Nats Season Ends on Good Note
DC takes two of three from Braves, completes ’23 campaign with double-digit improvement in wins.
The 2023 Washington Nationals season is in the books. Seventy-one curly W’s offset by 91 losses. Improvement. That was the main goal. Sixteen more wins over the previous season is a lot. When you lose 107 games during the prior year, however, the gain is inflated. In this sense, the “real” measure of improvement equaled about 10 games in my opinion. Definitely something to build or rebuild on.
The Nats’ overall play was visibly better and more interesting across the board. It seemed most of the Nats’ fan base appreciated the better performance amidst the heavy rebuilding process. In the end, inconsistency and sloppy play caused the Nats to lose twenty more games than they won.
In the just completed season, there were many good developments and some not-so-good for the Nats as they prepare for more in 2024.
Reasons for Optimism
- More MASN money! Last June MASN agreed to pay the Nationals up to $100 million for bilking them of fair market TV revenue over the years. Could more free agent signings be on the way as a result?
- GM Mike Rizzo and Manager Dave Martinez are returning.
- Positives at every position. Two that stand out are up-the-middle defenders SS CJ Abrams (team record 47 steals) and C Keibert Ruiz (.260/18/67).
- All-star Josiah Gray. Though he slumped immediately after the break, he regained his form in his last three starts (4 ER in 17.1 innings).
- The strides made by MacKenzie Gore as a starter. He will figure out how to deal with lefties soon enough.
- Kyle Finnegan (28 saves, 3.76 ERA) and Hunter Harvey (10 saves, 19 holds) came of age and proved their worth in the bullpen.
- The drafting of Dylan Crews. The Golden Spikes winner and power slugger will probably make a much needed impact with the Nats sometime next year.
- The Nats played above .500 in day games according to espn.com (35-32).
- Believe it or not, the Nats (.268) had a better batting average than the Atlanta Braves (.266) with runners in scoring position. Good for ninth in the NL.
- Joey Meneses (.275/13/89) first full productive season.
- Washington played .500 baseball since a July 7 loss to Texas.
- Season Plan Holder Appreciation Day. Off the field, this was one of the best events ever held by the Nats brass. On Saturday September 2nd, myself and a ticket partner obtained half of the Nats autographs. Qualifying fans in attendance were divided up evenly on the concourse hours before a late afternoon game vs Miami. Players and coaches were all smiles. Thank you, Nats.
Causes for Concern
- On the flip side, the Nats scored only one run in four “MASN Classic” games against the Baltimore Orioles.
- We still don’t have a new owner.
- The bullpen ERA was over 5.00.
- The Nats had a lowly .382 winning percentage vs. teams above .500 (that’s a 100-loss season)
- Against the 12 playoff teams, the winning percentage worsened to .328.
- Sean Doolittle and Stephen Strasburg announced their retirements. Bummer and double bummer.
- With apologies to Lane Thomas, not enough HR threats in their lineup. Gotta fix this for next year.
What about situational Nats pitching?
The overall pitching continued to frustrate the Nats and their fans. According to mlb.com and validated by the Elias Sports Bureau:
- The Nats had a league worst WHIP of 1.59 when the game was tied.
- While leading, it was 1.43. (27th place).
- When trailing: 1.46. (26th place).
- If the game was “Late and close”, the WHIP dipped to 1.64. (28th place).
Season Summary Table
| Record | 71-91 | |
|---|---|---|
| Final Rank | 5th | last in the NL East |
| Games Back | 33.0 | |
| Days in First | never | |
| Biggest Lead | never led | |
| Farthest Behind | 34 | last on Saturday, Sep 30, for days on which they played |
| Most Games over .500 | never | |
| Most Games under .500 | 21 | last on Saturday, Sep 30 |
| Longest Winning Streak | 4 | Wednesday, Aug 2 to Sunday, Aug 6 |
| Longest Losing Streak | 6 | Saturday, Jun 3 to Saturday, Jun 10 and Wednesday, Aug 30 to Tuesday, Sep 5 |
| Most Runs Allowed | 19 | Saturday, Jul 1 |
| Most Runs Scored | 13 | Wednesday, Sep 20 |
| Longest Game (innings) | 11 | Tuesday, Jun 27, Friday, Sep 1, Saturday, Sep 9 and Sunday, Sep 17 |
| Times Shutout by Opponent | 8 | |
| Times Opponent Shutout | 3 | |
| Comeback Wins | 33 | |
| Largest Comeback | 6 | |
| Blown Leads* | 41 | |
| Largest Blown Lead* | 5 | |
| Walkoff Wins | 7 | |
| Walkoff Losses | 4 |
See Jessica Camerato’s Six takeaways from the Nats’ progress in ’23
My Washington Player Awards
- Team MVP: Lane Thomas (28 HR, 8 in the first inning). 2nd among all MLB outfielders with 18 assists.
- Team Cy Young: Hunter Harvey. In addition to his saves and holds noted above he went 4-4 with a 2.82 ERA and a WHIP of 0.94.
- ROY: Stone Garrett. The injury he suffered at Yankee Stadium in August was the lowlight of the season for the Nats. Until then Garrett batted .269 with nine HR and 17 doubles in 89 games. Plus an intimidating frame of 6’2″ and 224 lbs.
- Charlie Hustle: Michael Chavis. His energy and positive approach proved valuable and contagious. At only 28 and two more years on his contract, I’m looking forward to more of this guy.
- Best Leadership: Patrick Corbin: 32 starts, 180 innings, 10 wins. It’s not just about these numbers. Patrick never let diminishing skills nor his 5.20 ERA get in the way of taking the mound regularly as a starter. He had some good stretches of quality starts too.
Oh yeah. One more thing. Go Orioles!
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