Nationals getting lost in World Series conversation
The strange journey of the 2016 Washington Nationals, particularly the team’s final few weeks, seemed to reach its logical, absurd conclusion in a single moment during the final Saturday afternoon of the regular season.
Bryce Harper, franchise icon, stood at the plate. He’d returned from a thumb injury only the night before, striking out four times, and his numbers appeared to tell a story of a shoulder injury he and the team have taken some pains to deny.
Michael Taylor, starting in the outfield because Jayson Werth’s back was keeping him out of it, attempted to steal second base. He slid headfirst into the bag ... and injured his thumb in the process.
The usual Washington talk followed — MRI, potential time missed, replacements argued.
It’s all too familiar for these Nationals as they attempt to assuage the pain generations of Washingtonians have felt of Octobers free of a World Series title for nearly a century.
That seems to be the theme of this October, really, a group of fans and their chronologically avenging rallying cries. There’s the Chicago Cubs and 1908, the Cleveland Indians and 1948. The good old Texas Rangers have no year to even cling to, instead living through the never-won curse of David Clyde.
Even some of the less-discussed droughts are in danger this October — the Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t won since Kirk Gibson in 1988 (more on that on the following pages), the Baltimore Orioles since 1983.
Would you have thought, just a few years ago, the most recent champions in the playoff mix would be the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox?
And somehow, as we evaluate and compare the tales of woe from various metropolitan areas, Washington gets lost. Maybe it’s because all the futility gets diffused through different team prisms — the would-be Minnesota Twins didn’t even reach the World Series after 1933 until leaving for the upper Midwest. The Rangers spent a decade of also-random in D.C. before moving to the Southwest. And the Nationals themselves are merely continuing a proud — but championship-less tradition — started by Rusty Staub, Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and the Montreal Expos.
But 2016 saw the Nationals, once again, continue a pretty strong even-year tradition of their own. In 2012, Washington won 98 games. In 2014, they won 96. In 2016, despite all the late injuries, the Nationals won 95.
The supposed even-year magicians, the Giants, in those three campaigns? 94, 88, 87.
But then, there are those San Francisco World Series trophies, with one after a 92-win campaign in 2010 to spare. More than just a great equalizer, the stories of how long-suffering franchises are regarded disproportionately re- sult from a handful of chilled October games rather than the significant statistical data we get from the first 162.
And so we are left with the legacy of the Nationals, a team judged on a few games lost by players no longer with the team — and eager to overcome it all. It would set off the kind of celebration those who spent decades clamoring for the sport to return to the nation’s capital imagined, an all-too-necessary emotional tonic for a town that has felt like ground zero for the unpleasant tenor of the country this year.
And in the face of all that has come ... the injuries.
There’s Stephen Strasburg, walking creator of sports radio arguments seven years running, who fell victim to an elbow injury and will miss the National League Division Series at least, if not more.
There’s Daniel Murphy, whose pursuit of the batting title, if not NL MVP, came to an abrupt halt a few weeks ago because of a glute muscle strain and is expected, but not guaranteed, to make his return for the NLDS.
And perhaps most unexpected is Wilson Ramos, who’d overcome so many maladies to take his place as the premier catcher in the NL, left sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his knee after a collision just weeks from potential postseason glory and an enormous free agency payday.
This September plague, though, has not left the Nationals bereft of talent. No one can, or should, rule them out when looking at which team finally will turn its city’s roads from thoroughfares into parade grounds.
No, there’s no Ramos, but should Murphy return, the Nationals aren’t just centering their attack around a man who hit .347, but one whose combination of power and contact ( just 57 strikeouts all season) left pitchers with few options they’d rather face less. If we are still insisting on imbuing October with disproportionate meaning, his 2015 postseason with the New York Mets cannot be ignored — .328 batting average, .391 on-base percentage, .724 slugging percentage, with virtually every one of his seven homers coming off an ace and at a critical moment. But Murphy has been this level of player for about 18 months now, and there’s nothing magical about it.
Between Murphy and Anthony Rendon, outfielder Jayson Werth and the diminished-but-notdiscarded Harper — plus sound bench players including Ramos understudy Jose Lobaton — don’t expect the Nationals to find themselves short of runs in October.
And they have plenty of arms to preserve leads. They look a lot like a prototype postseason team — aces in Max Scherzer and Tanner Roark, the former an answer to why teams pay north of $200 million for elite starters on long-term deals, the latter essentially the pitching version of Murphy.
They appear to have the right closer at last in Mark Melancon, backed up by underrated Shawn Kelley and Blake Treinen. Consider Kelley’s peripherals: 58 innings, 11 walks, 80 strikeouts. Then consider how many relievers you’d rather entrust with key outs, then imagine Kelley is merely the lead-in to Melancon (1.82 ERA in D.C.).
But my pick for the breakout star with this Nationals team, the one everyone will be talking about this month, is rookie Trea Turner. Here’s what Turner has done while playing second base, shortstop and center field: .342/.370/ .567 slash line, 13 homers, 33 steals in 39 attempts. It’s basically half of Rickey Henderson’s 1990 American League MVP year (.325/.439/.577, 28 home runs, 65 steals in 75 attempts).
Turner dominated more as summer faded, with the customary problems rookies face when the league adjusts to them never an issue.
Friday night at Nationals Park, he’ll likely be the first batter in Washington’s latest effort to end the misery of its fans. Despite all the injuries and recent heartache, it’s hard to imagine who in the stands won’t like their chances.