I think the crux of the issue is that the Nats aren’t even trying. If they had signed say an 3B, 1B, and a starter this past off season, we’d likely have a shot at a wild card. I get that they are waiting for the next core to develop but there’s no guarantee that happens.
And they need to lock up Abrams.
We all know what's going to ultimately happen with Abrams considering we watched it happen with all of our other players.