MLB Bullets Goes To Washington

Welcome to Federal Baseball, the SB Nation blog where we bring you all the latest news and commentary about DC's finest baseball team. What? This is still Bleed Cubbie Blue? Could have fooled me.

Let's go Cubs. With 92 wins already, the Cubs already have the fourth-most wins since World War II and if they win the rest, they can tied the 2008 team for the best post-war record. More likely, they'll finish with the third-best record or tie with the 1984 club for the second-most.

• The news is still all about Jonathan Papelbon choking Bryce Harper. The Nationals suspended Papelbon for four games and he dropped the appeal of his three-game suspension for hitting Manny Machado, so Papelbon is done for the season.
• There was an interesting change of inventory at the Nationals team store.
• C.J. Nitkowski caused some waves when he reported that most current and former players he talked to overwhelmingly said Papelbon was right and that Harper needs to know his place. Which I guess means his place is having a veteran player try to kill him for not being deferential enough.
• Will Leitch rolls his eyes at all this and says this is just another example of an older generation trying to put a younger generation in their place.
• Grant Brisbee also criticizes Nitkowski's piece and points out the utter absurdity of baseball's "unwritten rules." ("Run hard, but don't run too hard.") Brisbee also responds to those who say "you never played the game and don't know what a clubhouse is like" with "you don't know what it's like to be 22 and ten times better than anyone else in the clubhouse."
• Lee Judge wrote that Harper deserved to be upbraided, but that Papelbon was wrong for not waiting until they were out of camera range.
• As Craig Calcaterra points out, what Judge originally wrote was even stronger, saying that while Judge does know Harper, "he seems like a young man who needs choking."
• Canadian treasure/embarrassment (depending on your point of view) Don Cherry said it "boggles the mind" that anyone could blame this incident on Papelbon. Cherry probably also would have said that Papelbon should have slashed Harper across the face with a high stick and knocked out a bunch of teeth, but he likely ran out of characters on Twitter.
• Adam Kilgore points out that Harper did run out the pop up that Papelbon criticized him for, giving further credence to the hypothesis that Papelbon was just looking for a fight.
• Ken Rosenthal points out that Harper is one of the best baserunners in the majors right now.
• Dirk Hayhurst writes that incidents like this one is a product of the strange workplace culture of a professional sports team.
• Joe Posnanski writes about how awful the decision to trade for Papelbon has turned out for the Nationals, especially in the disruption of the clubhouse culture.  When the trade was made, Posnanski called it one of the worst trades in recent memory. In this column, he writes that he underestimated its awfulness at the time.
• Tom Verducci explains the main reason the Nationals made the trade for Papelbon: the Phillies were willing to pay all of his 2015 salary. Verducci also explains that being "hot" going into the playoffs is no indicator of postseason success.
• Andrew Simon goes through the issues that the Nats are going to have to deal with this offseason.
• Eddie Matz says there should be no doubt now that manager Matt Williams should be fired.
• Rob Neyer posits a weird defense of Papelbon and Williams, essentially saying that the Nationals shouldn't get rid of either of them just to make Harper happy. I think there are a lot of other reasons that both men need to go.
• Justin Peters wonders if Papelbon has crossed the "(John) Rocker Line," where a players usefulness to the team no longer outweighs the fact that he's a terrible jerk.
• When asked if Papelbon would be back with the Nationals in 2016, GM Mike Rizzo simply said "He's under contract" and that everything would be evaluated in the offseason. Like maybe your job will be, Mike.
• Eric Wilbur thinks the Red Sox ought to take Papelbon back. I think under the old regime, this would happen. I'm not so sure what Dave Dombrowski will do.
• As long as we're on the Red Sox, Gordon Edes reports on Don Orsillo's final home game as Red Sox broadcaster. Edes also reports that Orsillo will accept the offer to become the new voice of the San Diego Padres, so the Boston fans can stop their petition drive.
• Staying in Boston, or rather leaving Boston is Hanley Ramirez, who was sent home to Florida to work on his rehab. Edes thinks this is a sign that Ramirez may not be back next season.
• You've undoubtedly seen this Steven Piscotty collision by now. Unless you've made a firm decision not to watch it.
• If so, maybe you can watch it now since the tests on Piscotty came up negative and he was released from the hospital.
• David Schoenfield writes that the Cardinals always seem to find someone else to step up in these situations.
• Grant Brisbee doesn't want Cardinals fans to hear this, but he's in awe of the way the Cardinals take everything thrown at them and still keep winning.
• Adam Wainwright is even reporting for duty. He'll pitch out of the pen for the Cardinals the rest of the season.
• There's one other thing the Cardinals will need to overcome. As Jon Paul Morosi points out, the record of the number one seed in the postseason against the wild card is below .500.
• Dave Cameron thinks the Mets pitching staff makes them a scary opponent in the playoffs.
• If you're cheering for chaos, here are all the wild scenarios for playoff tiebreakers. It's tough for Cubs fans to know what to cheer for. Obviously we'd like the wild card game at Wrigley, but even better would be the Pirates and Cardinals tying for the division lead and having to play a one-game playoff before taking on the Cubs.
• Joe Posnanski thinks this year, at least, having home-field advantage could be crucial for some teams.
• The Angels took the lead in the race for the 2nd AL Wild Card late last night. Will Leitch thinks it's critical for the Angels to win it all this season.
• Andy McCullough looks back at last season's AL Wild Card game and how it rejuvenated baseball In KC.
• The Mariners hired former Angels general manager Jerry DiPoto as their new GM.  DiPoto outlined his plans for the Emerald City Blues.
• The Athletics hired Justine Siegal as a coach for their instructional league team. It's only a two-week gig, but it makes Siegal the first ever woman to be a coach in organized baseball. The possibility for a permanent position is still there.
• Baseball got one step closer to being included in the 2020 Olympics.
• Matt Goldman criticizes MLBAM for their restrictive attitude towards fan-generated media.
• Going into the offseason, Russell Carleton explains what the stats say about how to avoid a signing a free-agent bust.
• Michael Powell has an interesting profile of Mets announcer Keith Hernandez. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• And finally, if your Cardinals fans acquaintances pulls out the "best fans in baseball" card out, pull out this horrific video on how Cardinals fans are definitely the "worst rappers in baseball." It is probably useful for driving vermin out of your yard though.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.