I-95 SPORTS REPORT

      Baseball is back. We all here at I-95 are super excited about that, with the Orioles looking to contend once again and the Nationals having really fun pieces starting to develop in MLB. However, there is one problem: the Orioles pitching. Could it be an overreaction? Yes. We are only a week in basically. But if this O's squad wants to push for a World Series, the pitching has to be better. If you are the Orioles front office, you have to address this issue ASAP. More starting pitching has to come in, and while reinforcements will hopefully come back from injury like Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, the staff needs better top end talent. Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez are great, and they deserve to be at the top of the rotation, but it needs one more guy. Right now, they don't have that true ace, which they didn't replace after losing Corbin Burnes in free agency. I'll lay out the pitching situation, and at the end we'll decide how far these arms can take them a...

            On Saturday afternoon, we saw positive contributions from young Nationals players we haven’t paid a decent amount of attention to during spring training and the early portions of games this season.  It seems as if most of the Nationals victories in 2025 will be the “grinding it out” type of victory, and certainly the team grinded it out against Arizona on Saturday. Even though the Nats didn’t trail at any point in today’s game, in a figurative sense they were hanging on by a thread until the very last out.  Speaking of the very last out, the 27th out completed was no ordinary 27th out. Alek Thomas got a base hit off of closer Kyle Finnegan and got on base representing the game-tying run. Later on, during Geraldo Perdomo’s final at-bat, Thomas attempted to steal second base and got thrown out by Adams. D-Backs challenged, and the call was upheld. A very tense 9th inning as the Nats survived for their second victory on the seaso...

  An unfortunate outcome in Friday’s slash against the D-Backs where the Nationals seemed like they were in the game all along, which was true. The team was able to keep themselves in the game, especially with the long ball. They hit three home runs on Friday against a really solid pitcher for Arizona by the name of Brandon Pfaadt.                 Although the Nationals dropped their 4th straight, it’s hard to be upset with how the team has played so far this season despite their losses. If it wasn’t for their bullpen inconsistencies, the Nats could very well have a better record than what they currently sit with at the moment (1-6).  Infielders CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr. were among the players in the lineup that hit homeruns on Friday.  The Nationals currently rank among the top in baseball in home runs. A clear sign that the team did their due diligence this offseason in addressing what the Nationals power source(s) w...

     The Nats were able to salvage the finale of the opening series of the 2025 season against the Philadelphia Phillies and avoid a sweep.  Not necessarily reflected from the previous two losses, the team’s offense had been performing decently well. During this three-game series, the Nats hit 6 home runs. An encouraging stat knowing the team lacked a significant amount of power within their lineup in 2024.  Keibert Ruiz, among the players who hit not just one out of the park, but a second back on Saturday. He is 5-10 in his 10 plate appearances so far this season. We’ve made it known throughout the entirety of this Nationals rebuild that it would be crucial for Keibert Ruiz to break out at some point. Signed to an 8-year contract extension in the 2023 offseason, locking him up in D.C. for the foreseeable future. As previously mentioned, a breakout year for Ruiz would be very encouraging to see, as Mike Rizzo is certainly hoping to get as much talent and product...