Cover of Wednesday's Washington Post sports section

Not sure WaPo handled the placement of the stories incorrectly. In some places, they'll strip something across the top that is not necessarily the centerpiece.

What was handled incorrectly ... a hammer or banner hed should have been above the centerpiece photo. Helps readers separate the Mystics' gamer/photo and the centerpiece photo. That is, of course, if you're to package those stories as such. If Mystics strips along the bottom of the page or goes inside, then ignore and proceed.

 

Have to defend Double Down's thinking here, Ragu. Some publications - many could and probably will argue too many publications - tend to believe in more than one lead story. So they'll strip a story across the top, then put the CP with the dominant art below it.

Thing is - and those closer to D.C. and/or who subscribe to WaPo would have a much better grip on this than I - I would think WaPo would have enough flexibility to opt for another layout option.

Is the desk fairly well staffed to make a quick change realistic? The game swung from hopeless to victorious for the Nats in the eighth inning. Could the section realistically be re-budgeted and the front torn up to make this a reality?

A lot of places are resorting to paint-by-numbers templates to make up for some combination of staffing shortages and lack of sports knowledge and ability to make a late call to change stuff at the last minute. While I would hope this hasn't happened given that Jeff Bezos has been willing to fund WaPo, I put nothing above question in this industry anymore.

 

Yep. I thought the Nats were celebrating that Della Donne got hurt.

 

Another problem is the ad at the bottom of the page. I think they wanted to split the WNBA and ad based on their sizes with the Nats in the middle

 

I guess not.

 

The headline can be "Two for the Blow" after they get swept by the Dodgers.

 

This is clearly the justification. Reverse the stories with the two strips on the bottom and that looks ridiculous.

Plus, as it is, both headlines are above the fold. Win-win.

 

That hammer would not be above the fold. And that's a problem, no matter what we think of the strip, ad or anything else.