He's most definitely going into the ring. I don't think they should retire his uniform number.
I’d be quite fine with 31 joining 11 – – as well as 37, since he gave his all in a Nats uniform – – in the rafters as a retired number.
Wearing Nats uniform number 31, he had six all-star appearances, two Cy Young awards, overall wins leader twice, three straight years as NL strikeout leader, tied for most strikeouts in a nine-inning game, multiple no-hitters (and what some may consider a perfect game without the ump sufficiently acknowledging batter interference). 92-47, 2.80 ERA, 1610 Ks to 280 BBs, and 10 complete games.
More than the elite numbers was that he left it all on the field as a Nat, typified by the 2019 postseason. He pitched six times, which included keeping damage limited after the Wildcard first inning and staying in the fight for five innings. He got the “hold“ in NLDS Game 2 doing his bullpen session with a scoreless eighth in Los Angeles, then got the win in Game 4 of the NLDS tossing seven strong innings. He gave a truly remarkable NLCS Game 2 effort, flirting with a no-hitter and giving up no runs in seven innings with 11 strikeouts.
He outdueled Mr. unstoppable Gerrit Cole on the road in Houston in World Series Game 1 for his third straight postseason win. Then there was that whole thing about not pitching Game 5 because he couldn’t raise his arm above his shoulder, yet there he was, back on the mound in Houston for Game 7, giving the team five innings and only giving up two runs as they stayed in the fight and then finished it.
