July 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]
For the first time ever, the Washington Nationals attained a perfectly balanced record of exactly 50-50 two days ago, after winning the final game of the series against the Athletics. They came very close to reaching a 50-50 record twice before: July 24, 2018 (losing to the Brewers in Milwaukee) and July 23, 2011 (losing to the Dodgers in L.A.). Both times, of course, they then had records of 49-51.
Also for the first (and almost certainly the last) time ever, the Washington Nationals played a series in Sacramento, California over the weekend, and boy was it a doozy! In Sutter Health Park (capacity just over 14,000), On Friday the offensive juggernaut got started in the 3rd inning, and by the end of the 7th inning, the score was 18-2. The Nats tacked on five more runs in the top of the 9th, while the A's narrowed the gargantuan lead by two runs in the bottom of the 9th. Cade Cavalli had a fine 6 innings on the mound, while the often-woeful Andres Chaparro hit two home runs, to the surprise of almost everyone! Harry Ford, who was just called up from the minors to fill in as backup catcher for the injured Drew Millas, hit his very first home run in the majors! There was no momentum from that victory, however, as the home team jumped to an early lead on Saturday. After giving up 6 runs in the first two innings, Nats starter Zack Littell settled down for a while and put 3 zeroes on the board, but then the home team scored 2 more runs. Max Kranick then took the mound but was relieved after another rally by the A's. The Nats failed to get any hits until the 7th inning, and the only run they scored was in the 9th inning. Final score: 15-1. The day-to-day net difference of the margin of victory defeat was a mind-boggling 33 runs! (A 19-run positive margin on Friday vs. a 14-run negative margin on Saturday.) Also worth noting: until the Saturday game, the Nats had hit at least one home run in ten consecutive games! The rubber game of the series on Sunday was much more normal. C.J. Abrams and Dylan Crews both homered, while the Nats' superb ace pitcher Foster Griffin only gave up one run over 7 innings. It was the 8th straight game in which he pitched 6 or more innings while giving up only one run, thus setting a record for the Nationals. And thus the wildly inconsistent Nats eked out a series win.
On Monday the Nats took on the Colorado Rockies in Denver, and none other than Andres Chaparro hit a 3-run homer in the first inning! The Rockies soon tied it, but the Nats tacked on more runs in the later innings thanks to home runs by Jacob Young and C.J. Abrams, thus winning the game, 7-3. Tonight got off to a fine start with yet another homer by Abrams in the first inning, and he later added another one, reaching 24 total for the year! But the Nats pitchers (especially Carson Palmquist, Miles Mikolas, and Clayton Beeter) just could not contain the Rockies, and a home run in the 8th inning by Hunter Goodman proved to be decisive in the 8-7 loss, putting the Nats right back to an even .500 record. Since the Miami Marlins also lost today, the Nats could have claimed a tie for 3rd place in the NL East, but that quest will have to wait another day.
One more thing worth noting: Thanks largely to C.J. Abrams (with four homers in three days) and Andres Chaparro (with three homers in four days), the Nationals now have the most number of home runs in the majors, with 149, which is 3 more than the New York Yankees! They also have substantial leads now in RBIs as well as runs, the statistic that was cited in that table of team offensive statistics I posted on Friday.
NOTE: When I was assessing the Nationals' near-term prospects for winning and whether they will be "buyers" or "sellers" as the August 3 trade deadline approaches, I meant to cite Danielle Allentuck's article on that topic in the Washingtonp Post.
Just for the record, on Sunday I updated the pages for the SIX (6) MLB stadiums located in Ohio, three each in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Some of the stadium composite photos on those pages (such as Crosley Field) are "ver-r-ry int-er-esting," as Sgt. Schultz would say. Also, I did likewise for Wrigley Field, thus finishing my work for the three MLB stadiums in Illinois.
The Sacramento Athletics played a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Las Vegas Ballpark recently (June 12-14), as a way to promote interest among the team's future fan base. That means I need to update the Anomalous stadiums page soon. I still don't understand why they didn't just move to Las Vegas Ballpark (located in a suburb on the west side of the city) after they departed from Oakland 21 months ago, rather than taking a 3-year detour through Sacramento. Back in 1996 the Athletics played six games in Cashman Field (on the northeast side of the city, NOT on "the seedy south side of Las Vegas," as that page says) because of construction delays at Oakland Coliseum. I have yet to visit Las Vegas, just as I have not yet visited two other MLB cities: St. Petersburg and San Diego. For this purpose I would count Anaheim as part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Otherwise, I've seen them all.
Well, baseball fans, you can enjoy the rest of the summer without being annoyed by all the hoopla over the 2026 World Cup. Felicitaciones (congratulations) to the people Spain for their triumph over Argentina! To my surprise, the smoke had cleared away by the time the final match at "New York-New Jersey Stadium" got underway. The English team took third-place honors over France in the game at "Miami Stadium" on Saturday.