Werth ends his Nats career with a K in the 9th. Photo via getty images
It was a tough watch, to stay up til nearly 1am watching the inevitable. And it seemed inevitable to watch this team fritter away another NLDS clinching win through another wild outing from Gio Gonzalez to a rather inexplicable “failed starter giving relief innings attempt” from Max Scherzer. That was the shocking part to me honestly; how does he give up 4 runs?
Just like in 2012 and in 2016, reliable bullpen guys leaked runs to either cut into hard-earned leads or to drip drip and put the game just slightly out of reach in the end.
The Nats drop a series to Chicago where they hit better (both teams were god-awful at the plate but the Nats only slightly more so), where their team ERA was a full point better than Chicagos, and where they outscored the Cubs 20-17 over five games. Just as in 2016 when the Nats similarly outscored the Dodgers but dropped the series 3-2.
It was tough watching Ryan Zimmerman flail at a very tough slider from Wade Davis to end the 7th with runners in scoring position. It was ridiculous to watch the umpires call Jose Lobaton out despite zero “conclusive evidence” that showed that the tag stayed on, killing a rally that looked like it was about to turn the tide of the game. And it was pretty tough watching both Werth and Harper get punched out by the same uber-reliever Davis to end the game. All in all, the Nationals batters left an astounding NINETEEN runners on base in this game. Nineteen. I guess they left their “clutch” pants at home.
Baseball Playoffs rarely distill down the “right” champion. In fact, the team that had the best regular season record has subsequently won the World Series just five times since 1990 (the 1998 Yankees super team, the dominant 2007 Boston team, the 2009 A-Rod Yankees team, again with the 2013 Boston team and last year’s Chicago Cubs). The other 22 champions during that time were not the best teams in their leagues and in some cases weren’t even the best teams in their divisions. Miami famously has two WS wins but zero divisional titles in their history, which seems kind of ridiculous. I’m not saying the Nats were necessarily “better” than the Cubs … they were separated by 4 wins over 162 games, but they deserved to win this series.
End of the line for Werth most likely, also for a handful of bit players, but the core of this team gets another shot at it next year.
Shout out to Michael A. Taylor, who may have shared series MVP honors with Strasburg for his exploits in this series (he drove in 8 of the 20 runs we scored in five games). Between his renaissance this season at the plate and his exploits this series, it has me rethinking what to do with him for next season: I was pro-trade of Taylor and going with FA/Eaton/Harper outfield … but now i’m thinking you put some combination of Eaton/Taylor/Harper in that OF and save your cash for a 5th starter and/or more bullpen help. But we’ll get into off-season moves later on in depth.
As for the rest of the offense, tts telling that the only other guys on this team who drove in runs were the “key men” in the lineup: Harper, Rendon, Murphy, Zimmerman. So our key guys struggled at the plate but still drove in the runs to keep it close. Turner finishes off a disappointing season with a disappointing series … lets hope an off-season of rest gets him back to his late 2015 days for next year.
One last series stat. Strasburg’s line: 14 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks, 22 punch-outs, a 0.00 ERA … and a 1-1 record. He took a loss for his efforts in game 1. Bully for him for taking his game 4 start and shoving it down every pundit’s throat who questioned him. He really turned the narrative on his career with this performance … do you believe there’s still people out there who don’t think he’s an “Ace” in this league? Maybe that nonsense will end, given his dominance down the stretch and in this series.
Next up for me; i’ll do playoff predictions I guess, because i like looking at pitching match-ups and guessing who might win. Quick predictions: Houston beats over-their-depth Yankees, LA crushes the exhausted Cubs, and LA fulfils their destiny by holding the Houston bats at bay in the WS. But we’ll dig deeper into it later.
See you 2016. Another playoff opportunity lost for this team.