Washington

My prediction for the Washington Nationals Opening Day Lineup

Published

12 months ago

March 13, 2025

My prediction for the Washington Nationals Opening Day Lineup

The Washington Nationals Opening Day matchup against the Phillies is just two weeks away! With that in mind, I thought it was time to make my prediction for the Opening Day lineup. One important thing to keep in mind is that the Phillies Opening Day starter, Zack Wheeler is right handed.

1: CJ Abrams, SS

This one is a slam dunk. Manager Davey Martinez has already confirmed that Abrams will be the leadoff man. Despite his tumultuous second half, the Nationals still have faith in their young shortstop. The best stretches of CJ’s career have come from the leadoff spot, and it has always felt like he has been more confident at the top of the order. He will take the first at bat of the season for the Washington Nationals.

2: Dylan Crews, RF

This might be slightly bold due to Crews’ lack of MLB production, but I think the Nats are going to stick him in the 2 hole. A big reason for this is his right handed bat. The Nationals lineup is very left handed heavy at the top as we will discuss. Davey Martinez will want a right handed bat in between those guys and Crews fits the bill. Martinez has a history of not liking too many same sided hitters in a row, so Crews is a good bet at in the 2 hole.

3: James Wood, LF

The Nationals highest upside hitter will hit in the three hole. There are high hopes for the towering slugger in 2025. Andrew Golden said he had a chance to hit 35 homers this season, while Grant Paulsen said 30 was within reach. Wood certainly has the raw power to get that done. He hits the ball hard a ton, and it goes a long way when he elevates the ball. Right now he hits the ball on the ground too much, but even with that, he had a productive half season at just 21 years old.

4: Nathaniel Lowe, 1B

The first of a few new additions, Nathaniel Lowe was the biggest move of the Nationals offseason. He has been a stalwart in a stacked Texas Rangers lineup the past few years. While he hasn’t hit for the power of your prototypical cleanup man the past couple years, he is a well above average bat. He gets on base a ton and provides some thump to go along with it. Lowe should be a leader in the young Nats lineup.

5: Josh Bell, DH

While I would consider Luis Garcia Jr here, I know Davey wouldn’t love three lefties in a row. That is why the switch hitting Bell is going into the five hole. Bell is looking to get back to hitting for more power, something the Nats need him to do. The Nats are hoping he can be a 25 home run bat. He has also a beloved member of the community in his first stint with the club, so it will be nice to get him back in town.

6: Luis Garcia Jr., 2B

Luis Garcia had a breakout year in 2024. He was arguably the Nationals best hitter last season. You can certainly argue that he should be hitting higher in the lineup, but this is what I think will happen. Having Garcia in the 6 hole shows the improved depth of the lineup. He can establish himself as one of the better second baseman in baseball if he can repeat or improve upon his 2024 campaign. Garcia has been swinging a hot bat this spring.

7: Keibert Ruiz, C

Speaking of swinging a hot bat, Keibert Ruiz has looked excellent this spring. He is tapping into his power, with three home runs and his approach looks improved. Those were the two things Ruiz needed to do to bounce back from a brutal 2024 season. The bat to ball skills have never been in doubt, he has just given away too many at bats and there has been too much weak contact. 2025 is a massive year for the 26 year old catcher.

8: Paul Dejong, 3B

I think Paul Dejong is going to be the opening day third baseman. He signed just before Spring Training on a one-year deal, but the veteran has impressed. Dejong has looked very strong defensively at third base and has showed off some of his famous power. He hit 24 homers last year and the Nationals need power bats.

9: Jacob Young, CF

Jacob Young will be like a second leadoff man for the Nats. His speed and solid contact ability make him a pesky hitter at the bottom of the order. Hopefully his new strength can translate to a bit more power. Young will never be a slugger, but even if he could hit 8 homers a season, it would go a long way. He is a phenomenal defensive center fielder, but if the bat doesn’t improve, his job will be under pressure with all of the outfielders the Nats have in the upper minors.

This is my Opening Day lineup prediction. We will see how I did in two weeks when the Nats host the Phillies on March 27th for Opening Day.

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Washington

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.

The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.

Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.

Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.

Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.

Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).

The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.

The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.

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Washington

Washington state board awards Yakima $985,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

Published

2 days ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington state board awards Yakima 5,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.

The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.

The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.

The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.

The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.

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Washington

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Published

2 days ago

February 25, 2026

Press Room

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.

Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.

That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.

And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.

“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”

The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.

But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.

He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”

Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.

At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.

Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.

It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.

So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?

“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”

“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”

“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”

Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.

That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.

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