Wire Taps: Nationals make final cuts; Stephen Strasburg fans ten; Pressure coming soon

The Nationals are back in Washington. That is all.

For the first time this season, here’s the beat from South Capitol Street.

Nationals make final cuts to set Opening Day roster; bullpen will carry eight
The bench to start the season: Wilmer Difo, Matt Adams, Miguel Montero, and Brian Goodwin.

Stephen Strasburg fans ten in final spring start
Strasburg allowed only two runs over 5.2 innings on Sunday. Needless to say, he's about ready to get going for real.

Scenes from Spring Training
Hey look, photos! Speaking of:

After a relaxed spring, regular season pressure is about to set in for Nationals
Dave Martinez made Spring Training relaxed. That was the easy part. Now comes the hard part: dealing with expectations, the window, and the inevitable pressure that will set in come Thursday.

The only drama of the 2018 MLB season will be in the AL East and wild-card races
Even though the Phillies and Mets are improved, the statistics don't suggest that there will be much of a competition in the NL East. The Wild Card... the Wild Card, now *that* will be interesting.

Miguel Montero on Nationals: Excited to be on team ‘that has a chance to win it all’
Montero will back up for Matt Wieters and pinch hit occasionally. He seems to be fitting in fine, though Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg enjoy employing Wieters' services more often (then again, the off chance always remains that the whole scene gets shaken up if the Nationals trade for catching help this summer).

Nationals finalize roster, keep 8 relievers
Adrian Sanchez and Matt Reynolds will start the season in Triple-A, and Trevor Gott will finally get his shot, along with Matt Grace and Enny Romero.

Tomorrow’s Game: Twins vs Nationals — 4:05 PM (MASN)
Probable Pitchers: Jose Berrios vs Gio Gonzalez