Por Eduard Gygax

Para FOX Deportes / @FOXDeportes

El mexicano Joakim Soria cumple mañana 29 años…en la lista de lesionados. No es una sorpresa para nadie, el ‘Mexicutioner’ se recupera de la cirugía Tommy John desde hace más de un año y no se le espera de vuelta hasta julio.

Soria firmó como agente libre en diciembre con los Texas Rangers y comenzó la presente temporada en el roster inactivo del equipo. Su puesto lo está cubriendo Joe Nathan…¿por ahora?

Esa es la gran duda para el mexicano. Cuando sea habilitado para jugar, ¿comenzará en el bullpen o se convertirá de inmediato en el cerrador de los Rangers?

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By Adry Torres

New York - It’s been a great year for baseball back this season in the D.C. and Baltimore area as two teams that a lot of folks didn’t pick to make it this far into the season when the sounds of baseballs pounding gloves and the crack of the bat traveling through those backfields in the spring training complexes.

Washington has come a long way since the team was relocated from Montreal after the 2004 season. During the team’s first six seasons in the nation’s capital, the Nationals suffered back-to-back 100-loss seasons, finished last in the NL East five out of six times, with a fourth place finish in their third season in D.C.

The Nats turned the page once Jim Riggleman unexpectedly quit on the team last season on June 23 right after a win put the team over the .500 mark. Three days later Davey Johnson took over the reigns and the team went 40-43 under him. Their strong September finish was a sign of what was to come.

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By Adry Torres

The top-ranked Washington Nationals are still looking to lock up the NL East division title but their plans to do so unraveled over the weekend in St. Louis, losing two of three to the Cardinals, an opponent they could possibly face in the first round. Another twist in all of this is that the Cincinnati Reds are tied with the Nats for the best record in the National League at 96-63.

The magic number to clinch the East for the Nats remained at one after their loss at St. Louis on Sunday. They lead the Atlanta Braves by three games in the NL East.

Gio Gonzalez continued his push towards his first Cy Young as he became baseball’s first 21-game winner and has another start lined up Tuesday night against the Phillies in D.C. It would be interesting to see if the Nationals skip him in the rotation should they clinch tonight, allowing him to start Game 1 on Friday or Saturday.

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By Adry Torres

For the first time since 1933, there will be postseason baseball being played in Washington after the Nationals clinched a playoff spot last Thursday, assuring themselves of at least being one of the National League wild card teams. The Nationals are again at the top of the Fox Deportes MLB power rankings and lead the NL East by 5-games over the Atlanta Braves.

At the two spot this week are the Cincinnati Reds after wrapping up the NL Central over the weekend but without skipper Dusty Baker who was diagnosed last Wednesday with an irregular heart beat and remained hospitalized in Chicago for four days before meeting the team back home in Cincinnati on Sunday. Johnny Cueto finally savored some success , snapping out of a personal three-game losing streak by limiting the lowly Cubs to five hits over six scoreless innings last Thursday.

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By Adry Torres

Despite failing to inch closer to their first NL East title since 1981 and being swept by the Atlanta Braves this weekend, the Nationals lead this week’s Fox Deportes MLB Power Rankings.

One positive for the Nationals was John Lannan’s start against the Mets last Wednesday in place of Stephen Strasburg.  It was his second outing since replacing the Washington phenom and he looked terrific, pitching into the sixth inning and limiting a weak Mets offense to no runs and five hits.

Cincinnati remains in the second among all 30 MLB teams ranked. The Reds did struggle on the road at Miami and haven’t lost that much ground on the St. Louis Cardinals, whom they lead in the NL Central by 11 games.

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By Adry Torres

Blame the media for Stephen Strasburg’s recent struggles, that’s what Nationals manager Davey Johnson said Saturday when the team officially announce that their ace’s season was coming to an end after he lasted a career-low three innings in his Friday night start against the Marlins. “The media hype on this thing has been unbelievable,” Johnson told reporters.  The Nationals, who are at the top of this week’s Fox Deportes Power Ranking, have a 5 1/2 games lead over the Atlanta Braves, who’ve won five straight and face them this weekend in D.C. in a three-game showdown.

The Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds flipped flopped this week with the Rangers taking over the two spot. Texas’ lead in the AL West shrunk over the weekend to just 3 1/2 games over the surprising Oakland A’s. Facing a possible playoffs foe in the Tampa Bay Rays on the road, the Rangers were held to just five runs this weekend as they lost two of three to the Rays.

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By Adry Torres

As the inevitable shutdown of Stephen Strasburg is just a week away, the Washington Nationals continue to hold the top spot in this week’s Fox Deportes Power Rankings. After splitting a two-game set at Miami, the Nats headed back home to the nation’s capital and against a struggling St. Louis Cardinals,  a team they could very well face in the Division Series come October, took thee of four led by Gio Gonzalez’s dominance last Friday.

The second spot in the rankings still belongs to the Cincinnati Reds after an easy week as the hit the road and swept Arizona in three games and took two of three at Minute Maid Park from baseball’s worst team, the Houston Astros. Joey Votto returned this week after missing 39 games due to surgery on his left knee, definitely another boost to the Reds offense. Dusty Baker does have one problem. How will the Reds skipper keep Todd Frazier’s bat in the lineup after he was named the NL Rookie of the Month for August? During Votto’s absence, Frazier hit .303 with eight home runs and and 32 RBI.

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By Adry Torres

The Washington Nationals own the best record in baseball, so it’s only fitting that they’re at the top of this week’s rankings.

The Nats started off last week by finishing up 10 game road trip at San Francisco. In what should have been a stellar pitching duel between Ryan Vogelsong and Gio Gonzalez, the Nats jumped all over Vogelsong and took the first game of the series against the Giants, 14-2. The offense came up short the following night but took the series by winning the third game behind Stephen Strasburg. The Nats went 4-2 overall, taking the weekend series from the New York Mets.

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By Jose M. Romero / @RomeroJoseM

For FOX Deportes

I’m back home now after a fun trip to Washington D.C. last weekend, and aside from all the basketball I saw (and actually played, but let’s skip that part) at the Nike World Basketball Festival, I had some time on Monday to tour Nationals Park, home of one of the surprise stories in baseball.

The Washington Nationals are in first place in the NL East with some great young talent that is already realizing its potential. As summer heats up, the Nats look poised to be a factor in the postseason race, and this is a good thing for the nation’s capital, whose citizens finally have a baseball team to be excited about.

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Jon Paul Morosi is a national MLB writer for FOXSports.com

Courtesy FOXSports.com

The All-Star Game on Tuesday will showcase a record five major league rookies, including wunderkinds Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. A decade of revenue sharing has drawn the 30 franchises closer together, resulting in bizarre word combinations such as “first-place Washington Nationals” and “division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates.” Major League Baseball is in the midst of an attendance boom.

Our national pastime is changing, in ways that have not become clear until now. The sharp decrease (if not complete eradication) of performance-enhancing drugs has initiated an epoch of dominant pitching and monthly no-hitters. But that is only part of the story.

The denouement of the Steroid Era transformed the way we watch baseball — for the better.

Juiced-up sluggers, sluggish paces and slow-pitch softball scores are out. Speed, athleticism and savvy defensive shifts are in. Players, managers and even general managers — thank you, Sandy Alderson — have brought personality to a sometimes staid sport through their use of Twitter.

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