Nationals, It’s Been Real. But Until You Show You Care, I’m Taking A Break…

I think I’m about to take a break from being a fan of the Washington Nationals.

I used to be rabid about them, never missing a game. In the beginning I knew it was going to be a long haul before they got good, still tuning in and attending games while the team lost over 100 games in 2008 and 2009. That patience was rewarded in 2011 when they came close to breaking even at 80-81, then for the next eight years they had winning records, culminating in a World Series Championship in 2019.

That 2019 season was so much fun, as I spent a week at spring training before watching every game, buying a lot of tickets and merchandise, and totally enjoying that World Series victory over Houston.

But now, it’s ancient history. The team has had a losing record for five straight years while telling us after blowing up the team in 2020 that we had to be patient for a few years while things were rebuilt. Five years of patience and rebuilding has yielded another 71-91 record, the same record as the previous losing season (the two years before that they lost 107 and 97 games). The only difference was while the team finished dead last in its division for four straight years, the Miami Marlins figured out a way to lose 100 games this season, meaning they out-inepted the Nationals to finish last, making Washington the fourth-place team.

By comparison, the team was last in its division the first year it came here in 2005 but was 81-81. The second year in Washington, they finished in last place, and were 71-91, the same as the Nationals the last TWO seasons. You can’t really compare it to 2020 since it was shortened by the pandemic, but in the last four seasons, that 71-91 record in the second year here would tie for the best record over those four seasons.

That’s not progress or rebuilding. That’s not trying.

Ownership has not invested any money in big-name players, pointing to them having to wait until big-dollar signings of the past have run their course. Despite finishing last all these years and accumulating a 288-420 record, they’ve kept the same manager all five seasons, something you rarely if ever see in pro sports.

Yeah, he’s a nice guy. But as the old saying goes, You. Play. To. Win. The. Game.

He hasn’t.

If you look on social media, it’s amazing to me the hardcore seamheads who have no problem with this. When the season ended with another dreadful record Sunday, you could see several people talk about how bright the future is and how they can’t wait until next season. I get that if the rebuild took a year or two. But five years?

That’s a strategy by management to keep what they can and hope customers keep spending.

I’ll admit this season I still tried to consistently watch, but they went from the primary source of my attention to something playing in the background when nothing else is on. There were even times that given the choice, I watched Caitlin Clark and the WNBA instead of my hometown major league baseball team, something that 5 years ago I could ever envision happening.

It’s not lost on me that in the past year, the Washington professional football team changed ownership, shook up the organization, brought in new players and coaches and is now 3-1 after only 4 games. They are the talk of the NFL because they care about winning NOW. They don’t tell us about how much money they spent 5 years ago and everyone will just have to wait until those decisions are off the books before they can invest in the team. They know pro sports attention spans are short and are not going to let them drift off another day to become Kansas City Chiefs fans after too many years of losing.

It’s just about the opposite of what the Nationals have been doing.

I would love to get excited about the Nationals again, as that decade of winning was a lot of fun. But to think someone cares about you as a fan while just letting things go year after year with no improvement is the definition of taking advantage of your loyalty. Keep spending your money on us, they say, and we’ll get better one day.

Well, I’m tired of waiting for that one day that doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon.

I’m taking a break.

For how long is pretty simple. When the time comes that they do start spending money and start showing that they care about the team and the fans…

Then so will I.