Since June, the Washington Nationals have been the worst team in baseball and there is no end in sight
At the beginning of the season, this would be an unimaginable thing to say, but the Washington Nationals look like a team poised to lose 100 games. They are on pace to lose 99 right now, but have been sinking like a stone ever since the start of June.
The team is 11-30 since the month of June began, the worst mark in all of baseball. Believe it or not, this team was 28-30 after May ended and looked like a team that could take another step towards competing. Yes, the team had flaws, but things looked like they were trending up. However, the last couple months have been a total humiliation. The players must be ashamed of their performances.
They are playing a loser brand of baseball. Between the Josh Bell base running mistakes, Nathaniel Lowe going from a Gold Glover to a bad defender, or Daylen Lile being unable to pick up a ball in the corner without bobbling it, the brand of baseball is disgusting.
Even when the Nats were winning more, they still made plenty of boneheaded mistakes and had days where they brought no energy whatsoever. Now, those days have just become the norm. The team did not have super high expectations, but they have still managed to make this one of the most disappointing seasons in Nationals history.
In the last two games I have attending in person, the Nats have just been absolutely humiliated in both. In the Red Sox game, they were down 9-0 by the 4th inning. Nobody seemed to know how to field a ground ball, especially not pitcher Mitchell Parker, who has not been able to figure out how to field his position at an adequate level.
Yesterday, the game felt over before MacKenzie Gore even got an out. While Gore has had a tremendous season, he had the worst start of his career yesterday. This series has just shown how reliant the Nats are on their 26 year old, 24 year old and 22 year old stars. If those guys are not performing, the team has next to no chance of winning.
That statement just proves how unbalanced of a roster Mike Rizzo built. He made an all-time great trade, but it is now fair to worry if he and Mark Lerner put the team in such a hole that we will never truly see the fruits of that trade. Will MacKenzie Gore or CJ Abrams ever play a playoff game in a Nationals uniform? How many amazing James Wood seasons will be wasted? These are both fair questions right now.
There have probably been worse Washington Nationals teams, but I can’t remember being so frustrated at a team. What was supposed to be a step forward season has turned into an apocalyptic nightmare. The team is as far away as ever, and it looks like the Nats might have to rebuild the rebuild.
Will the team be in the playoffs in either of MacKenzie Gore’s last two years of team control? I am starting to really doubt it. With that being the case, trading him at the deadline or offseason might end up being the best course of action.
This season ended whatever delusions Nats fans had of being close to the finish line. As much as I hate to say it, there is a real chance that the 2020’s will be known as the decade of darkness for Washington Nationals baseball.