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Nationals ordered to quit it with the drones

The Nationals thought it would be okay to go ahead and tempt fate by meddling in technological powers they couldn't comprehend at training camp. Their drone quickly became the "adopted puppy" of their preseason, but instead of being adopted by one of the owners, the Nationals' drone is being shut down.

By the U.S. government.

Yes, it seems that Washington D.C., while a great place to play baseball, isn't receptive to the idea of its team buzzing a drone around Florida, getting footage of players and stadiums and mayne accidentally uncovering a government conspiracy or two. Who knows what shifty things are going on the Space Coast, but whatever they are, the Nationals are no longer going to inadvertently discover them.

"'No, we didn't get it cleared, but we don't get our pop flies cleared either and those go higher than this thing did,' a team official said when contacted by The Associated Press. The drone flights ceased the next day. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be named."

Chances are this "team official" is off the grid, if he/she has any sense. Their days of publicly addressing things on the Nationals' behalf are long done, as they begin the daunting life of avoiding all tracking by their nation's government while on the lam with their beloved drone who just wanted to record some aerial visuals for the jumbotron.

Fare thee well, little drone.