(Posted 7-28-26)

Greetings from The Booth!

Well, it’s been a minute since we got together. I got back last week from a nice week off, and a relaxing vacation at Deep Creek Lake, where I played a round of golf, ate very well, and as I always do, watched a fair amount of The Open Championship, as well as the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby. A lot of folks in the lake house were glued to the FIFA World Cup. I must admit, once the USA was eliminated, I checked out. As the late NFL great Sonny Randle would say, if a soccer game broke out in my backyard, the shade wouldn’t go up.

We’re kind of in a down time in sports, with baseball’s “dog days” approaching, and football season not quite here, but I did want to weigh in on those two sports, specifically your Washington Nationals and Washington Commanders. We’ll start with the Nats. As of this post, the Nationals are a hair above .500 at 54-53 after last night’s loss to Toronto.

(Sidebar: it was really strange seeing former Nats’ great Max Scherzer in a Blue Jays uniform last night. In an emotional return to DC on his 42nd birthday, “Mad Max” got the start and threw 2 and 2/3 gutsy innings, and received 2 well-deserved standing ovations from the Washington fans, who appreciated his contributions to a great Nationals’ run over 6-plus seasons. At 42, and on a one-year contract, last night was probably his last appearance in the Nation’s Capital.)

With the trade deadline a week away, should the Nats buy or sell? It’s a tough question. The team is very much in contention for a Wild Card berth, but also very much in need of pitching for the long haul. The name being brought up most often in trade rumors is Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams, who was last week’s NL Player of the Week and has been red hot recently. As a fan, I want Abrams in Washington, and I want to see the team go all in on a playoff run. This is why GM’s get paid the big money. Do you throw all your cards on the table for 2026, or do you stay the course and get some young arms for the future? We’ll find out soon.

And, we head to Ashburn, where the Commanders open training camp this week. NFL training camps have become less important in the modern age of football, because of OTAs and year-round conditioning advances, and the strides that have been made in nutrition. Back in the day, players would arrive at camp vastly out of shape, having sold insurance or used cars in the offseason. There is no offseason now in the NFL, so camps are refresher courses for the veterans, and for developing chemistry for rookies and new acquisitions.

That’s why I think this is a very important camp for the Commanders, as the team tries to cleanse its palate from a 5-12 campaign. With an almost complete overhaul of the defense, this will be a camp where everyone on that side of the ball must get on the same page. Offensively, we need to see a hungry Jayden Daniels, who wants to show his critics that his injury-plagued 2025 was a fluke, and that he is not a one-year flash in the pan.

Interesting times are ahead for the Nats and Commanders. Until the next visit from The Booth…GO NATS…and HTTC!

RW