Washington Nationals News: Will the Nats finally live up to expectations?
By Pablo Roa
Good evening DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily. Get caught up on the latest Nats news and opinions with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web below.
In today’s Daily, the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell discusses whether the Nationals can finally live up to the sky-high expectations they brought upon themselves this season.
As Boswell notes, the Nationals are in a good position to succeed; the team is finally getting healthy, with several stars coming off the disabled list in recent weeks and more coming back very soon. The team also improved the back end of the ‘pen by acquiring closer Jonathan Papelbon from the Phillies.
But, with the future looking bright for the Nationals, can they finally play like the team we thought they would be heading into Spring Training? Only time will tell.
As we all know, the Nationals entered Spring Training with monumental expectations. The team with the best starting rotation and a lineup as deep as any in the National League was expected to breeze through the regular season, make short work of an otherwise unimpressive NL East, and storm into October with nothing but a World Series title in mind. Of course, things haven’t worked out that way.
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Injuries have hurt the Nationals badly this season, and a combination of the team’s best hitters spending a good chunk of the season on the disabled list and several players underperforming has forced the Nationals to fight for their lives all season long. The team remains in first place only because of strong pitching, the otherworldly offense of Bryce Harper and the timely contributions of backup players such as Danny Espinosa and Michael A. Taylor.
Indeed, the Nationals haven’t come close to living up to expectations this season. They remain in first place, but the Mets aren’t too far behind and winning the division doesn’t seem as guaranteed as it once did. But with Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth back from the disabled list, with the acquisition of Papelbon, with the continued success of Harper and with the lineup as complete as it has been all season long, the Nationals might finally be able to live up to their expectations.
Or, as Boswell writes in his article, they might not. It’s baseball, and as we’ve seen from the Nationals this season, anything can happen. One thing’s for certain, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Nationals down the stretch.
Also in today’s Daily, the Post’s Chelsea Janes writes an interesting piece on Papelbon and how he feels about joining the Nationals and helping the team achieve its goals down the stretch and in October.
Be sure to check out both articles below, they’re definitely worth a read. And as always, stay tuned to DoD for all your Washington Nationals needs.
Will the Nationals finally be as good as they think they are?
(Thomas Boswell, Washington Post)
Now the fun, and the fretting, really starts for the Nationals.
Finally, Washington gets to see the team that, in September and probably October, will define itself as one of the most complete, exciting and swaggering that the Nation’s Capital has ever fielded in any sport. Ready for a World Series?
Or it will go down as one of the most self-infatuated, underperforming clubs the town has known, although this pratfall list already contains a dozen Redskins and Capitals teams in the past 20 years that anointed themselves great, then did squat. Read full article here.
Jonathan Papelbon joins the Nationals: ‘I feel like it’s a new life’
(Chelsea Janes, Washington Post)
The Nationals’ new closer explored his new clubhouse Wednesday afternoon, his new Nationals T-shirt already cut off above the navel, sleeves torn off to reveal tattooed arms and torso. The lockers in the visitor’s clubhouse don’t have names on them, just numbers, and Jonathan Papelbon’s was labeled with No. 58, the number he was given as a Red Sox rookie and vowed then to make special. He had to compensate Doug Fister, who switched to No. 33 Wednesday, to wear it. He would not say how much it cost him.
Getting a Nationals jersey at all cost him $2 million, the difference between what his 2016 option with the Phillies would have paid him and what his newly agreed to deal with Washington will. In his first meeting with the media as a member of the Nationals, Papelbon said that money “made no difference.” Read full article here.