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To finish the season, the Washington Nationals went 39-42 at home and 38-43 on the road. Those are similar numbers and on the surface, there does not seem like much to talk about here. However, when you dive deeper, these splits actually become quite fascinating. It was a tale of two halves for the Nationals.

At the start of the season, the Nationals were a very bad home team. Since the Nats were in the Wild Card mix and above .500, we tend to look back at the first 4 months of the season with rose tinted glasses. However, the Nats really struggled at home during that time.

On July 24th, the Nats fell to 20-32 at Nationals Park, the worst home record in all of baseball at the time. Yet, they were still a .500 team because of what they did on the road. For a large portion of the season, the Nationals were road warriors.

The start of the season was even more brutal. In April, it felt like they could not buy a win at home. On May 2nd, they dropped to 3-12 at Nationals Park. Whenever the Nats got momentum from a strong road trip, it felt like that would all be squandered with flat performances at home.

However, at the end of the season, the Nats finished with a better record at home than on the road. So what on earth happened here? That is what I want to explore. I am going to look at the data and come up with some potential reasons.

Before the All-Star break, the Nats were 28-18 on the road and 20-31 at home. That totally flipped in the second half, where the Nats went 19-11 at home and a miserable 10-25 away from Nationals Park. 

The most obvious explanation for me is just variance. In a 162 game season, there is a lot of noise, but at the end of the day, things tend to even out. Whenever I asked Blake Butera about the poor home record at the beginning of the season, he was not happy about it, but he did not think there was some major underlying issue. Now that the season is over, it looks like things just balanced out.

However, the huge swings were very strange to watch. There was a stretch in the second half where the Nats went 2-21 on the road. We can talk about variance all we want, but something like that cannot happen again. In August and early September, the team just looked totally lifeless away from home.

It should be mentioned that they did face a lot of tough road competition in that stretch. That west coast trip against the Dodgers and Padres was brutal. The Nats lost 7 straight, and it felt like rock bottom. However, I did not think the Nats were playing awful baseball in most of those games.

Those were just two of the hottest teams in baseball playing at home. They took advantage of the Nats weak bullpen and staged a lot of comebacks. It did not look like August where the team was totally lifeless. At the end of the day, it was 7 L’s though. In the first half, the Nats found a way to win road games, but not so much after the break.

On the flip side, the Nationals really found their footing in front of the home crowd down the stretch. In my opinion, the biggest reason for that was improved clutch hitting. One of the major storylines for most of the season was the Nats inability to get a walkoff.

For such a potent offense, the Nats were weirdly feeble late in the game at home. There were a lot of times where the Nats just rolled over after a lead was blown. They did not get the first walk-off of the season until August 29th when Dylan Crews smacked a single into right to send the fans home happy.

After that moment, it felt like the Nats had a lot of big hits late in games at home. Harry Ford got a walk-off hit of his own a couple weeks later. However, it was more than just walk-offs. When the Nats fell behind, the offense was ready to answer.

Even though the Nats actually did not score a ton of runs in September, they were able to get the big hit. That series against the Angels saw the Nats answer over and over. Blake Butera talked a lot about how resilient his team was, and that was an example.

For most of the season, the Nats were resilient, but usually not within games. The way Butera’s team showed resilience was coming back from brutal losses like nothing happened the next day. However, for a lot of the season, they were shellshocked while the blown lead was happening, especially at home.

Heading into next season, I hope the Nats show that in game resilience we saw in September. If they are able to do that, it will go a long way. Winning on the margins is how the Nats will be able to take that next step. We saw that on the road in the first half and at home in the second. 

The goal for 2027 should be to string that together and find true consistency. I think this rollercoaster season will be a good learning experience for the guys. They are now battle tested and ready to become a more stable team moving forward. There were a lot of volatile swings this year. In order to take the next step, we will need to see less volatility and more consistency.

Good morning A’s fans and welcome to another week!

Our second without A’s games. It’s starting to set in and I already miss our boys in Green & Gold. At least we still have the playoffs to get us by during these early days of the offseason.

Meanwhile the Arizona Fall League has gotten underway and the A’s have a few interesting names getting in some extra work right now. These are the guys that need as many reps as possible to help themselves rise the ranks and reach the majors.

One of those names is catching prospect Davis Diaz. An eighth round pick back in 2024, Diaz has steadily ascended the minor league ladder and topped out at Triple-A last year. Considered a top-20 prospect in the system, Diaz got off to a good start in his AFL debut, hitting a two-run home run:

The catcher wasn’t the only big name that had a strong start to his AFL season. Left-handed pitcher Grant Richardson took the mound last night and looked fantastic, firing off two strong innings that featured five punch outs. It wasn’t without its warts as he gave up a run but the strikeouts are always a positive sign to see.

The A’s prospects playing in the AFL overall had a great day yesterday as all of them had successful outings. Outfielder Breyson Guedez, considered a top prospect in the system in his own right, had a quiet 2-for-3 day with a walk. And another lefty in Tucker Novotny had a scoreless appearance that saw him pitch three shutout frames with just one hit allowed.

None of these guys are expected to play any sort of role next year but all of them could become options a bit further down the line. Guedez in particular is a highly-rated prospect, topping out at #9 on MLB.com’s rankings of the A’s top prospects. So far the 19-year-old is 2-for-8 and likely ticketed to start next year at Double-A.

Meanwhile it’s been all quiet on the GM front. Presumably the team has conducted at least the first round of interviews and whittled the initial list, but they’ve done a good job of keeping any news or rumors from leaking out. The end-of-season deadline is long past but surely the club won’t wait another month and let the World Series end. We’re all waiting to hear any tidbit of news regarding who is next in line to lead the A’s. Could drop at any moment.

First game is in a few hours. Have a great start to your week everyone!

A’s Coverage:

• Zack Of All Trades Tries To Get One More Win: In Court
• Important Dates For The Athletics This Offseason
• A’s part ways with assistant hitting, quality control coaches
• After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan Lasko
• Athletics’ Zack Gelof sues Tigers after hitting metal fence
• A’s Las Vegas ballpark cost rises to $2.1B, public funding delayed
• 2026: Year Of The “Didn’t See That Coming!”
• A’s Hoping Luis Severino Chooses to Stay
• Where the A’s Plan to Use Zack Gelof in 2027
• A’S OPEN TO MOVING LUIS MEDIA BACK INTO ROTATION 
• Last MLB game in West Sacramento? Why A’s 2026 season deserves a eulogy
• Perkins finishes intriguing season with another flash of potential
• ‘Road Trip Mike’ on the move to wherever his beloved A’s go
• Wheat/Chaff Updates As Season Winds Down
• Paralyzed A’s prospect Lasko released from rehab facility to ovation from staff
• Devin Taylor: Athletics 2026 Minor League Player Of The Year
• Henry Bolte Is the A’s Next Budding Star
• Determining Athletics’ Offensive MVP for the 2026 Season
• Notes From Star-Studded Rockies-A’s Instructional League
• Injuries Out Of Control, But Why?
• 2027 Infield Landscape Ever Changing
• “Fast Movers” Might Be Key To Contention
• Billy Beane comments on the job Mark Kotsay has done this season.
• Should Mark Kotsay return in 2027? A’s Players Weigh In
• What the A’s Hiring Mike Rizzo would Signal and the Questions it Would Raise
• Athletics Considering James Click For GM Vacancy
• Get the best of Athletics Nation on the new SB Nation app

MLB News & Interest:

• Braves turning to Chris Sale for Game Three start
• Cubs’ Jed Hoyer makes ‘pitching acquisition’ top offseason priority
• Rasmussen — the ‘definition of ace’ — takes no-no into 8th as Rays 1-hit Yankees
• Taylor Rogers Plans To Pitch In 2027
• Aroldis Chapman Passes Physical, 2027 Option Vests
• Where Does Jordan Westburg Fit For The Orioles?
• If you can believe it, Crew coach predicted that ball off the roof before the game
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

What would you change here?

Anyone surprised to see Burress already above Arnold?

That’s why baseball is the best:

The Guardians will try to beat the White Sox again in game two of the ALDS this afternoon at 5PM.

In doing so, they will need to solve Sean Burke who has a 1.04 ERA against them this year. And, Gavin Williams will have to handle a tough Chicago lineup.

Zack Meisel of the Athletic wrote about the Guardians’ mindset entering game two.

Around MLB:

The Braves beat the Dodgers to tie up their NLDS and the Brewers walked off the Padres to go up 2 game to none in their NLDS.

Two games from being eliminated in the MLB playoffs, the Atlanta Braves had a difficult decision to make.

Do they bring back ace Chris Sale on short rest to start Game 2 of the National League division series? Or do they go back to the well with a bullpen game and hope a 32-year-old journeyman can pitch the game of his life … again?

Manager Walt Weiss decided to roll the dice. And left-hander Ray Kerr delivered.

As he did just three days earlier in the deciding game of Atlanta's wild-card series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Kerr came through with a masterful performance. He shut out the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers for 2 ⅔ innings, setting the tone for a 3-2 Braves win that evened the series at one game apiece.

"He did it again for us. Just amazing," Weiss gushed afterward. "There always seems to be some unsung heroes in the postseason. Yeah, Ray's definitely one of them."

For Kerr, it brought confirmation that his hard work to make it all the way back to the majors was worth it.

MORE: Blake Snell's sluggish Game 2 start was worst-case scenario for Dodgers

Yes, the Yankees trail in the ALDS against the Rays. But in Game 2, they have the best possible path to getting even in the best-of-five series, at least when their guy is on the mound. 

Presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner Cam Schlittler is starting for the Yanks at Tropicana Field and he’s in the process of authoring a postseason resume for the ages -- so, obviously, the ace is one of our three things to watch as the series resumes Monday night.

Cam on cam

Schlittler is in a big spot, since dropping the first two games to the Rays would put the Yanks on the precipice of elimination. He seems equipped to handle such circumstances, however, considering his domination of the Red Sox in a win-or-go-home game in last year’s Wild Card Series, his obliteration of them in Game 1 this year, and his postseason resume as a whole -- 0.87 ERA, 24-1 K/BB ratio in 20.2 innings pitched. 

For whatever it’s worth, Schlittler has been even better on the road this season than at Yankee Stadium, fashioning a 1.16 ERA in away games versus 2.98 at home -- at the Trop, it was 2.77 in two starts. Opponents had an OPS nearly 200 points lower against Schlittler in road games (.456 vs. .649). 

Junior Caminero is the only Rays player with a home run off Schlittler -- in the righty's third career start. Taylor Walls and Richie Palacios each have three hits against him. But Schlittler has been tough on Yandy Díaz (2-for-13, five strikeouts) and Jonathan Aranda (1-for-8, six strikeouts).

As Rays manager Kevin Cash noted in a news conference Sunday, the Rays laid off Schlittler’s top-of-the-zone four-seamer during the pitcher’s final start of the season, a brief playoff tuneup. “If you’re going to swing at that, you’re likely not going to hit it or have much success with it,” Cash said. 

Clearly, the Rays will try that again if Schlittler approaches them in a similar way. But the ace also came at the Red Sox with some variety, throwing his curveball nearly three times more than his usage all season. The Red Sox swung at it 16 times and missed eight of those. He finished off four of his 10 strikeouts with the pitch. 

How will he use it against the Rays? 

Fanfare for Fastball Freddy

There will be a lot of eyeballs in Tampa Bay on Rays starter Freddy Peralta, as well. Queens, too. Peralta was brought to the Mets last winter in hopes he’d be starting in the playoffs for them, but he did not pitch well, they didn’t play well, and the Mets traded him to the Rays at the deadline. 

He’s been much better in his new stop, though this season overall he did not get strikeouts at his usual high rate.

Peralta had a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts with Tampa, including a 0.79 ERA over his last six starts, and a 1.69 ERA across his final four home starts. Expect him to pitch well at the Trop, though, six different Yankees have homered against him during his career. Cody Bellinger is 6-for-14 lifetime (.429) with a 1.270 OPS. 

Aaron Boone said there were players who worked out Sunday at the Yankees’ spring training facility in Tampa and he mentioned they have a Trajekt machine there, a detailed hitting machine with video. That would let hitters get repeated looks at Peralta’s release point, pitch shapes, and other eyeball data. 

Maybe that impacts their success against Peralta, who has a 4.32 ERA in nine postseason games.

Decision at third? 

In two playoff games in which their opponent has started a right-hander, the Yanks have used eight lefty hitters in their lineup, with shortstop George Lombard Jr. as the only right-handed bat. Might matchups at least make them ponder a change at third base? Ryan McMahon is 1-for-14 with four strikeouts lifetime against Peralta. 

In much smaller sample sizes, here’s what other potential third-base options have done: Anthony Volpe is 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, and two strikeouts, and José Caballero has fanned in both of his at-bats. 

After an offensive splurge in the Boston series, the Yankees did not score and were just 1-for-27 in the opener against Drew Rasmussen and Bryan Baker. Do they need a lineup move or was that mostly about an ace and a closer dealing? 

Volpe has exactly one game of experience at third in the major leagues. McMahon, who is 1-for-6 this postseason, is a quality defender there and hit all 11 of his home runs this year against righties. 

LOS ANGELES — Josue De Paula popped out as a pinch-hitter for the final out of Game 2, in his major league postseason debut. The comeback attempt fell short, but just by getting into a game at his age was notable.

De Paula on Sunday was 21 years, 133 days old, and became only the fourth Dodgers position player that young to appear in a postseason game, and the first since 19-year-old outfielder Willie Crawford appeared in Game 6 of the 1965 World Series. The other Dodgers position players younger than De Paula to play in the postseason were both 21-year-old outfielders — Eddie Miskis in the 1947 World Series and Ron Fairly in the 1959 World Series.

The other Dodgers as young or younger than De Paula to play in the postseason were pitchers — Johnny Podres (1955) and Don Drysdale (1956) for Brooklyn, followed by Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Clayton Kershaw (2008), and Julio Urías (2016).

Of these nine players all no older than 21 years, 133 days old, only De Paula, Valenzuela (0 for 7, walk, sacrifice), and Urías (0 for 1) batted in the postseason at Dodger Stadium. So it can be said that Josue De Paula is the youngest Dodgers position player to bat in the postseason in the 65-year history of Dodger Stadium.

If we count players from other teams, six position players were younger than De Paula playing in the postseason at Chavez Ravine:

• Claudell Washington, A’s, 1974 World Series — 20 years, 42 days in first game
• Gregg Jefferies, Mets, 1988 NLCS — 21 years, 64 days
• Andruw Jones, Braves, 1996 NLDS — 19 years, 162 days
• Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves, 2018 NLDS — 20 years, 290 days
• Juan Soto, Nationals, 2019 NLDS — 20 years, 343 days
• Jordan Lawlar, Diamondbacks, 2023 NLDS — 21 years, 84 days

De Paula’s postseason debut followed a busy day for the rookie, who was also honored along with pitcher Christian Zazueta as the Dodgers minor league player and pitcher of the year for 2026.

During a pregame session in the media room at Dodger Stadium, De Paula was asked if he was more nervous talking to media or being in the batter’s box.

“I don’t feel like it’s nerve-racking, you know what I’m saying? I’m just talking with people. We’re all people at the end of the day,” De Paula said. “I love being in the batter’s box. I love competing. It’s not really nerve-racking. It’s normal.”

Good morning! Two close NLDS games took the stage last night with the Milwaukee Brewers taking a 2-0 series lead and the Atlanta Braves evening their series at 1-1.

The Chicago White Sox take on the Cleveland Guardians at 2 PM this afternoon for the first ALDS Game 2, and the New York Yankees follow against the Tampa Bay Rays at 5 PM.

MLB Postseason scores…

• An incredible two-strike, two-out walk-off single from Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio powered the team to a 2-0 NLDS lead over the San Diego Padres.
• The Atlanta Braves utilized six different pitchers in their 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers to even their NLDS matchup at 1-1.

In Mariners news…

• The Mariners will have decisions to make on four top prospects in 2027 regarding the team’s Opening Day roster.
• Don’t forget to vote in our photo caption contest for funny Mariners photos from this past season.

Around the league…

• New York Yankees RHP Cam Schlittler has developed a curveball to complement his fastball-heavy approach, and he plans to showcase it during his start tonight in ALDS Game 2.
• The Tampa Bay Rays’ secret weapon is that their outfield currently boasts the highest Outs Above Average (OAA) in the Statcast era with +37.
• Veteran LHP Taylor Rodgers plans to pitch in 2027 for his age-36 season.
• Current playoff performance could be revealing the Chicago White Sox’s future rotation as two younger arms are making a name for themselves in October.
• Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio has become one of the playoff’s most dangerous No. 9 hitters.

Dang, it’s already been over six weeks since Zack Minasian blessed us with his take on Moneyball, where you only focus on certain stats that have a high rate of correlation and predictability?

“Something I was looking at the other day,” Minasian stated, “the ninth inning obviously has been a huge issue. Our bullpen ERA, when you take out the ninth inning — I think the last time I looked was a couple of days ago — sixth in baseball.”

So, let’s apply that to the whole team and see what we get.

When you take out…

Rafael Devers’ first month, he was the fourth-best hitter in MLB

His 158 wRC+ trails just PCA (171), Yordan Alvarez (169), and Pete Alonso (161). Wow! Great recovery from .207/.248/.289 to start the season. Way to make jagweeds like me eat manure. His 35 home runs over this same stretch are the third-most in the sport, too, behind only PCA and Alonso. He was every bit the middle of the order threat Buster Posey envisioned for a good Giants team he didn’t know how to build in 2026.

April, August, and September, the lineup was 7th in MLB

The team wRC+ of 108 tied with the Cubs and Rangers, and that trio trailed only the Nationals (116), Pirates (112), Dodgers (110), and Brewers (109). They were only 9th in home runs (105), but back to #2 for Isolated Power. Okay, just 13th in runs scored, but they play in a tough park! Unfortunately, the team was only 34-46 during this remarkable stretch of hitting. BUT!

Some of the 7 walk-off losses from 5/1-8/1, they’d be 37-42

Look, the Giants probably should’ve settled on somebody else for the 9th inning rather than Caleb Killian. Let’s extract him from a couple of those scenarios and let’s not use Matt Gage to flip around Ketel Marte. There are three games we can safely return to the Giants (2 blown saves and one blown tie).

Now, this flip doesn’t really do much in terms of what happens this season (the trade deadline, the injuries, the losing), but they’d have been 50-60 on the morning of August 2nd and that is a psychologically better place than the 47-64 they actually sported.

The 9th inning, seriously… the numbers really pop

Here is the ERA by inning breakdown:

1st inning: 4.61
2nd inning: 4.17
3rd inning: 4.33
4th inning: 4.33
5th inning: 4.83
6th inning: 3.67
7th inning: 4.00
8th inning: 3.72
9th inning: 5.74
Extras: 3.86

Now, looking at that, “get a closer” seems like a pretty obvious solution. I would argue that “trying an opener more often” would also help, but that 5th inning definitely screams, too, “have a quicker hook.” But all this really tells us is that major league lineups are difficult to navigate, even if the pitchers have the advantage these days. The Giants don’t help themselves by staffing up with remarkably similar arsenals. Lots of 94 mph sinker-slider dudes.

Randy Rodriguez, Camilo Doval, and Trent Harris figure to be good tweaks to the mix heading into next year, but some creativity in deployment is needed, too. That doesn’t mean running Keaton Winn out there for a third inning or for a third consecutive day, but it’s hard to look at this one big thing and argue that the Giants are extremely far away from figuring out the pitching staff. They don’t need to spend $20-$30 million on the bullpen. Now, I doubt they have the creativity needed to properly sort it out, but there you have it.

Logan Webb’s starts against the AL East, his ERA drops to 3.66

While he’s certainly The Perfect Giant, the ace of the staff, and a world-class starting pitcher, maybe he’s just not good against the American League East. Maybe his stuff and pitch arsenal is just batting practice for those hitters. He gave up 20 earned runs in 4 starts against the Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays, and Red Sox. Take those out and his season is much more in line with the Logan Webb we’re used to — he still gets injured and still doesn’t pitch well enough to merit Cy Young consideration or not have concerns about his skills going into next season, but his season his 4.31 ERA doesn’t happen. (A reminder that he still wound up with a 3.1 fWAR despite just 160 IP).

Sal Stewart, Bryce Eldridge becomes a top 3 NL RoY candidate

He doesn’t win, of course. Not with Carson Benge (4.3 fWAR), JJ Wetherholt (4.6), and Nolan McLean in front (3.5). Eldridge’s 1.8 fWAR and 17 home runs are very nice for a 21-year old, but hardly spectacular when compared to the field. Benge has 20 and plays RF (occasionally CF) while Wetherholt has 17, t00, but plays shortstop. McLean is the Mets’ ace and was 15th in MLB in ERA (3.16). But this is very funny to imagine. Sal Stewart would have to be taken out by some sort of scandal to not win. He hit 32 homers and drove in 111.

All other positions, then Drew Gilbert is the 26th-most valuable player in the National League

That’s right. If we only looked at the outfielders, then Drew Gilbert would be a top 30 player with his 1.7 fWAR and triple slash of .238/.330/.394. He rates as a good defender, too, which means the Giants have run into some good luck with Harrison Bader’s extended injury time. Jonah Cox might not be able to hit, but an acceptable platoon of he and Drew Gilbert can handle center field for the Giants for a part of next season.

Remove Patrick Bailey, the Giants’ catcher corps is better than the Guardians’

Somehow, the Giants with better catcher defense than the Guardians. They traded away their Gold Glover and got better. Their 8.8 Defensive Runs Above Average was the Guardians’ lowest total of the last 5 seasons. The Giants’ 10.2 was their second-lowest after 2022 (2.8).

Jung Hoo Lee’s first 4 series and final 13, he’s a top 30 hitter

Like the rest of the offense, it took a bit for JHL to get going. He hit just .143/.224/.214 in 49 plate appearances against the Yankees, Padres, Mets, and Phillies. Those would be tough matchups for any hitter, but especially a guy who is still adjusting to the league and an MLB workload. From April 10 to August 5 he slashed .322/.353/.476 (131 wRC+) and just landed on the front page of hitters. The .338 BAbip and 2.0 fWAR should tell you that he’s contact and average-at-best defense, but you can’t take away the success he had in those 377 PA.

The relief pitching, the starting staff is playoff-caliber

Now, even though Zack Minasian laid out how parts of the Giants’ bullpen was above average, if you forget that the ‘pen exists at all (just 0.4 fWAR in value, after all), the starting staff, despite a 40-65 W-L record and just 9.4 fWAR in value (20th in MLB), stats out better than White Sox, Cubs, Padres, and Astros. Also better than the Diamondbacks, who just missed the postseason. Does this mean that an improved bullpen with a fringe-y rotation and 7-10% better than league average lineup could sneak into the Wild Card next postseason? Mr. Minasian would say yes.

Division play is removed, the Giants are 48-60 (.444)

No, that’s not good, but it’s much better than the .401 winning percentage. They went just 17-35 against the NL West, losing every season series against their division rivals, including the Rockies. But if you take those games out, it shows they are still pretty rotten. Is it a starting point for improvement? Probably not.

The 8 worst players are removed, the Giants are 4 wins better

If you knock out Harrison Bader, Osleivis Basabe, Will Brennan, Jerar Encarnacion, Matt Gage, Carson Seymour, Philip Abner, and Ryan Walker.

Now, to some degree, Walker (-0.5 fWAR) and Gage (-0.8) were unforeseeably bad, but there was also the persistence factor, where the team kept playing them despite their effort demonstrating that the opposite action should be taken. Had the Giants invested more in the bullpen during the offseason or simply had better coaching then maybe their contributions could’ve been avoided or minimized, but here we are, left to simply delete them. Jerar Encarnacion’s -0.5 fWAR in just 17 games and 35 plate appearances is truly impressive.

At the end of the day, 4 extra wins doesn’t amount to much, but if you couple that with the maybe 3 you could get from the rescued blown saves, those combined 7 gives the Giants a 72-90 record. Still not good, but that’s the type of season where you can easily wonder, “If they’d invested more in the bullpen, gotten more out of Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser to start the season, and avoided a lot of those injuries, then maybe they could’ve amounted to something more?”

Oh wow, now I see the power of Minasianball. It can get you to believe anything!

(1-1) Scottsdale Scorpions 5, (0-2) Glendale Desert Dogs 2

• Owen Carey, RF: 0-for-3, BB
• Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-for-4, R

Box Score

The Desert Dogs dropped to 0-2 on the season after falling to the Scorpions 5-2 on Sunday. After each Braves prospect pitched in the league opener, it was Owen Carey and Isaiah Drake who got the start for the Desert Dogs.

The Desert Dogs got on the scoreboard first in the second inning with Isaiah Drake singling with one out, stealing second, and coming into score on a Wyatt Sanford single. It was a nice return to the game for Isaiah who has been out since June 27th due to injury. Drake took a center cut 93 MPH fastball and hit it to the shortstop but beat out the throw for the single. In Drake’s second at bat he wasted no time, swinging at the first pitch, and grounded out to the first baseman. He would then get on base a second time, this time via a fielding error by the second baseman. His final at bat came in the eighth inning when he grounded out to third. Overall on the game Isaiah made strong swing decisions in his return to competitive baseball. He swung at two pitches at the top of the zone that resulted in outs.

Owen Carey’s night didn’t start as strong as Isaiah, as he popped up short with the bases loaded after chasing a changeup away. It came after he protected the inside of the plate on a slider inside. In his second at bat, Owen missed on a center cut fastball and popped up to short. Owen’s third at bat came with runners on first and second and he swung at the first pitch again, a sinker high and in but in the zone, and grounded out to short. His final at bat came in the bottom of the seventh where he drew a four pitch walk. Overall, Owen was aggressive in the zone and while he only reached base one time, the swing decisions were there.