th inning, as the Nats prevailed again, 6-3.

Then last night, after a day of rest and travel back home, the Nats welcomed the San Diego Padres to Nationals Park. The groundskeepers had done an admirable job of repairing the outfield grass after the big concert two nights previous. (See below.) I was watching on TV, thanks to the new broadcast rights arrangement between the Nationals and Gray Media. Once again, the Nationals got off to a fine start, and were leading for the first five innings, whereupon relief pitcher Mitchell Parker came in and gave up 3 runs in the 6th and 7th innings. (Two of those were unearned, as Nasim Nunez and Keibert Ruiz were both charged with errors.) The Padres' top-notch closing pitcher Mason Miller came in to stifle a Nats rally in the 8th inning, and closed out the 9th inning with only one runner reaching base, on a walk. Padres 7, Nationals 5. And so, the Nats are back down to an even .500 record, 29-29.

Under new management

It would be hard to discount the role played by the all-new management team in the Nationals' striking success thus far this year. Manager Black Butera seems awfully young to be taking on such a responsibility, but the results seem to indicate that he knows what he is doing!

Manager Blake Butera (left) and Bench Coach Michael Johns (right), at the game on May 15.

The Philadelphia Phillies have also improved since they fired their manager in April, and replaced him with former Yankee star Don Mattingly. The Phillies have pulled ahead of the Nationals and now occupy 2nd place in the NL East.

Politics at Nationals Park

While the Nationals were on the road this past week, Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen gave a concert in their home field. This was part of a tour that has an explicit political agenda: protesting the abuses by ICE agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere. (He released a song "The Streets of " in March that included sharply negative lyrics about President Trump, White House official Stephen Miller, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.) Springsteen rallied the enthusiastic crowd, and warned that there would be a "ruckus" in the months to come.

Meanwhile, the Nationals' director of community relations, Sean Hudson, was fired after a hidden video showed him saying that Nats pitcher Trevor Williams (who has been on the Injured List all year) was banned from Nats' social media postings because of his religious beliefs. The video was posted by James O'Keefe, a conservative political activist. See washingtonpost.com. That was very unfortunate, and seems to reflect poor judgement on Hudson's part. All I can say is that I wish baseball would serve more of a healing and unifying function in our badly divided society.

Vacation hiatus

I'll be on the road (literally) for the next couple weeks, hopefully visiting a few MLB ballparks and/or some football stadiums of note in the Great Lakes region. There won't be any blog posts until mid-June or so. Stay tuned for some new photos after that!

May 25, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals almost sweep the Braves!

Expectations were low for the Washington Nationals (then 25-26) as they arrived in Atlanta on Friday for a three-game series against the National League-leading Braves (then 35-16). In the Friday game, Miles Mikolas entered the game as the Nationals' pitcher in the 2nd inning, and allowed only 3 hits and no runs over 5 innings. The Braves scored twice to take the lead in the 7th inning, but then C.J. Abrams tied it with a solo homer. In the 10th inning, Abrams batted in two runs with a triple, but the Nats wasted the easy opportunity to tack on another run, and the Braves tied it in the bottom of the 10th. With 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 11th, Chadwick Tromp (!?) singled in the winning run: Braves 5, Nats 4. D'oh!

After that disheartening wasted opportunity to prevail against the best team in baseball, the rest of the weekend didn't look good. But somehow the Nats kept their cool and ended up prevailing in two astonishing, high-tension pitchers' duels. On Saturday Jake Irvin went 5 full innings without giving up a hit, but had to exit the game due to a shoulder strain. (He was later put on on 15-day Injured List, replaced by P.J. Poulin, who was recalled from the Nats' minor league affiliate in Rochester.) Brad Lord came in from the bullpen in the 6th inning, and kept the Braves off the scoreboard for 3 innings, but the Braves managed to break the no-hitter. Richard Lovelady got the save in a 2-0 triumph. The game on Sunday was remarkably similar, with the Nats taking a 2-0 lead into the 9th inning, whereupon the Braves put together a rally with some "help" from young 2nd baseman Nasim Nuñez, who booted what should have been a game-ending double play. Perhaps unnerved, Richard Lovelady then walked the bases loaded, but fortunately his replacement Orlando Ribalta got out of the jam to win the game, 2-1. And that is how the Washington Nationals pulled back ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies to retake 2nd place in the NL East! Foster Griffin went 6 innings and got his 6th win of the season.

The 2026 season at the one-third mark

This Memorial Day weekend is an appropriate moment to step back and take a broader look at things, not only because it's a national holiday but also because many teams (I counted 10), including the Washington Nationals (now 27-27), are exactly one-third the way through the 2026 season. 54 is one third of 162. For a more thorough review of all this, read what Buster Olney and the other experts at espn.com have to say. Main takeaway: the standings situation now bears only a loose relationship from what the situation is going to be in late September.

The six divisional standings display a rather uneven spread among teams thus far in 2026. One thing that has stood out to even casual observers this year is the oddly skewed divisional standings, with all five teams in the National League Central Division consistently above the .500 mark. After a solid first six weeks, he Chicago Cubs have suddenly lost 9 in a row, enabling the Milwaukee Brewers to claim 1st place honors for the time being. In the NL West, the San Diego Padres are putting up a very stiff fight with the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers, with the Arizona Diamondbacks not too far behind. But in the NL East, only Atlanta has had a winning record for most of this season. The All-Star rosters of the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets have simply not performed according to expectations. The last-place Mets in particular are a disaster thus far, with a 22-31 record that is barely above the ,400 "threshold of respectability."

Meanwhile, the American League is mostly rather mediocre, with the notable exception of the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, currently in 1st place in the AL East. Momentarily both the AL Central and AL West had no teams above .500, which is incredible. The Cleveland Guardians have been on a hot streak lately, however, and enjoy a 4-game lead over the Chicago White Sox, who have improved tremendously over the past couple years. And on the west coast, the Sacramento Athletics continue to perform better than expected. The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners were expected to repeat as postseason contenders this year, but that is very much in doubt in both cases.

Home run rampage(s) by the Nats

Yesterday's Washington Post highlighted the Nationals' surprising offensive performance thus far in the 2026 season. Even with the low-scoring weekend games in Atlanta, they still lead the majors in total runs scored, with [296]. (Before tonight's game against the Indians it was 288.) The have been climbing up the ladder in terms of home runs as well, currently ranked #4, with [71] four-baggers!! (While I was writing this they hit [six] more homers, surging ahead of the Reds and the Dodgers from 7th place. And there are still [four] more innings to go in Cleveland!) [UPDATE: Final score: Nats 10, Guardians 2. Curtis Mead homered twice, while James Wood, Jacob Young, Luis Garcia, and C.J. Abrams homered once each. "Reliever" Zack Littell pitched the last 7 innings to get the win. Yet another success against a 1st-place team!]

The May 12 game in Cincinnati in which the Nationals hit six home runs got me to wondering how often they had hit so many four baggers in a single game. Most baseball fans would consult some database to find out, but not me! In additional to my spreadsheets of each Nats game since 2005 with the scores and home attendance, I also keep old-fashioned accounting-style green paper ledger pages with additional details such as win-loss records, place in the NL East standings, starting pitchers, home runs, and miscellaneous feats and goofs of note. Anyway, here is what I came up with. There's a possibility that it omits one or two games with 5 home runs, but I doubt it.

Nationals' games with the most home runs

Date	Nationals' score	Opposing team ("@" = away game)	Opponents' score	Number of Nats home runs	Two (or more!) home runs
July 27, 2017	15	MIL	2	8	B. Harper & R. Zimmerman
Aug. 18, 2019	16	MIL	8	8	J. Soto, B. Dozier
June 29, 2018	17	@PHI	7	7	J. Soto
May 20, 2011	17	@BAL	5	6	J. Werth
Sept. 4, 2012	11	CHC	5	6	A. Laroche
Sept. 5, 2012	9	CHC	1	6	B. Harper
Aug. 29, 2014	8	@SEA	3	6	W. Ramos
July 19, 2021	18	MIA	1	6	J. Soto
June 3, 2022	8	@CIN	5	6	L. Thomas (3!)
Sept. 26, 2025	9	CHW	10	6	L. Garcia (3!)
May 12, 2026	10	@CIN	4	6	L. Garcia & D. Lile
May 25, 2026	10	@CLE	2	6	C. Mead
June 10, 2008	7	@PIT	6	5
Sept. 9, 2013	9	@NYM	0	5
May 24, 2016	7	NYM	4	5
June 2, 2017	13	@OAK	3	5
July 16, 2017	14	@CIN	4	5	D. Murphy
July 31, 2018	25	NYM	4	5	D. Murphy
Sept. 20, 2020	15	@MIA	0	5
May 31, 2023	10	@LAD	6	5	K. Ruiz
Sept. 29, 2023	10	@ATL	6	5
May 18, 2025	10	@BAL	4	5	C.J. Abrams

NOTES: = Nats loss

MLB will be on ABC!

I recently noticed that ABC plans to broadcast three MLB games this year, in each case an afternoon game on the same day that NBC will broadcast one of their Sunday night baseball games. Since ABC and ESPN are both owned by the Disney Corporation, this isn't really a big deal. This piqued my curiosity about network broadcasts of MLB games, and I have started doing a bit of historical research about that. One thing I learned is that Bob Costas, who was the play-by-play announcer for many games on NBC in the 1980s and 1990s, announced in 2024 that he was retiring as a sports announcer. It's a shame that it's too late for the ever-youthful, ever-enthusiastic baseball fan to be part of the rebirth of MLB games on NBC.

May 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals almost sweep the Orioles

Tensions were high in Our Nation's Capital as the Washington Nationals welcomed the regional rival Baltimore Orioles to town. It was the official MLB Rivalry Weekend, when all 30 teams played against their cross-town, cross-state, or regional rivals -- except the Atlanta Braves, who played their long-ago cross-town rivals, the Boston Red Sox, and the San Diego Padres playing at the Seattle Mariners. Historically, since the Nationals' first series against the Orioles in 2006, they have won 46 games and lost 58, or 44.2% overall.

My friend Dave Givens and I arrived at Nationals Park about 20 minutes early, and we soon discovered it was a virtual sell-out game, as all of the promotional "Bad day to be a hot dog" hats had already been given away. (I didn't really care since it seemed like a dumb promotion to me, but with all those hats being worn around the stadium, I felt a little left out.) The early innings were relatively uneventful, with the Nationals wasting a leadoff double by Daylen Lile in the 2nd inning, and no hits by the Orioles until the 3rd inning. Finally the Nats scored a run on a sac fly by Brady House in the 4th inning, while the Nats starting pitcher Zack Littell kept racking up more scoreless frames. In the bottom of the 6th inning, while I was standing in line for over 15 minutes waiting to buy a fancy hot dog (why weren't they ready to handle all the customers??!!), Curtis Mead walked, and one batter later Daylen Lile knocked a home run into the corner to the left of the bullpen in right field. I was watching on a TV monitor but still felt a bit cheated not to get to see it in person. In the 7th inning the Mets had runners on 2nd and third base, but relief pitcher Andrew Alvarez struck out Gunnar Henderson to end the inning. In the 9th inning the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out, and Gus Varland came in to pitch. He got two outs and the Mets scored their first run on a sacrifice fly, but then Henderson singled in a second run, and another relief pitcher was called in. Tensions were soaring after Richard Lovelady walked Taylor Ward, but then he struck out Adley Rutschman to end the game. WHEW!

Scenes from the May 15 game at Nationals Park.

Attendance on Friday night was 38,912, which is 94% of capacity (41,376), which is technically considered a "sellout." On Saturday it was 40,559 (only the third games in Nationals Park with more than 40,000 fans this year), but dropped to 26,715 on Sunday. The last time I had been to a Nats game with so many fans was four years ago: June 18, 2022, when 42,730 attendees were there for the Ryan Zimmerman retirement ceremony. (That's the day that I shook Jayson Werth's hand.) I fact, that was the biggest attendance of any baseball game I had ever seen in Washington, including at RFK Stadium, which had a bigger capacity than Nationals Park.

"My" Nationals home games: Top 10 in attendance

Date	Nationals' score	Visiting team	Visitors' score	Attendance
June 18, 2022	1	PHI	2	42,730
Aug. 18, 2012	0	NYM	2	42,662
June 8, 2013	3	MIN	4	41,587
Apr. 30, 2005	5	NYM	3	40,913 *
Sep. 22, 2012	10	MIL	4	40,493
May 15, 2026	3	BAL	2	38,912
Sep. 21, 2018	2	NYM	4	37,895
Sep. 27, 2014	5	MIA	1	37,529
Sep. 29, 2019	8	CLE	2	36,764
Aug. 15, 2013	3	SF	4	36,719

* played in RFK Stadium. All Nats home games since 2008 have been played in Nationals Park.

Meet the new Nationals!

One advantage of sitting in the lower deck on the third base side was that I had a great view inside the Nats' dugout, and therefore could see not only the players in that game but all of the starting pitchers who were awaiting their next turn in the rotation. Given the high turnover in the Nats pitching staff during the offseason, that was especially handy.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Zack Littell, Daylen Lile*, James Wood and Shane Baz (the Orioles' starting pitcher), Miles Mikolas, Mitchell Parker, Jake Irvin, Foster Griffin, and Cade Cavalli, at the game on May 15, 2026.

* In the dugout behind Daylen Lile are Manager Blake Butera (in red) and Bench Coach Michael Johns (in blue).

NOTE: I had not previously photographed four Nationals players whose names are underlined.

I got much-improved photos of a few Nats players who have played in previous years, but somehow I neglected to get good photos of two of the new ones: Curtis Mead and Jorbit Vivas. Also, I still don't have one of Jose Tena, the usual designated hitter. (He didn't play that day.) In any event, the Washington Nationals page now has much fuller photographic coverage of the team. In one of my ultra-zoom photos, I noticed that Daylen Lile has a Bible reference tatooed on his right arm: Proverbs 3: 5,6.

Flirting with the .500 mark

Since last Friday, the Nationals twice reached the .500 win-loss level, and both times they then fell back again. In the Saturday game, Keibert Ruiz led the Nationals' offensive onslaught, with a single, double, and a home run, batting in 5 runs altogether. Jacob Young also homered, as the Nats cruised to a 13-3 victory, giving them a 23-23 record for the year. But on Sunday the Orioles scored early and often, winning by a score of 7-3. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies continued their recent surge, so the Nats fell into third place.

On Monday the Mets began a 4-game series in D.C. with a back-and-forth contest that went into extra innings thanks to a clutch RBI double by Nats utility player Curtis Mead in the 8th inning. Neither team scored in the 10th, as the Nats squandered a golden opportunity to win with the "ghost" runner on third base and only one out. Both teams scored 1 run in the 11th, and then all hell broke loose in the top of the 12th. Relief pitcher Paxton Schultz was charged with 6 earned runs plus an unearned run, and only got one out before he was replaced by ... Jorbit Vivas, the Nats' usual 2nd baseman! He gave up 3 more runs, as the Nats must have set some kind of record with the opposing team scoring 10 runs in an extra inning. Final score: 16-7. That game will regrettably go down in Nats history as a negative "memorable moment."

On Tuesday the 19th, the Nats' best pitcher was on the mound, Foster Griffin, but he uncharacteristically allowed 5 runs to score in the first two innings. But the Nats loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd, and with two outs James Wood smashed a long ball to the fence in left field. Nick Morabito failed to grab it, and center fielder Tyrone Tyler just stood there for a moment, either out of confusion or concern for his team mate, while Wood sprinted around the diamond in just 15 seconds. It was an inside-the-park grand slam, the second such feat in Nationals history! (Michael A. Taylor had done likewise on Sept. 8, 2017.) The Nats took the lead one inning later, and a late home run by former Nat Juan Soto proved irrelevant as the Nats won it, 9-6. After Monday's debacle, that comeback win was a much-needed tonic! That game will qualify as a positive "memorable moment."

The Nats won again on Wednesday, as a 3-run homer by CJ Abrams in the 1st inning put them ahead for good. After a couple days on the Injured List due to a hit-by-pitch, Jacob Young hit another home run in the 8th inning (his 6th this year), another example of his big improvement as a hitter. Starting pitcher Zack Littell got his second win of the year, and Andrew Alvarez got his first career save, pitching four full innings. Nats 8, Mets 4. But late this afternoon, the Nats' bats fell mysteriously flat once again, with multiple run-scoring opportunities coming up empty. In the 3rd inning, the Mets' Bo Bichette hit a bases-loaded single to give his team the only 2 runs they would need to win the game. In the 5th inning, a double by James Wood put two runners in scoring position with nobody out, but Wood ended up stranded at third base. The Nats' starting pitcher Cade Cavalli went a full 7 innings and struck out 9 batters, but was credited with the loss. What a shame. So, the Mets pulled off a 2-2 split in that series.

Only two of the Nats' seven series wins this year have been at home, whereas five of their seven series losses have been at home. They have split one four-game road series (at Pittsburgh) and one four-game home series. Even with today's low-scoring game, the Nationals still lead the major leagues both in runs scored (280) and in runs allowed (296)! Tomorrow they begin a road trip in Atlanta, where the first-place Braves are in second place in runs scored (276)!