After trading Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Yan Gomes, and Josh Harrison last year, and adding several other losses from recent offseasons, we all knew the Washington Nationals we going to be very, very bad.
It doesn’t matter that they have Juan Soto: baseball is not basketball, when having a difference-maker and a few replacement-level players can get you far in the postseason.
Considering Patrick Corbin hasn’t been good in a while and Stephen Strasburg has spent a lot of time in the trainer’s room, the Nationals’ 30-59 record is entirely unsurprising.
In fact, it’s the worst in MLB, tied with the Oakland Athletics.
Jesse Dougherty, the Nats’ beat reporter for the Washington Post, summed up the season in a painful tweet.
And the Nationals lose 6-4. https://t.co/RZfvsI6Cy1
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) July 13, 2022
In five trips to the plate, opposing pitchers could only get Soto out once.
The rest of his at-bats resulted in positive outcomes for his team.
The Nationals Have Failed To Support Soto All Year Long
It’s too bad that A) his lineup mates couldn’t do just about anything; and B) Nats’ pitchers were unable to hold opposing hitters off the scoreboard.
It has been the Nats’ problem all season long: Soto can’t do it all by himself.
That can partially explain why he has had a somewhat down year.
He is hitting .243/.398/.473 with 17 homers: good, but not MVP-level like we are used to seeing from him.
Only Josh Bell has performed at a similar level.
The rest of the offense has failed to contribute consistently.
As a result, the Nationals are hard to watch.
Soto may be thinking it twice before committing to the franchise on a long-term deal, and it’s hard to blame him.
NEXT: Juan Soto Has An Awesome Home Run Derby Goal