Washington Nationals 2023 Season Preview
My VSiN colleague Tim Murray is a Washington Nationals fan. As the wheels fell off in 2021 and the car flew into a ravine in 2022, Tim would constantly remind himself how fun 2019 was. It truly was. The Nationals had endured Game 5 NLDS heartbreak in 2012, 2016 and 2017, only to get over that hurdle and eventually win it all during that 2019 playoff run.
Those days feel like an eternity ago. The Nationals went 26-34 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, 65-97 in 2021 and finished 55-107 in 2022. Trea Turner and Max Scherzer were traded in ‘21 and Juan Soto was traded in ‘22, effectively kickstarting what will be a long and painstaking rebuild. If this past season was any indication, maybe we all underestimated the level of pain.
Only the inaugural Montreal Expos of 1969 had more losses in franchise history. That was an expansion team that finished under .500 for a decade before going 95-65 in 1979, but missed the playoffs because only the division winners played in the LCS. The Expos actually lost three of four to the eventual World Series champion Pirates in the final week of the season that year and fell short in the division race by two games.
Anyway, 2019 is a little closer than 1979, but it might as well be the same length of time apart with the outlook for the team this season.