Sports
Back at .500, Nationals go for 3-game sweep of Orioles
May 16, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals center fielder Jacob Young (30) is congratulated by teammates after hitting a three run home run against the Baltimore Orioles during the seventh inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images The Washington Nationals will go for their first home series sweep of the season when they host the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.
The Nationals pulled away late for a 13-3 win on Saturday, allowing them to reach .500 (23-23) for the first time since May 2024. Washington had lost 15 straight games when a win would have improved its record to the .500 mark.
This is the latest Washington has been at .500 since July 2, 2021.
“Obviously, we want our record to be even better than .500,” manager Blake Butera said. “It’s a cool accomplishment to get to .500 at this point in the season, playing the type of schedule we’ve played to this point. Hopefully, we can build off this.”
The Nationals have managed just an 8-13 home record while going 15-10 on the road.
Baltimore, meanwhile, has lost three of four. Scoring has been a problem of late as the Orioles have scored three runs or fewer in eight of their past nine games.
“We’re trying to win every game like we talk about,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Every time we show up we’re trying to win so the urgency is the same. I think it’s us coming in tomorrow, be ready to win.”
The Orioles send Brandon Young (3-1, 4.15 ERA) to the mound Sunday opposite fellow right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-3, 7.00).
Baltimore is 4-1 in Young’s starts. Last time out, he gave up two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings of a no-decision against the Yankees. He struck out five and walked three.
“BY’s command was not his best, he knows that but he did a great job of just keeping us in it,” Albernaz said.
Young, who has never faced the Nationals, has fashioned a 2.45 road ERA this season, compared to 5.40 at Camden Yards.
Mikolas has managed to shave over four runs off his ERA with improved performances over his past five appearances. Last time out, he started and went 3 1/3 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits as the Washington defeated host Cincinnati.
Mikolas is 1-0 with a 4.41 ERA in three career starts against the Orioles.
The Nationals saw a 4-0 lead shrink to 4-3 in the seventh inning Saturday before erupting for seven runs in their half of the inning.
“They cut to a 4-3 game there in the seventh, and to answer with a seven spot and get the momentum right back in our hands is just tremendous,” Butera said.
Keibert Ruiz had three hits including a homer and drove in five runs, and Jacob Young and Brady House each had two hits including a homer.
Ruiz has hit safely in four of his last five games, batting .381 (8-for-21) with four doubles, three homers, seven runs and 11 RBIs.
House entered the game in the seventh inning and became the fifth player in Nationals history to record two or more extra-base hits off the bench.
CJ Abrams finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI.
Samuel Basallo and Tyler O’Neill hit back-to-back homers for Baltimore. Basallo extended his hitting streak to nine games, raising his batting average from .234 to .278 during that time.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Natus Vincere, GamerLegion advance to IEM Atlanta grand final
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. Natus Vincere and GamerLegion advanced to the grand final of the Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta event Saturday with semifinal victories.
Natus Vincere swept BetBoom Team 2-0, while GamerLegion survived with a 2-1 triumph over Legacy. They’ll play in Sunday’s grand final after the semifinal losers face off in a third-place match.
The $300,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening round. The top six teams reached the single-elimination playoffs.
All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final. The winning side will receive $125,000.
Natus Vincere completed the sweep with a 13-8 victory on Triumph followed by a 13-6 win on Nuke.
Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy of Ukraine led Natus Vincere in kills (33) and had the fewest deaths (19), but all five team members had 28-plus kills. Kirill “Magnojez” Rodnov led the all-Russian BetBoom Team with 26 kills and 11 assists.
GamerLegion opened with a 13-9 win on Ancient before Legacy bounced back with a 13-3 beatdown on Mirage. GamerLegion responded to close out the match with a 13-6 triumph on Inferno.
Sweden’s Fredrik “REZ” Sterner led GamerLegion with 40 kills, 19 of which came in the deciding third game. Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer led the all-Brazilian Legacy squad with a match-high 49 kills.
Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta prize pool
1. $125,000
2. $50,000
3. $30,000
4. $20,000
5-6. $12,500 — Team Vitality, paiN Gaming
7-8. $7,000 — B8, Astralis
9-12. $5,000 — FUT Esports, FaZe Clan, SINNERS Esports, Team Liquid
13-16. $4,000 — BC.Game Esports, NRG, Passion UA, M80
–Field Level Media
Sports
Shopify Rebellion earns LCS Spring playoff spot with Disguised defeat
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Cloud9 closed out an undefeated regular season while Shopify Rebellion clinched a playoff spot with a win on Sunday at the LCS Spring event in Los Angeles.
Cloud9 improved to 7-0 with a sweep of Team Liquid, while Shopify Rebellion swept Disguised, which was in the final playoff spot but will now finish in seventh place and fail to advance.
Eight teams will compete in best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event, which will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Cloud9 opened with a 38-minute win on blue and finished off the sweep with a 34-minute defeat of Team Liquid on blue.
Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen of Denmark had a 10-3-19 kill-death-assist ratio for Cloud9, supplemented by Robert “Blaber” Huang’s 10-5-23 K-D-A ratio. Argentina’s Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas led Team Liquid, which will be either the third or fourth seed depending on Sunday’s LYON result, with a 6-9-9 K-D-A ratio.
Shopify’s sweep came on 30- and 37-minute triumphs on blue. Juan “Contractz” Garcia led Shopify Rebellion’s victory with a 20-4-17 K-D-A ratio. South Korea’s Oh “Callme” Ji-hoon led Disguised with a 8-6-10 K-D-A.
The seven-week regular season concludes Sunday with FlyQuest taking on LYON and winless Dignitas facing Sentinels.
Regular-season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)
1. Cloud9, 7-0, 14-4
2. LYON, 5-1, 11-4
3. Team Liquid, 5-2, 11-7
4. FlyQuest, 3-3, 9-7
5. Sentinels, 2-4, 7-9
6. Shopify Rebellion, 2-5, 5-10
7. Disguised, 2-5, 4-11
8. Dignitas, 0-6, 3-12
–Field Level Media
Sports
Unbeaten Team Falcons take top spot in Group A
Team Falcons downed Team Spirit 2-1 on Saturday in a battle for first place in Group A at the DreamLeague Season 29 event.
Now the only unbeaten team, Team Falcons is 6-0 going into the final day of the group stage as Team Spirit fell to 5-1.
Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak of Russia led Team Falcons with a 27-14-46 kill-death-assist ratio. Denis “Larl” Sigitov of Russia paced Team Spirit with a 27-12-36 K-D-A.
GamerLegion (1-5) notched their first win in Group A by downing Virtus.pro 2-1.
In Group B, Natus Vincere and PARIVISION are atop the standings at 5-1. PARIVISION went 1-1 on Saturday, sweeping Nigma Galaxy 2-0 and falling to PlayTime 2-1. Natus Vincere went 2-0 on the day, sweeping PlayTime and edging Tundra Esports 2-1.
Artem “Niku” Bachkur led Natus Vincere in the sweep of PlayTime with a 21-3-32 K-D-A ratio, while teammate and fellow Ukrainian Taras “gotthejuice” Linnikov contributed a 17-8-29 K-D-A in the win over Tundra Esports.
The $1 million Dota 2 event is beginning with the 16 teams divided into two groups for round-robin play. The top four teams in each group earn spots in the upper bracket for the double-elimination playoffs, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams will start the playoffs in the lower bracket.
All matches through the event are best-of-three until the final on May 24, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $250,000 in player prize money, a club bonus of $40,000 and a minimum of 6,000 ESL Pro Tour points.
On Saturday in Group A, Team Spirit opened with a win in 43 minutes on green before Team Falcons rallied with victories in 65 minutes on green and 45 minutes on red.
Team Liquid swept ex-HEROIC in 44 minutes on red and 24 minutes on green.
Aurora Gaming opened with a 44-minute win on green before Vici Gaming drew even with a 32-minute victory on green. Aurora closed it out with a marathon 69-minute win on red.
GamerLegion bounced back from an opening loss in 41 minutes to Virtus.pro, which was on red, to win in 28 minutes and 35 minutes, both on red.
In Group B, Tundra Esports started with a 51-minute win on green before BetBoom Team drew level with a 37-minute win on green. Tundra had green for the third map and won in 49 minutes to take the match.
PARIVISION swept Nigma Galaxy in 31 minutes on red and 35 minutes on green.
Natus Vincere dispatched PlayTime 2-0, winning in 31 minutes on red and 43 minutes on green.
Xtreme Gaming swept REKONIX in 36 minutes on green and 33 minutes on red.
BetBoom Team followed suit against Xtreme Gaming, winning in 70 minutes on green and 36 minutes on red.
Natus Vincere outbattled Tundra Esports 2-1. Natus Vincere opened with a 44-minute victory on green, then Tundra won in 43 minutes on green. Natus Vincere took the match with a 53-minute win on red.
PlayTime opened with a 50-minute win on red in taking down PARIVISION 2-1. After PARIVISION responded with a 30-minute victory on red, PlayTime won in 41-minutes on green.
Nigma Galaxy swept REKONIX, winning in 45 minutes on red and 42 minutes on green.
The Sunday schedule:
Group A
–Team Spirit vs. ex-HEROIC
–Team Falcons vs. GamerLegion
–Team Liquid vs. Vici Gaming
–AuroraGaming vs. Virtus.pro
Group B
–Xtreme Gaming vs. Natus Vincere
–BetBoom Team vs. Nigma Galaxy
–Tundra Esports vs. PlayTime
–PARIVISION vs. REKONIX
DreamLeague Season 29 group standings, with match record and map record
Group A
1. Team Falcons, 6-0, 12-2
2. Team Spirit, 5-1, 11-3
3. Team Liquid, 5-2, 9-5
4. Aurora Gaming, 3-3, 7-7
T5. Vici Gaming, 2-4, 5-8
T5. Virtus.pro, 2-4, 6-8
7. ex-HEROIC, 1-5, 2-10
8. GamerLegion, 1-5, 2-11
Group B
T1. Natus Vincere, 5-1, 10-4
T1. PARIVISION, 5-1, 11-5
T3. BetBoom Team, 3-3, 8-7
T3. PlayTime, 3-3, 7-7
T3. Xtreme Gaming, 3-3, 7-6
T6. Nigma Galaxy, 2-4, 5-8
T6. Tundra Esports, 2-4, 6-10
8. REKONIX, 1-5, 3-10
DreamLeague Season 29 prize pool, with player prize money, club bonus money and base ESL Pro Tour points
1. $250,000, $40,000, 6,000 points
2. $100,000, $30,000, 5,000 points
3. $80,000, $25,000, 4,000 points
4. $60,000, $20,000, 3,200 points
5-6. $40,000, $15,000, 2,200 points
7-8. $27,500, $12,500, 1,000 points
9-12. $20,000, $10,000, 375 points
13-14. $12,500, $10,000, 140 points
15-16. $10,000, $10,000, 60 points
–Field Level Media
Natus Vincere, GamerLegion advance to IEM Atlanta grand final
Shopify Rebellion earns LCS Spring playoff spot with Disguised defeat
