After a series of trades, moves in free agency, and roster restructuring the Nationals found themselves at the bottom of the NL East.
By Charles Cleveland
The Nationals 2021 season was mediocre at best, and an utter failure depending on who you ask. After going 65 and 97 (wins and losses) and coming last in their division, the NL East, the fanbase has started asking questions like “how did we go from winning the World Series, to going 16 wins under 500, 65 and 97, just a mere two seasons later?”
Well, to start off, the 2020 season had been our first losing season since 2011, even though we had just won the World Series the season before. Seasonal momentum is very important for sports teams, and especially for the Nats. Teams that have done well in the season before tend to play around the same level of success. Our failure in 2020 right after coming off of a world series can be partially attributed to the shortened season, resigning pitcher Steven Strasburg instead of 3rd baseman Anthony Rendon, losing Gerardo Parra, and trades in the 2021 season.
Anyone that follows the Nationals knows that the team tends to do well later in the season after playing for a few months and getting in the rhythm. In 2019, we started off the season horribly, but got our act together in August and won the wildcard, which propelled us to win the World Series. Due to the shortened season of 2020, the Nationals did not have that first few months of the season, and suffered because of that. For reference, the average MLB team plays 162 games over six months between the beginning of March and end of September. However, the 2020 season was 60 games over the course of about two months between July 23rd and September 29th, with the postseason going until October 27th. The Nationals could not handle losing the extra 100 games, and could not get in a good rhythm to go to the postseason. Second, instead of resigning our third baseman Anthony Rendon, who had finished third in NL mvp voting, along with hitting 34 home runs, leading Major League Baseball in runs batted in (RBIs), we signed pitcher Steven Strasburg, who had finished he season with 18 wins, 6 losses, and 251 strike outs, and went 5-0 in the postseason with 47 strike outs. Both phenomenal players, but a lot of fans thought that we should have signed Rendon because he would have been an everyday player compared to Strasburg’s six to seven days betweens appearances. Also, Strasburg has the issue of getting injured all too often. In fact he spent most of the 2021 season injured, and in baseball, bad luck is all too real for teams and fans, and Steven Strasgburg has a lot of it. He played two games in 2020, after starting the season on the IL (injured list) and returning to the IL only five days and two games after his return. In 2021, he made two starts in the preseason before going on the IL with inflation in his right shoulder. When he came back, he made three starts before going back on the IL on June 2nd with a neck strain. Later in July, it came out that he would have to get surgery and would be out for the rest of the season. While he may be a good pitcher, the Nats just aren’t getting their money’s worth. Rendon in 2020 batted .286 with 9 home runs and 31 RBIs. Not the best record, but 52 games is better than 2 games. In 2021 he was actually injured for most of the season, but was still able to play in 58 games, sadly only batting .240. “Fans seemed to direct their ire not at the player but at the Nationals themselves, blaming them for not making the star third baseman a better offer” said sport writer Mark Zuckerman.
Third was the loss of Gerardo Parra to the Yomiuri Giants. About two months into the 2019 season, on May 9th, we signed Parra to a one year major league deal. He was and still is an average and sometimes below average player, but the impact he had one the team and the fans is undeniable. Sometime in the middle of the season, his children convinced him to change his walk up song to “Baby Shark,” a children’s song popularized by South Korean education brand Pink Fong. This had an immediate impact on the fans, as fans started chanting the song, wearing shark costumes to games, and annoying the life out of the opposing team and fans. Personally, I have heard adult men on the D.C. metro after a game, complain about Nationals fans chanting this song on multiple occasions. It was also said by his teammates that he helped bring up the spirit in the locker room and on the field, evident by Parra and teammate, friend, and pitcher Anibal Sanchez wearing colored sunglasses and holding Baby Shark plushies in the dugout. When asked where he and Sanchez got the sunglasses, he answered “I can’t say, it’s special information.” In truth, Parra and Sanchez got the glasses from a Bubbly Sparkling Water table in Detroit for free. “They helped change the culture in this clubhouse. May was tough for us, and they’ve helped us kind of walk that fine line of playing loose, having fun, taking the field with a smile on your face but also playing hard and staying focused. The second half of the season has been a lot of fun.” said relief pitcher Sean Doolittle. In 2020, he signed a deal with the Yomiuri Giants, a Japanese baseball team, and left the Nats. In 2020, it was easy to tell that the team spirit suffered without him, but in 2021 he signed another deal with the Nationals and will hopefully be with the team for a little longer.
Finally, the trades in the 2021 season that caused the end of our season to be absolutely terrible. According to MLB, 2021 saw some very weird trades, including ten allstars, three of which were from the Nationals. The three allstars we traded out of the four we had were pitcher Max Scherzer, shortstop Trea Turner, and outfielder Kyle Schwarber, with our fourth allstar being outfielder Juan Soto who we did not trade. Along with trading three of our allstars, we also traded pitchers Brad Hand, Jon Lester, Daniel Hudson, catcher Yan Gomes, and second baseman Josh Harrison. Losing all these players not only hurt the team’s playing, Scherzer being one of the top pitchers in the league, Turner being the fastest person in the league, and Gomes being an all star catcher, but also the team’s morale, with longtime Nationals Turner and Scherzer leaving to play in LA for the Dodgers. Over all we did not have a good July 30th
Looking into the 2022 season, many fans are not hopeful about the team, as many players have been traded or left since the 2019 season. But I think it is important for all fellow Nationals fans to remember that it’s the team we love, and even though we love the old players too, we should be welcoming of our new players and invite them to our amazing city with open arms. And at the end of the day, no matter how many wins and losses, we at least still have a baseball team to cheer for. Sorry about that Dallas.