Author Archives: Ray Wyvill

Forming and Storming

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Ray Wyvill

Baseball teams are often misconstrued as collections of pieces and parts.  Were one to be constructing a fantasy roster this is all well and fine.  But, the fact is that real rosters are assemblages of humans.  They, in concert with … Continue reading →

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Shaking the Tires for the Nats

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Ray Wyvill

If you’ve ever watched more than a half-hour of NHRA Top-Fuel drag racing you have probably seen a microcosm of the Nationals’ early 2018 season.  A “Top-Fuel” Dragster is a piston-powered land rocket with somewhere near 9000 horsepower just waiting … Continue reading →

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Early April In Baseball

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Ray Wyvill

For all the romance and emotional hope attached to it, spring should have better manners.  After a winter of darkness and cold the anticipation was for warm sunshine and gentle breezes.  But, with all the gangly awkwardness of a teen … Continue reading →

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Moving the Rock

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Ray Wyvill

Here in the cold dreariness of early spring we await the joy that is Opening Day.  The road ahead is, as always, unclear.  What we do know is that warmth is coming, the daily rhythm of the game will be … Continue reading →

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A Stare into the Abyss

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Ray Wyvill

Somewhere along the way each great venture comes to a place where failure changes from being a conceptual abstract to being all too real and much too close.  When and how this arrives is largely irrelevant.  Failure is final.  And, … Continue reading →

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Second Fortnight

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Ray Wyvill

On the eve of the season’s start I discussed how a week of the baseball season is equivalent to a mile in a marathon.  The first couple of miles are always about trying to get settled.  You’ve had a long … Continue reading →

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First Fortnight

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Ray Wyvill

On the eve of the season’s start, I discussed how a week of the baseball season is equivalent to a mile in a marathon.  The first fortnight of the season represents the first two miles.  It’s an interesting place in … Continue reading →

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Winter’s Dream For A Baseball Fan

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Ray Wyvill

In our minds is an image that has been nurtured by the cold, dark evenings of an interminable winter.  Our young men bound out of the dugout wearing bridal veil white uniforms into the blinding sunshine set against impossibly green … Continue reading →

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Hopes and Fears, Washington Baseball

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Ray Wyvill

“When I was a kid my father used to say, ‘Our greatest hopes and worst fears are seldom realized.”—Jim McKay, ABC Sports We arrive, finally, at Spring.  Regardless of the relative mildness of the past winter there is a definitive … Continue reading →

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Home Field Advantage?

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Ray Wyvill

If you’ve spent the last week or so fretting about whether the Nats win “Home Field Advantage” you may want to re-think it.  A quick analysis of the past 21 years of National League Division Series indicates that Home Field … Continue reading →

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