Tough to Take: Washington Nationals Fall Short for 2016

A season with so much promise and high expectations has once again been cut short here in Washington, D.C.

The Washington Nationals, a favorite over the Los Angeles Dodgers, were unable to top the resilient Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Thursday night. The game itself was one of the most exciting games this city has seen in a long time.

As a Boston Red Sox fan, I understand what it is like to have the high expectations fall short on numerous occasions. Similar to the Nationals, the Red Sox were handed their early exit this week by the Cleveland Indians, a team nobody expected to win. However, this is how sports works. The underdog prevails, and the “overdog” is left stunned, as it scrambles to see where it went wrong. In Washington, this is all too common for the Nationals.

The history of going into elimination games for the Nationals have often featured late inning heroics from the other dugout in the form of pitching or in hitting, but this series hurts particularly worse.

A team that is known for its failure in the post season has tried in every way to break the stigma, going after a decorated coach in Dusty Baker and bringing in exciting and flashy rookies and superstars to try and combat their elusive clinching win.

With their third season with a National League East Championship in five years, the Nationals expectations were high going into October against a very tricky and strategic Dodgers club that refuses to die.

The Dodgers came into the series with fresh arms, but quickly exhausted their entire staff by going to the bullpen 25 times in five games. The Nationals, who had a tough time putting bat to ball in crucial moments, failed to capitalize on the exhaustion of the Dodgers when it meant the most. Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Danny Espinosa all struggled to produce as they combined for 20 strikeouts in the series.

Game 5, the deciding game in the series, was one that was over managed from the start by manager Dusty Baker.

An early hook for starting pitcher Max Scherzer opened the gates for a “bullpen chicken,” tempting the other team to go to their closing pitcher much earlier than usual and hoping he could exceed his pitch count. Unfortunately, the early exit led to numerous substitutions that pulled veteran players at crucial moments to pin it all on role players who are not accustomed to the situation.

When it all fell on Wilmer Difo, Clayton Kershaw had entered — and the chance to surmount a comeback was almost nonexistent. The Nationals swing and missed to end the game, and with it, so did their hope to bring a championship back to the nation’s capital.

An otherwise very exciting game, the four and-a-half hour contest featured a record 41 players in the game.

Kershaw, who had the save for the Dodgers, was coming off of one day’s rest from a 110-pitch outing. Julio Urias, who is 20 years and 62 days old, got the winning decision in the game.

It was a game of crazy numbers. After the game, Scherzer said, “It was probably the craziest, if not the craziest, game I’ve ever been a part of in my career, in my life.”

With three major award candidates on their active roster (Daniel Murphy, NL MVP; Max Scherzer, NL Cy Young; Trea Turner, NL Rookie of The Year), the Nationals may find it hard to rebound from such a fantastic season.

Nevertheless, all eyes will be on the Nationals come the spring 2017 — for yet another hunt for a championship.