Quite simply, the Washington Nationals are a wretched product and today was yet another example of that. They lost their 8th straight game in a season that cannot come to an end fast enough. This might not be the worst team in Nationals history, but it is the most unlikable and frustrating group.
Yet again, the Nationals were done in by bad starting pitching and poor fundamentals. A few starts ago, Brad Lord looked like the Nationals best pitcher and a down ballot Rookie of the Year candidate. However,
as is the case for most positive Nationals related things, it has not lasted. In his last three starts, Lord’s ERA has gone from 3.26 to 4.34.
It is exhausting to see all of the Nationals players who look good for stretches just collapse. We have seen it with James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Konnor Pilkington and now Lord. Whenever the league starts making adjustments, there are no answers from Nats players and coaches.
Another upsetting thing from today’s contest came at the end of the game when Daylen Lile was thrown out trying to extend a single into a double. The Nats were down three runs, so getting into scoring position does not do much for the team. However, Lile went for it anyway and turned a rally into a certain defeat. Stuff like this is why the Nationals might lose 100 games. They are just a poorly coached, low IQ baseball team.
The pitching staff is the biggest reason why this team is so bad though. For the month, the Nationals posted a 6.31 team ERA the worst in team history. While the bullpen has been taking most of the heat this season, this one is on the rotation. The bullpen has been mostly alright. However, the starters are putting the Nats into massive holes over and over.
This is not a team that is a few minor tweaks away from getting back on track. The entire organization needs an open heart surgery because as it stands right now, things are in an awful place. I can’t remember a time as a Nats fan where things felt this hopeless. There have been worse teams, but there has never been less hope.
In 2008 and 2009, at least the team still had a newness to it that felt good. Baseball was back in the Nations Capital. Yes, the team was awful, but at least there was a team. They also got their hands on two generational prospects in back to back years for their struggles.
The other truly awful Nats team was in 2022. That team was less talented than this one, but I still had more hope than I do now. All this losing had a purpose. Short term pain for a long term gain. There were prospects coming to save the day. Well those prospects are here and the team is going nowhere fast.
Since the start of June, the Nationals are 25-53, which is the worst record in the sport. Even worse than the historically bad Rockies who are the laughing stocks of baseball. They have won fewer than 10 games in each of the last three months.
It is mind blowing how grim things have gotten. 2019 simultaneously feels like yesterday and forever ago. Things have gotten so bad so quickly for a franchise that had so much momentum heading into the 2020’s. Now it looks like we are in store for a decade of darkness.
It was just another loss to the Rays at 1:35 on a late August afternoon. However, it was yet another sign of how far this franchise has fallen. Before the season, Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez talked about how the rebuild was over. They were right, but not how they thought.
The rebuild is over and it failed. At a certain point, the pretense of a rebuild disappears. You just become a bad team and a bad organization. That is where the Nationals are right now and it is so disheartening.
