August 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]

MLB returns to the Field of Dreams

For the third time, on [the 13th of] August a Major League Baseball game was played at (or near) the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, Iowa. The Minnesota Twins were "hosting" the Philadelphia Phillies, but there wasn't much doubt which way things were headed. On the third pitch of the game, Kyle Schwarber blasted a home run into the corn fields beyond right field, and the Phillies added another run before the Twins came to bat. In the 4th inning Schwarber homered again, and Brandon Marsh added two more runs with a homer in the 7th inning. Final score: Phillies 7, Twins 1.

This was the first time that an MLB game had been played at the Field of Dreams since the new permanent stadium was built there earlier this year. I made a point to visit it in June, on my way out west, and my photos were very useful in capturing the details. Interestingly, the outfield fences, light standards, scoreboards, dugouts, and even the stadium outline were virtually identical to the temporary stadium that had existed there from 2020 through 2022. (When I visited in 2024, I was surprised to see that there was no stadium at all; the entire structure was temporary in nature, and was removed after the 2022 game.)

Some views of both the new stadium at the Field of Dreams, as well as the farm and ballfield where most of the movie was shot.

Diagram update!

So, needless to say, I had some diagram revisions to take care of, which you can now see on the Field of Dreams page! For the most part, it's fairly accurate, but I noticed some discrepancies between the photos that I took there two months ago compared to the video images of the game that I saw. So, there are no doubt a few corrections that will need to be made...

Next year the Kansas City Royals will play as "host" to the Boston Red Sox at the Field of Dreams. Unlike this year's exclusive Netflix TV arrangement, the 2027 game will be broadcast nationwide on NBC Sports, which does not require a paid subscription to view. Yay! See royalsreview.com.

Cade Cavalli: the Nationals' new ace pitcher!

The Washington Nationals have been in a terrible slump for over a week, so let's accentuate the positive. In the only two games the Nats have won since August 11, the starting pitcher was Cade Cavalli, and both times he reached the double-digits in strikeouts, going 8 and then 6 innings without giving up a run. In the August 19 game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, he had a no-hitter going until the 6th inning! Earlier in the season he was mostly very good but had a few bad outings. But since the Nats' previous ace pitcher Foster Griffin was traded away to the Cleveland Guardians on August 3, Cavalli has stepped up and assumed a truly dominant role on the mound. He has had seven consecutive "quality starts," i.e. 6 or more innings pitched with 3 or fewer earned runs. With an ERA of 3.22, he currently ranks 15th in the major leagues, catching up on his former team mate who is now in Cleveland. (Griffin's ERA is 3.18, ranked 13th.)

Cade Cavalli (L) and Foster Griffin (R) in the dugout during the Nats' game against the Baltimore Orioles on May 15.

Otherwise, the Nats keep losing

Unfortunately, Cavalli's rise to excellence has coincided with a sharp decline in his team mates' performance. Since the August 11-13 series with the Cubs, the Nats have been shut out twice, and only once have they scored more than 4 runs. Andres Chaparro and Abimelec Ortiz continue to hit home runs, but otherwise not much is happening. James Wood remains on the injured list, and C.J. Abrams has been slumping badly at the plate. Because of his often-shaky defensive performance at shortstop, he is starting to play at second base (or as designated hitter), which is probably not good for morale.

To sum up the recent series, the Nationals lost the first two games to the Cubs and then totally dominated the visitors 7-0 on August 13 when Cavalli was on the mound. Then they traveled to New York, where the hungry Mets took every opportunity they could, sweeping the Nats in 3 games straight. The Saturday, August 15 game was especially disheartening because the Nats had a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the 9th, whereupon relief pitcher Yovanny Cruz gave up a walk, a single, and a double before getting the first out, and then Francisco Lindor hit an RBI single to win the game. Jubilation in Queens!

The August 18-20 series in Arlington, Texas was strange, because all three games were shutouts. On Tuesday the Nats' rookie pitcher Jackson Kent gave up 5 runs to the Rangers in the first 3 innings, which was 4 more than the [home team] ended up needing. On Wednesday, the 3rd-inning home run by Jose Tena was all the Nats really needed, but the 3-run blast by Andres Chaparro in the 7th inning was a nice bit of insurance. Nats 6, Rangers 0. On Thursday Andrew Alvarez had another decent outing, but didn't get credit for it, as the Nats only got one hit the entire game. Final score: 2-0.

And then in Miami tonight there was another tension-filled pitchers' duel, and the Nats took a 1-0 lead when Keibert Ruiz homered in the 6th inning. But the Marlins took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th, as Tom Cosgrove proved less than effective as a reliever. In the top of the 9th, hopes were fading fast, when Daylen Lile hit an ultra-clutch RBI single to tie the game. But in the bottom of the inning, Clayton Beeter loaded the bases after giving up a single and then committing a throwing error on a bunt single, after which he intentionally walked the batter in hopes of getting some miraculous force outs. It didn't work out that way, as Javier Sanoja hit an RBI single to win the game for the Marins. So now, the Nationals are only 2 1/2 games ahead of the last-place Mets.

FOOTNOTE: Tonight's game was the 33rd blown save by the Nationals' bullpen overall, equaling the relief pitchers' total number of saves. That is almost unimaginably bad. So far, the pitching acquisitions made just prior to the trading deadline don't seem to have made much difference.

Beginners' luck in Chicago!?

Last Sunday, rookie outfielder Joshua Baez played a decisive role when the St. Louis Cardinals took on the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field, and made history while he was at it. He not only hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in his very first game, he hit two more home runs in his next two at bats. No other major league player had ever done that before. Not surprisingly, the Cardinals won it, 8-4.

R.I.P. Tommy John

The pitcher for whom "Tommy John surgery" was named passed away at the age of 83 earlier this week. In 1974, in his 12th year in the majors, Tommy John tore a ligament in his pitching elbow, and it seemed that his career was over. But Dr. Frank Jobe performed an experimental surgery, in effect "transplanting" ligament tissue from the lower part of his body, and John came back to pitch several more years with the L.A. Dodgers, and then the New York Yankees, among other teams. Nowadays, Tommy John surgery is almost routine for pitchers. He finally retired after the 1989 season, amassing 2,245 strikeouts with a 3.34 career ERA. (From Yahoo Sports and The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 2003.)

August 10, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nationals sweep the Reds

Fans literally swarmed into Nationals Park late on Saturday afternoon, hoping to snag one of the shirt & shorts sets that were being given away as part of the "Hawaiian Night" promotion. In spite of hassles with traffic and Metro farecards, Jacqueline and I, along with our niece Shary,* managed to arrive in time to take advantage of the promotion. I must say, the quality was quite satisfactory! It was a beautiful sunny day, although quite warm, and we made sure to get seats that were not exposed to the sun.

Scenes from Nationals Park on August 8, which was being celebrated as "Hawaiian Night." Hawaii (which some people spell with an apostrophe: "Hawai'i"), was actually admitted as the 50th state on August 21, 1960. [Nats' Starting pitcher Andrew Alvarez did very well but unfortunately was not credited with the win.]

Nationals Park from the northwest corner as players warmed up for the game.

The Nats perhaps had good reason to be a bit edgy: the last time they played the Reds (in Cincinnati on May 14), they lost 15-1! As the game got underway, starting pitcher Andrew Alvarez gave up two singles and a walk in the first two innings, but he kept his cool and no damage was done. The Reds' starting pitcher Chase Burns retired the first six batters he faced, showing that he is indeed of All-Star quality. (He had an astounding 13-1 record before this game.) The Nats got their first hit in the 3rd inning, a leadoff single by Jose Tena. Two batters later, C.J. Abrams doubled and Tena went to third. Then, on an 0-2 count, newly acquired Abimelec Ortiz singled to left field, bringing in both baserunners to score. That guy is having a heck of a debut with the Nationals. I got a good look at his wide face, and it occurred to me that he might be a relative of the Red Sox' retired stocky superstar David Ortiz. Not so, evidently. David is from the Dominican Republic, while Abimelec is from Puerto Rico.

No Reds batter reached base in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th innings, and Alvarez seemed to be in complete control. But right after Sal Stewart singled in the 6th inning, manager Blake Butera replaced Alvarez with Max Kranick. Dane Meyers popped out, but then Eugenio Suarez hit a home run into the left field (visitors') bullpen, and the game was tied. Argh! There went Alvarez's hope to get credit as the winning pitcher. Instantly fans (including me) groaned about the Nationals' woeful bullpen, and many of us wondered aloud why Alvarez was replaced so suddenly. His pitch count was only 73, after all. But it really didn't matter because Dylan Crews ignited a rally with a leadoff double in the bottom of the 6th, followed by an RBI single by Daylen Lile, a double by Keibert Ruiz, and a walk issued to Nasim Nuñez to load the bases. That was enough for Reds manager Terry Francona (yes, the former Red Sox boss!), and the night was over for Chase Burns.

In the 6th inning, Reds manager Terry Francona took the ball from a dejected Chase Burns, while his team mates confer on the mound.

In response to the pitching change, Blake Butera had Andres Chaparro pinch hit for designated hitter Jose Tena with just 1 out. Frankly, I have regarded Chaparro with disdain for much of this season, as he often exhibits poor plate discipline and chokes in clutch situations, but not this time! On a 1-1 count he smashed a bases-loaded double down the left field line, probably the decisive play of the game.

Fans reacted with whooping exhilaration when Andres Chaparro hit a clutch bases-loaded double in the 6th inning, BUT ...

For some reason, Nasim Nuñez tried to score all the way from first base on that play, and was easily thrown out at home. As one of the TV announcers said of the Nats' 3rd-base coach, "not the greatest of sends by Victor Estevez..." [Nuñez leads the majors in stolen bases with 40, which probably influenced the coach's decision.] But the next batter, Jacob Young hit a single to bring home Chaparro, who had reached 3rd base on a wild pitch. So, the Nats had a 6-2 lead after all. With their often-shaky bullpen, every run counts!

... Nasim Nuñez was out by a mile at home plate after shortstop Elly de la Cruz relayed the ball from left field with a blazing-fast strike to the Reds catcher Jose Trevino.

In the 7th inning, Yovanny Cruz (recently acquired from the Yankees in the big trade for Luis Garcia) took the mound and got into a bit of a jam, with runners on 1st and 3rd, but struck out Elly de la Cruz. Nats reliever Clayton Beeter got through the 8th inning just fine, just giving up a walk. In the bottom of the 8th, Chaparro hit an RBI single (the Reds' challenge of the call at first base was denied), and two batters later C.J. Abrams batted him in with a single to center field. Fans in Nationals Park (which was over 3/4 full, with 32,602 in attendance) were elated beyond measure, celebrating a big lead after so many recent tough losses. In the top of the 9th Tom Cosgrove struck out the first two batters and induced a fly ball out from Ivan Johnson to end the game on a triumphant note. Final score: Nats 8, Reds 2.

* I have to say, it was one of the most enjoyable Nats games I have seen in a long time. My niece Shary was very happy to be given an official certificate for her first game at Nationals Park! One noteworthy tidbit about that game: the only change in the lineup was for the designated hitter. All 8 position players put in a full 9 innings! Since the Nationals' roster has recently gone through some upheaval thanks in part to the trades over the past couple weeks, I thought it would help to show some of the new Nats' faces. This composite image includes some veterans as well as recent arrivals:

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Andrew Alvarez, Clayton Beeter, Jorbit Vivas, Keibert Ruiz, Daylen Lile (who was interviewed by Alexa Datt near the dugout after the game), Jose Tena, Dylan Crews, Andres Chaparro, wide-faced Abimelec Ortiz, and C.J. Abrams.

In the game on Sunday, which was broadcast [carried] by NBC's streaming service "Peacock," the Reds took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, but things quickly swung in the home team's favor. Three Nats players singled (including an RBI by Keibert Ruiz), and then Jacob Young gave his team the lead with a sacrifice fly. In the 3rd inning, Abimelec Ortiz hit a solo homer. Brad Lord (just back from the injured list) was replaced by Will Dion (part of the trade with the Cleveland Guardians for Foster Griffin), and did just fine for three innings, only giving up one hit. He was replaced by Trevor Williams (who missed the first four months of this year due to injury), who got through the 8th inning without allowing any runs. Then former Yankee Jake Bird took the mound in the top of the 9th, pitching for the first time as a National. (He had been on the IL at the time of the trade.) He did just fine in his debut with Washington: a 1-2-3 inning that gave the Nats an easy 7-1 win, and their first series sweep at home this year! (The swept the Brewers in Milwaukee in April.)

So, the Nationals are back to within two games of .500 (59-61), and have at least regained some of their confidence as the final quarter of the 2026 season is about to get underway. [Since none of them homered during the weekend, the team lead is home runs is down to just 4 (171 vs. 167) over the #2-ranked New York Yankees. The longer that James Wood remains on the IL, the more the team's dominance in a wide variety of offensive statistical categories become jeopardized.] Today the Nats have their first day of rest since July 23: that's 17 straight days with a game! Tomorrow the Chicago Cubs will arrive in Washington for a 3-game series, and then the Nats head to the Queens to play the Mets, [who just beat the Braves in Atlanta].

On a side note, the L.A. Dodgers came within inches of losing their 8th straight game in Phoenix on Saturday, as the Diamondbacks tied the game 1-1 with back-to-back triples to start the bottom of the 9th inning. But then they blew an easy opportunity to score the game-winning run, and ended up losing after 10 innings. Even so, the Dodgers lost again on Sunday.

August 8, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nats begin home stand with a win

The Washington Nationals seem to score quite often in the first inning this year, and usually it's because of a homer from James Wood or C.J. Abrams. At present, however, Wood is on the injured list. Last night, the instigator of the offensive was Daylen Lile, who had a splendid rookie late season last year, but has sort of cooled off this year. With runners on first and second, Lile smashed that ball into the second deck beyond right field. That little guy has got some muscles! Starting pitcher Cade Cavalli (who is the lone top-notch hurler for the Nats since Foster Griffin was traded away) did OK on the mound, but he gave up three solo home runs in the early innings, tying the game. Then in the fourth inning, Daylen Lile doubled and two batters later, the Nats' new backup catcher Harry Ford hit the second home run of his career to give the Nats a 5-3 lead. It just barely cleared the fence in front of the Red Porch. Cavalli pitched into the 7th inning, but was relieved after two singles. With the bases loaded and only one out, Sal Stewart hit a ball up the middle, but shortstop Nasim Nunez managed to grab it, step on second, and throw it to first to end the inning. WHEW! That one defensive play is what really won the game for the Nationals. This time the bullpen held, and Clayton Beeter was credited with the save.

This evening the Nationals host the Reds for a second game. Andrew Alvarez will be the starting pitcher for the Nats, and Andrew Clem (me) will be at the game!

Support for the owners

The Sports section of Friday's Washington Post had a compelling analysis by Greg Cote of the Miami Herald of the impending showdown between MLB owners and the players. He quite rightly sees owner-initiated lockout as very likely when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. The entire 2027 MLB season is at risk, and the consequences could be worse than in the 1994 strike. (Hence my very timely "If I were the Commissioner" suggestions on Thursday.) He writes, "Watching the Dodgers of all teams land Skubal was like finding out the winner of last night’s Powerball lottery was Amazon executive chairman, Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post." With regard to the MLB owners' push for a salary cap that would include a minimal-payroll floor, he continues:

"MLB and its owners are right on this.""
The players are wrong.""
"The game and players will benefit more from forcing cheap-skate teams to spend than it will suffer from putting a limit on the top spenders."

I wonder if he was thinking of owners such as the Lerners?! In any event, it's a worthwhile proposal. Much depends on public sentiment as the negotiations continue, and they players need to show that they are reasonable. John Q. Public is getting fed up with the Juan Sotos of the baseball world.

Speaking of the Dodgers, they were on the verge of ending their losing streak in Phoenix tonight, with a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 9th, whereupon Ryan Waldschmidt hit a 2-run walk-off home run. WOW! That makes seven straight losses for the Dodgers, tying the Nationals recent plunge.

Yet another page update!

Yesterday I started some tweaking of the MLB Franchises page, prompted by what I was reading about the ultra-thrifty owner of the Miami Marlins: Bruce Sherman. Somehow that name wasn't familiar to me, but sure enough it already was on that page. I decided I needed a better map to summarize how many MLB franchises each city has had over the past century or so. (For this purpose, I am ignoring the two franchises that relocated during the first two years of the American League's existence: in 1902 the A.L. Milwaukee Brewers moved and became the St. Louis Browns, and in 1903 the A.L. Baltimore Orioles moved and became the New York Highlanders, who later became the Yankees. Believe it or not!)

NOTE: This map is subject to revision.

August 6, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Some more big trade news

Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Dodgers pounced on the opportunity to trade for Tarik Skubal, the Detroit Tigers' ace pitcher. Baseball fans almost everywhere heaved a massive groan of disgust about how the rich teams keep getting stronger (and thus presumably richer), leaving the smaller market teams with a sense of futility. While that was a bitter pill for Tiger fans to swallow, things didn't exactly get off on the right foot with his new team. In Wrigley Field on Tuesday, he gave up 2 runs over 6 innings and took the loss to the Cubs; final score 5-1. Believe it or not, sports fans, the World Champion L.A. Dodgers have lost SIX games in a row! And in Seattle meanwhile, the Tigers managed to win 3 of their last 4 games by lopsided shutouts scores, so they are still clinging to thin wild card hopes. (You can read the full story, including the Nats' trades of Luis Garcia to the Yankees and Foster Griffin to the Guardians, both of which I discussed previously, at MLB.com.)

In addition, the Orioles traded their star catcher Adley Rutschman (and another catcher) to the Red Sox. Rutschman is currently injured list, and the Red Sox are betting that he'll improve to his performance levels of the last couple years.

Also on Monday, the San Francisco Giants traded Luis Arraez to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for three pitchers. He ranks 2nd in MLB batting average (.326) right now. The fact that he his a solid defensive second baseman forced the Phillies to move Alec Bohm to first base and Bryce Harper to right field for the first time in several years. So what did Arraez do in his first at-bat with the Phillies in their game against the Nationals on Tuesday? He hit an RBI single, of course. Two innings later, an RBI double.

Nats end losing streak at 7

Expectations for the Washington Nationals have come crashing down over the past week, and any hope for meaningful redemption in the once-promising 2026 season has vanished. It's all about dignity and learning for next year, and perhaps staying reasonably close to a .500 record and no lower than 4th place in the NL East. The last-place New York Mets have won their last 3 games, and are now only 5 games behind the Nationals.

In Wednesday's game, Jake Irvin allowed only 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings on the mound, but the Nats kept wasting opportunities to score, as usual, and Phillies were leading 2-1. But in the 7th inning Brady House hit a solo homer to tie it, and soon C.J. Abrams hit an RBI single to take a 3-2 lead. But then the Phillies tied it, so it went to the 10th inning, when both teams scored one run, and then in the 11th inning something almost magical happened. C.J. Abrams hit a 2-run triple that bounced at a weird angle off the center field wall, and frankly he would have had an inside-the-park homer if he hadn't paused to watch the ball, as he so often does. (Nasty habit.) Then, with no bench reserve players left, manager Blake Butera had pitcher Miles Mikolas pinch hit because Clayton Beeter (a relief pitcher) was due up to bat but apparently wasn't up to the task. The veteran Mikolas, however, was: he put down a sacrifice bunt that not only scored C.J. Abrams from 3rd base but also got him onto 1st base. Thanks to Andres Chaparro, 3 batters later, Mikolas scored the 5th run in that inning for the Nats, and one more run came in after that. A SIX-run rally!! And that is how the Nationals' abysmal 7-game losing streak came to an end, with a 10-4 final score.

In this evening's game, Miles Mikolas pitched about as well as usual, giving up 6 runs in the first 3 innings. In the top of the 4th inning, one of the newest Nats, Andrew Pinckney, hit a home run in his first major league at-bat! (Strangely enough, that was not his first run scored, however, as he entered the game as a pinch runner the day before, and then scored a run.) That was about the only bright spot in a game that ended with a 7-3 Phillies victory.

Meanwhile, James Wood was put on the 10-day injured list for an oblique strain, confirming the initial indications.

Even MORE stadium page updates!

Yesterday and today I finished updating all the pages for past and present MLB stadiums in Atlanta, Georgia (3 stadiums). Among the newly spiffed-up pages is Truist Park, which features these dazzling sunlit photos of a brief visit in February 2021. My photos of the only game I ever saw at Turner Field were poor in quality due to overcast, wet conditions. (Regrettably, I have no photos of downtown Atlanta.) Then I decided to do likewise for the stadiums in Buffalo, New York. I figured that since Sahlen Field just about qualifies as having been home to an MLB team for a full year, it deserves equal treatment. So of course I had to come up with nice composite photos of it as well as the site of War Memorial Stadium, where much of The Rookie was filmed.

Baseball home page update

On the Baseball home page, which serves as a handy navigational nexus for browsing all the information-packed baseball pages, I updated the "Stadium photos: a tasty sampler" section, with 41 new "composite" photos, of which 10 stadiums no longer exist and of which 5 are no longer used for Major League Baseball. So I have such composite photos for 26 of the 30 current MLB stadiums, leaving four yet to be visited by me! One of those four, Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, is one of those marginal cases, like Sahlen Field. I'll have to get out to Arlington, Las Vegas, San Diego, and St. Petersburg in the next couple years and finish my "stadium chase"! I also made a few minor corrections on that page. (Note that the composite photos which I created based on photos submitted to me by fans, such as Angel Stadium, are not included on that page.) For a variety of reasons, I decided on these six stadiums as being "the best of the best":

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT (as if you didn't know): Wrigley Field, Tiger Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, Oracle Park, and Fenway Park. (Photos taken from 2004 through 2023.)

Most notably on that page, I added a few lines to my "wish list" for what changes need to be made in baseball. I first came up with a "If I were commissioner" wish list when Bud Selig was the commissioner, and now that Rob Manfred is in charge, the task of keeping baseball clean and fair as well as profitable is just as challenging as ever. This suggestions are beefed up with some explanations of why I think they are so important.

If I were commissioner...*

• I would insist that the MLB Players' Association accept some kind of limits on salaries in the upcoming negotiations, in exchange for the owners committing to making baseball more affordable for working-class fans.
• More specifically, such a committment to affordability would include more reasonable prices for food and beverages, and lower ticket prices for upper-deck and bleacher seats, with a return to more "general admission" seating.
• I would establish a powerful oversight mechanism to prevent the spread of gambling from corrupting Major League Baseball. The one big lesson from the steroid / PED scandals of two decades ago, it is that without a strict enforcement mechanism, players will inevitably succumb to the temptation to cheat or cash in.
• I would encourage more continuity in team rosters by imposing a "tax" (perhaps 5%-10%) on trades between teams, with the proceeds going to lower-revenue teams.
• I would encourage a wider range of television coverage, including broadcast networks as well as streaming platforms, with the object of reducing exclusivities. (The changes this year have been a good step in the right direction.)
• I would encourage more community involvement by teams, including appearances by players at youth events in the teams' home cities as well as towns in their respective areas.

August 3, 2026 [LINK / comment]

CHOKE! Braves sweep the Nationals

The Washington Nationals really choked in Atlanta over the weekend, suffering the first four-game sweep loss of this year. It was the first time they had been swept in a four-game series since September 15-17 of last year (including a double-header on September 16), which was also against the Braves, but that time it was played in Washington. On Saturday, Miles Mikolas gave up 4 runs over 6 innings, which is fairly typical for him. His job his to eat up innings and try to keep the game fairly close. But by the 8th inning the score was 8-0, and the Nats' 3-run rally really didn't matter. Final score: 8-3. On Sunday Cade Cavalli was pitching, and he did fairly well, but an error by shortstop C.J. Abrams helped the Braves take a 3-2 by the time he was relieved in the 7th inning. Final score: 4-2. During that 4-game series, the Nationals were spectacularly ineffective in clutch situations, getting just 3 hits out of 29 at-bats with runners in scoring position. That is worse than awful!

Earlier in 2025, the Nats came very close to being swept in a four-game series to the Colorado Rockies June 16-19, in Washington, but eked out a 4-3 win in 11 innings in the final game of that series.

In Philadelphia this evening, the Nats got off to a surprisingly good start when newly activated Abimelec (?) Ortiz hit a solo homer in the first inning. He was acquired in a trade for Mackenzie Gore with the Texas Rangers during the off-season. He was called up to play one game for the Nationals on July 12 (when he doubled) and then was called up for a second time today. In the 2nd inning Daylen Lile hit a two-run homer, and in top of the 7th inning Nasim Nunez made it to 3rd base on a pitcher's throwing error but was then caught in a rundown breaking for home on a ground ball to the pitcher. Rookie mistake. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Andrew Alvarez had a shutout going, and then recently-acquired Tom Cosgrove came in as a reliever in the bottom of the 7th, and before you knew it, the Phillies had a 4-3 lead thanks to a grand slam by Derek Hill. It was the same old story: a crappy bullpen letting them team down. An inning later Clayton Beeter gave up a 2-run homer, and that's how the Phillies won it, 6-3. And thus, the Nats have chalked up their longest string of consecutive losses this year: SIX.

James Wood seems to have pulled a muscle in his side, or something like that, so he will get examined tomorrow. He has been in a slump lately, not having homered since July 26, when he and C.J. Abrams both hit two homers.

Nats trade away big stars

Not surprisingly, given their sudden plunge from being wild card contenders to being mere also-rans, the Nationals front office reacted by cashing in their chips. This meant (on Saturday night) trading away star Luis Garcia Jr. to the New York Yankees for four pitchers, all right-handed: Jake Bird, Yovanny Cruz, Ben Grable, and Jack Cebert, the latter three being minor league "prospects." The Nationals can spare slugging power, but it's sad that they parted ways with the player who has been with the team the longest. Garcia started as a semi-regular 2nd baseman in mid-August 2020, playing alongside the same guys who had just won the World Series. He subsequently put up decent but unspectacular numbers until this year, when he finally blossomed into a first-class slugger. Who knows why it took him so long? In any case, Adios, Luis!

In his debut with the Yankees tonight, Garcia hit a 2-run homer in the 7th inning (his 24th of the year) to give his new team the lead. Welcome to the Bronx! But one inning later the Cardinals scored 7 runs and went on to win it, 13-7.

And then, just before the deadline at 6:00 this evening, the Nationals traded their ace pitcher Foster Griffin to the Cleveland Guardians for three pitchers (Will Dion, Josh Hartle, and Kendeglys Virguez) and outfielder Nick Mitchell. I saw one analysis of that transaction that rated the Guardians an A- and the Nationals a C. No one can say whether Griffin will be as good in coming years as he was with the Nationals in his first full year in the majors, but I wish General Manager Paul Toboni had offered him a multi-year contract rather than cashing him in. All these transactions based on future speculation made me think that baseball reverses one of the classic sayings: A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand!?

For context, last year the Nats traded away their closing pitcher Kyle Finnegan and hustling outfielder Alex Call. Alex has been doing very well with the L.A. Dodgers this year. Meanwhile, another former National, Lane Thomas, was just acquired by the Atlanta Braves. He didn't do as well in either Cleveland or Kansas City as he had done in Washington, but maybe he'll get with it again in Atlanta.

NL Player of the Month: C.J. Abrams!

On a much brighter note, C.J. Abrams was named National League Player of the Month, his first such honor. He had a batting average of .348, with 23 RBIs and 10 home runs during the month of July. Congratulations, C.J.!

Even MORE stadium page updates!

Today (technically, yesterday) I finished updating all the pages for past and present MLB stadiums in the state of Missouri (5 stadiums) and touched up some of the ones in Texas that I had updated last month. Among the newly spiffed-up ones is Busch Stadium III, which features these dazzling composite photos of St. Louis and the stadium itself:

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Three views of downtown St. Louis: from the Gateway Arch (with the Old Court House in front), from the west, and from the south.

Scenes from a visit to Busch Stadium III in August 2011; view from the Gateway Arch on August 10, 2015.

Some of the composite photos of the sites of stadiums that no longer exist are interesting as well.

Some corrections

When I updated the Sutter Health Park page a couple days ago, I deleted a sentence that was obviously WRONG: "The Tampa Bay Rays are playing here in 2025." That was a reference to George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida, of course.

On July 3 I stated "the Stadium name chronology page has been updated," but provided the wrong link. It should be THIS!

July 31, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals' postseason chances are in jeopardy

As the MLB trade deadline on Monday, August 3 approaches, decisions about possible trades are having a vital impact on the Washington Nationals' postseason prospects, and vice versa. The Nats were having a pretty good month overall, but lost their last three games of July: 5-2 to Toronto on Wednesday, 5-4 to the Braves at Truist Park yesterday, and 6-2 to the Braves this evening.

Starting pitcher Foster Griffin, upon whose shoulder's the Nats' hopes rest to a large degree, had a rare bad outing in this evening's game. Still, it was close until the 6th inning, and for the second night in a row the Nats had runners on 2nd and 3rd with less than two outs, and then failed to score. That's just inexcusable. Just like the night before, the Braves immediately capitalized on the Nats failure to execute by staging a big rally: Michael Harris hit a 3-run homer, and then the Braves got one more across the plate. The solo home runs by C.J. Abrams (4th inning) and Andres Chaparro (9th inning) were merely symbolic. The Nationals did, however, set a team record for homers in one month (50) in July, leading the majors in that category for the season (164) as well as in RBIs (573), slugging percentage (.446), and stolen bases (123). (Most of that sentence was copied from the Washington Nationals page, which has just been updated with statistics for the month of July.) The Nats' record for July was 11-13, and they are now 10 1/2 games behind the Braves in the NL East, slipping back into 4th place behind the Miami Marlins. I try to be optimistic, but it's not looking good...

MORE stadium page updates!!

Yesterday and today I finished updating all the pages for past and present MLB stadiums in the southwestern states: California and Arizona, with the exception of Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. (I did Nevada a few days ago.) It was exhausting work, but I'm pleased that the pages look much cleaner and more consistent than before. One of those page updates, Candlestick Park, may be of particular interest because of the new composite photo displayed on it...

Photos of Candlestick Park taken July 6, 1961, courtesy of Mr. Vernon Hofer.

I have now created such composite photos for 28 of the current 30 MLB stadiums, excluding Sutter Health Park and Globe Life Field. Some of them (such as the one displayed above) are based on photos submitted to me by fans, and I have been very careful to credit them properly. Not all of them are yet publicly accessible, however, because only the revised stadium pages display them. I need to make a few changes to the five stadium pages for Missouri, perhaps one or two stadiums in Texas, and then Georgia (Atlanta) and Florida are all that I have left to do as far as page formatting. THEN I can get back to the FINAL PHASE OF DIAGRAM REVISIONS!!!

Coming soon: Field of Dreams!

As the month of August gets underway, I should mention that I intend to post a new diagram for the Field of Dreams page, since a new stadium is being built there for the game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies just two weeks from today! (I mentioned that in my blog post on June 26.) See MLB.com.

So when am I going to do diagrams of London Stadium or Gocheok Sky Dome? Good question! (Maybe after I pay an in-person visit...)