District on Deck » Aaron Keller http://districtondeck.com A Washington Nationals Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:19:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Nationals’ All-Time Greats http://districtondeck.com/2011/11/23/nationals-all-time-greats/ http://districtondeck.com/2011/11/23/nationals-all-time-greats/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:00:32 +0000 Aaron Keller http://districtondeck.com/?p=2614 When putting together a list of names to be considered for the all-time Washington Nationals team, one may have to swallow their pride a bit and realize that the quality of names being considered will not be on par with some of the teams that have had 50 years to a century of tradition.  You [...]

Nationals’ All-Time Greats - District on Deck - District on Deck - A Washington Nationals Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

]]> When putting together a list of names to be considered for the all-time Washington Nationals team, one may have to swallow their pride a bit and realize that the quality of names being considered will not be on par with some of the teams that have had 50 years to a century of tradition.  You may have to take into account fan-favorites or one-hit wonders that would be overlooked on other clubs all-time teams due to their storied pasts.  With that being said, I’m going to do my best to put together a position-by-position Washington Nationals all-time roster.  Here goes nothing:

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]]> http://districtondeck.com/2011/11/23/nationals-all-time-greats/feed/ 0 How Close Are the Nats to Contention? Just Ask the 2010 D’backs! http://districtondeck.com/2011/11/03/how-close-are-the-nats-to-contention-just-ask-the-2010-dbacks/ http://districtondeck.com/2011/11/03/how-close-are-the-nats-to-contention-just-ask-the-2010-dbacks/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:46 +0000 Aaron Keller http://districtondeck.com/?p=2457 Nationals fans, the time is finally here.  Coming off an 80-win season, General Manager Mike Rizzo has  not been shy about how close he thinks this team is to contention.  Yet many think the next jump, from 80 to 90 wins, is the hardest to accomplish.  For some of us numbers folks, it would be [...]

How Close Are the Nats to Contention? Just Ask the 2010 D’backs! - District on Deck - District on Deck - A Washington Nationals Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

]]> Nationals fans, the time is finally here.  Coming off an 80-win season, General Manager Mike Rizzo has  not been shy about how close he thinks this team is to contention.  Yet many think the next jump, from 80 to 90 wins, is the hardest to accomplish.  For some of us numbers folks, it would be nice to see how a team of similar build to the 2011 Nats has made the jump from pretenders to contenders.

I’m going to offer the comparison of the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks, a team that mirrored the Nats’ style last year and went on to run away with their division this year.  This is by no means to say that the two teams were identical or that the Diamondbacks are the only blueprint for success.  Plenty of factors are random, such as the strength of the division a team plays in.

However, it is difficult to overlook how alike the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks were to the 2011 Washington Nationals.  First the coincidences: each club began the year with Adam LaRoche as their everyday first basemen, and both underwent managerial switches late in the season’s first half.  Neither of these two occurrences really played a role in the similar styles of play, but it does add to the mystique of these two teams.

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