What to do with Those Predictions

If by some chance you are a professional sports journalist and you happen to stumble upon this I would like to give you some advice. We all know you had to pick someone to finish last, and the Nationals seemed like as good a pick as any. Remember this next year though when you damn one team as having a possibility to be historically bad. With each victory the Nationals inch closer to winning 62 games and not losing 100 we know you cringe. We knew your predictions were wrong from the start. We knew the Nationals had no chance to lose 130, 120, or 115 games. Some of us even doubted they would lose 100, and now it is looking like they won’t.

As a sports journalist I know your editors handed down an edict that you had to bash the Nationals every chance you got. Buster Olney said they would lose 130, Ken Rosenthal said the front office was a mess as they dared fired people they didn’t hire, and Jon Heyman thinks the players are fat and the front office should trade their best players. Look at how many good teams went about building by getting hitters and a couple starters but forgot the bullpen (sorry Cleveland fans). The Nationals obviously have noticed the trend of teams with good relief pitching winning.

As a sports journalist I know your job isn’t to pay attention to pesky things like trends within the game. I also know you can’t judge a player on what they might do unless they play for the Yankees or Red Sox. While everyone else still realized J.D. Drew wouldn’t change. For some reason to you he seemed like a god in a Red Sox jersey.

If it is true what you claim that the Nationals still have no starters and no one on the team can hit then shouldn’t Manny Acta be a lock for manager of the year? The Nationals current rotation is three rookies and two career minor leaguers. Of course Tim Redding is more of a reclamation project, but don’t let pesky things like his surgery and other teams not giving him a chance get in the way of running down the Nats. The Nationals are still a building team and aren’t likely to be very good next year, but remember when you make your predictions just because you have never heard of someone doesn’t mean they aren’t any good.