Ben and Sam talk about events from baseball’s history that would be bigger stories today, then dicuss narratives to explain the Nationals’ season.
The Nationals sacrifice their hitting coach against their manager’s wishes.
The Dodgers get Ricky Nolasco, and the Nats add Scott Hairston.
Roy Oswalt is back in the bigs, while Danny Espinosa is not.
Ben and Sam preview the Nationals’ season with Paul Sporer and Daniel Rathman, and Pete talks to Adam Kilgore, who covers the Nationals for the Washington Post (at 19:51).
Dan looks at the Nationals’ bullpen situation following the surprising signing of Rafael Soriano.
It took two months, but Adam LaRoche eventually accepted the Nationals’ offer to return for two more years.
New Nationals starter Dan Haren’s fastball has declined considerably over the last several seasons, but how worried should Washington be?
PECOTA prefers Stephen Strasburg were going, but the Nationals will instead hopes a different ace can bounce back from a wild outing.
A lackluster series gets serious in the span of one (very long) at-bat.
Ben and Sam discuss the possibility that the Nationals might enter the playoffs without either Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg, then talk about how the White Sox have defied injuries yet again and proved the pre-season predictions wrong.
The National League East could come down to baserunning. The Nationals have the edge in the standings, but the Braves’ baserunners have kept it close.
Ben and Sam examine how the Nationals have gone about implementing and publicizing Stephen Strasburg’s innings limit and revisit Billy Beane’s trades from last winter in light of Oakland’s success.
Scouts explain why they prefer Mike Trout to Bryce Harper, and a conversation with Bud Selig.
After completing a three-game sweep of the Nationals in D.C., the Yankees are starting to look like the real Bronx Bombers.