The Sunshine Squad 2023: Gotta be better, right?

[Chelsea_Phil]

Well then , let’s talk about spotsvania court house and the removal of the cannons from the salient by REL.

Or the crappy treatment of Watren by the bastard Sheridan.

[Chelsea_Phil]

Oh, wrong web site for that?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

4-8 gets us to 70 wins. That's 1 win each series. 69 wins ties 2010.

[DPMOmaha]

On pace for a 16 game improvement over last year. Improve by a mere 8-10 games next year and you're in shouting distance of .500. Improvement may not be linear, though, if they call up a lot of the guys in AA right now.

[imref]

with last night's loss, the Nats are officially eliminated from playoff contention, much later than most of us expected.

[Senatorswin]

with last night's loss, the Nats are officially eliminated from playoff contention, much later than most of us expected.

Not long ago the Nats were breathing down the necks of Miami. Now Miami is a half game out of the wildcard.

I don't how much Stone Garrett's injury has to do with the Nats stinking again, but if Garrett's injury coincides with their downfall than how I wonder how much a few guys like Crews, Wood, House etc. might turn the Nats around next year. Maybe sign a solid free agent starter too.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Not long ago the Nats were breathing down the necks of Miami. Now Miami is a half game out of the wildcard.

I don't how much Stone Garrett's injury has to do with the Nats stinking again, but if Garrett's injury coincides with their downfall than how I wonder how much a few guys like Crews, Wood, House etc. might turn the Nats around next year. Maybe sign a solid free agent starter too.

yes re: Garrett and the timing. I think his replacement on the roster might have been Young or Kieboom?  At any  rate, when Garrett went down also coincided with the decision to give Kieboom and Alu playing time regardless of the results. Garrett was worth playing to see what he has and he was performing. The next few auditions did not work so well. I'd also say that Kieboom up meant Vargas to the bench. I don't necessarily disagree with that, but the good August also coincided with Vargas Every Day Every Play.

[imref]

Three keys to WC contention next year:
1. Replacing Williams in the rotation with an actual front-of-the-rotation starter
2. Upgrading 1B/DH
3. Continued idevelopment of Ruiz, Abrams, Gore and Gray

That's without even accounting for the potential arrivals of Wood, House, and Crews.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Canha, Hoskins, Cavalli -> Wild Card!

[imref]

Canha, Hoskins, Cavalli -> Wild Card!

Cavalli, if he's ready on OD, is only available for 150 innings or so.  I'd love for a repeat of the "Strasburg shutdown" if we are heading to the playoffs and he's dominant.

Figuring the OD rotation at Gray, Gore, Corbin, Irvin, and Rutledge, with possibly Cavalli.  I'd still like to see us sign someone. Maybe trade Corbin or push him into the bullpen as a LHR.

[imref]

Washington is 25–20 (.556) in one-run games, the fourth-best winning percentage in team history.

The Nationals are 6–2 (.750) in extra innings this season, the fourth-best win percentage in Major League Baseball and the third-best in Nationals history (2005-pres) behind the 2015 Nationals (9–2, .818) and 2020 Nationals (4–1, .800).

https://curlyw.mlblogs.com/nationals-open-final-homestand-with-3-game-set-vs-white-sox-f3a83cf604eb

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://curlyw.mlblogs.com/nationals-open-final-homestand-with-3-game-set-vs-white-sox-f3a83cf604eb

IOW, we are the Marlins, except with less talent.

[Smithian]

Sixteen win improvement with a young team.

Successful step forward season after three dreary and depressing seasons.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Sixteen win improvement with a young team.

Successful step forward season after three dreary and depressing seasons.

thing is, except for a stretch in June and for much of September, this was a fun team to watch. They were in most of the games. I think the broadcast crew said they had 7 walkoff wins. Add in some come from behind games and late rallies, and they were quite fun.