Tuesday night was another example of the heartache Washington sports fans have put up with. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Washington Nationals 3-2 to take their divisional series 3 games to 1. For the Nats it was an abrupt end to a season that looked barely a week prior that it would stretch long into October.
However, with all of the disappointment, frustration and anger at yet another Washington team curling up in the clutch, the season should be taken in retrospect as a positive step forward. With a first year manager, an early rash of injuries to veterans and stars, 2014 could have very easily equaled the disappointment of 2013 where the team missed the playoffs altogether. Instead, the Nationals, for the second time in three seasons, won the NL East with the best record in the National League. In addition to that, the three straight winning seasons is a record for ANY Washington baseball team.
Over the last three years, the team has won 280 games, a total greater than any other Major League team. While that doesn’t seem like much consolation for two quick exits from the playoffs, it shows that the Nationals are going to be a team that will be a contender for, hopefully, the foreseeable future. Manager Matt Williams had this team playing great baseball at various points this season, not the least of which included a 19-win September that included a Division-winning game in Atlanta, a team that had given fits to the Nationals the previous year, as well as Jordan Zimmermann’s no-hitter on the final day of the season.
People are inevitably quick to toss criticism his way for what happened in the NLDS for among other things, not changing the starting lineups, pulling J-Zimm with only one out left to get in game 2, leaving some of their best relievers off the field in the deciding game 4. However, I’m not as quick to jump on that. For as good as Williams looked this season, people need to keep perspective over the fact that he was just a first-year manager. He went against a manager in Bruce Bochy of the Giants who has won two of the last three World Series’ and was outmatched. I attribute that to experience and if Matt gets another shot in the near future, he will be better prepared to handle those high stress situations.
As for the players, most of the core staff from the previous season is still under the Nats’ control for the foreseeable future. Hopefully a resolution of the ongoing controversy surrounding the Nationals’ television deal with MASN (thanks a lot Peter Angelos…want me to root for the O’s again? Forget it) will be done in the very near future to help the Nats unlock their payroll even further.
Next year will hopefully see jumps by both Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. Those two players helped keep the Nats afloat in the playoffs and Harper is positioning himself to take that next step to cement himself as one of the game's best players next year.
In addition, with veteran National Ryan Zimmerman’s flexibility in positioning, the Nationals will have his veteran savvy at the plate, something that was missing in these playoffs.
All in all, I would not consider this season a failure, a disappointment yes, but not a failure. Even then, the disappointment weans realizing the team they lost to, hopefully in the near future, the Nationals will be that team that everyone dreads facing in October because they have the savvy and the experience to give opponents fits.
Til then, we have to wait until next year. But the good news is that Pitchers and Catchers report in about 130 days. Before we know it, it'll baseball time again in D.C. as the chase towards Washington's first World Series since 1924 begins again.
