Hudson's June injury was a pretty key domino too.
Interesting article from Zuckerman today about how historically atrocious the bullpen was:
https://www.masnsports.com/nationals-pastime/2021/10/nats-offseason-plan-must-start-with-improved-pitching.htmlIt kept getting worse from month to month. After dealing away Brad Hand and Daniel Hudson at the trade deadline, the Nats bullpen went 5-22 (the fewest wins and most losses in the majors, with a 5.71 ERA (third-worst), 1.61 WHIP (worst), 5.08 walks per nine innings (worst), 1.64 homers per nine innings (second-worst), minus-1.7 WAR (worst) and 18 blown saves (most).
Oh, and the 42 losses charged to Nationals relievers for the season were the most in major league history.
The bullpen being responsible for 22 losses since July 30th is some elite level tanking. It's kind of crazy to think we could have stayed in the division hunt until the end with a reasonable bullpen.
