What happened to the Washington Nationals last season wasn’t so much a market correction as it was the baseball gods laughing and slapping them with a 2-by-4 with the word, “Entitlement” on it.
They won 98 games in 2012, when consecutive seasons of 102, 103 and 93 losses hadn’t yet faded from memory. They became the “it” team overnight. The baseball world, and probably a few players in their clubhouse, viewed the Nationals as relative super heroes.
Then came the disturbing realization that they actually had to play games. Oh, these pesky inconveniences. They had one winning month in the first four. They were 6-13 against the Braves. By the middle of August, they still were a sub-.500 team.
It was like watching the star of a Broadway production walk onto the stage for his big opening number and split his pants.
“Two years ago I think we kind of snuck up on other teams that didn’t expect anything out of us,” pitcher Stephen Strasburg said. “It’s a different game when everybody is stepping up their game to play us. It’s a different mindset. You can’t take any team lightly because they all want to beat you.”
Go figure.
We’re about to find out what that one-year reality check did for Washington. The Braves and Nationals, the two best teams in the National League East, open a three-game series Friday. Most believe the Nationals are better. They were the consensus division favorite even before the Braves’ pitching staff was hit by another epidemic of exploding ligaments.
The difference this season, Washington players maintain, is they don’t believe the hype. Or at least they’re not allowing themselves to be consumed by it.
Strasburg, who has dealt with his own unique set of meteoric expectations and injuries, said, “So many people jumped on our bandwagon after we won 98 games, I think we put too much pressure on ourselves. I know I did. I had to deal with a lot of adversity, and I learned from it, just going out there trying not to worry about trying to be perfect all the time.”
Adam LaRoche, a former Brave and an 11-year veteran of extreme highs and lows in baseball, doesn’t believe the Nationals necessarily needed to be grounded last year. But he admitted, “With the expectations, maybe we just got a little ahead of ourselves. To play as poorly as we did for three months, I think it just proves how hard it is to get in.
“Regardless of what we looked like coming out of spring, what our odds were to win the World Series, what we looked like on paper, what the numbers said, what the papers said, we all found out it was pretty meaningless if you don’t go out there and get it done.”
What does he believe now?
“With this group of guys and as much talent as we have, I don’t think we can repeat the first half that we had last year. Some bad ball. Some bad luck. Some injuries. It was just a combination of everything that could go wrong.”
It took a while, but Washington eventually figured it out last season. After losing to the Chicago Cubs 11-1 on Aug. 19, leaving them 60-64 and a season-high 16 games behind the Braves, they were 24-12 the rest of the season (including a series win over the Braves).
There appears to have been some carry-over. The Nationals opened the season with a three-game sweep of the New York Mets on the road. Composite score of the three games: 22-10. They easily won Thursday 8-2, despite scratching pitcher Jordan Zimmermann (flu) and starting Tanner Roark (who was scheduled to pitch the series opener against the Braves). They’re hitting .304 with five homers and eight doubles in three games.
They’ve done this despite losing some bodies to injuries (as the Braves laugh at that sentence). Starting pitcher Doug Fister (right lat muscle) is gone for a month, catcher Wilson Ramos (fractured hand) for four to six weeks and relievers Erik Davis (Tommy John surgery) and Ross Ohlendorf (lumbar strain) for the season.
Still, no hiccups.
“If we learned anything last year, it’s that we have to come out of the gates ready to go,” center fielder Denard Span said.
Doing everything possible in spring training to ensure that was the focus of manager Matt Williams, who replaced the retiring Davey Johnson. He said players worked on “everything” in spring training, “whether it was bunt plays, backside runners, defensive adjustments or holding base runners. So if it happens in Game 1 or Game 5 or Game 42, we’re prepared for it.
“These guys are wonderful players, and they have a lot of ability. Not too long ago they won more games than anybody in baseball. So we have to respect that. But we also have to be prepared.”
The Braves and Nationals have developed into one of baseball’s better rivalries in the past two years. Neither team appears to be in a position to dominate the other, even if Washington is the consensus favorite. The Nationals learned something about the meaning of preseason odds last season.
Asked if the Nationals still feel like the hunted, Span said, “To me, the target is on their backs. They’re the defending National League East champions. They won it. We didn’t win anything. We don’t deserve to be that team that everybody is hunting for.”
There also might be a little more comfort in viewing things that way.
