So maybe a change of scenery did help after all. This is what has happened to the current Washington Nationals, who escaped from torture just months ago. The city being referred to as one that brings about torture is none other than that of Montreal. Let it be known that Montreal is not a bad city by any means. It is just not the best place to have its own Major League Baseball team. It falls into the same category as having a hockey team in the city of say Phoenix or Tampa Bay. Oops, didn’t Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup the last time hockey wasn’t in a lockout?It was no surprise that then former Expos would be relocated to the nation’s capital. Since baseball is “America’s Pastime” it would seem fitting that a baseball team be located within the nation’s capital city.
After the team had relocated, it was a matter of time before everything was settled. And after the team had an official name, the Washington Nationals, the baseball season could not have started any sooner. People didn’t expect the Nationals to be any good right away. They were still the Expos, but just in a different city.
Yet, the people of Washington were in for a big surprise, as was the rest of the country.
While also trying to compete with the Baltimore Orioles, the Washington Nationals found themselves atop of an actual division. Specifically atop the N.L. East, the Nationals found themselves ahead of teams like the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, and the World Series champions from two seasons ago, the Florida Marlins.
And it wasn’t like the Nationals had time to plan for their relocation.
The team wasn’t moved into a new ballpark; they were moved right into the raggedy, RFK Memorial Stadium.
The Nationals still came to Washington D.C. with the same players and managerial staff that made up the then, Montreal Expos.
No new owner was awarded to the team. The Nationals are still owned by Major League Baseball, which means the team will always have a close eye watching them.
And now with the Nationals returning to the nation’s capital, which found itself as a city without a baseball team for thirty-four long years, the city itself arguably now has the hottest team in baseball.
Remember, these are the same players that played in Montreal. So there are still hardly any recognizable players on the National’s roster, which has produced all of the team’s success. The Nationals’ players are all many unrecognizable, that is unless you find yourself to be a baseball nut, or a diehard Nationals fan.
So at that, players like Jose Guillen, Brad Wilkerson, Nick Johnson, and Vinny Castilla find themselves playing important roles in the newly developed structure of the Washington Nationals.
And as for the manager Frank Robinson, he found himself coming into this season with a managerial record below .500 in fourteen years of managerial experience.
But now Robinson has the Nationals on a hot streak, in what has proven to be the hottest division in baseball, the N.L. East. Among the five teams, first place has been separated from fifth place the entire season by no more than five games. And as of right now, the Nationals find themselves to be the first place team. This comes surprising to most since the Nationals find themselves in the same division as the Atlanta Braves, who as a team have won thirteen consecutive division titles.
The question is if a team with only experiences of failure can keep up this first place mentality?
To most, it is highly doubtful since so many unrecognizable faces exist on this team. Hardly any of the Nationals’ players have any playoff experience, which sure would help in their division considering the Nationals are in the same division as both the Braves and Marlins, two teams that have proven playoff experience.
Whether a team has playoff experience or not, teams of the N.L. East have seemed to do nothing but beat each other up. Every team seems to eliminate each other within the division, so no doubted, the N.L. East will come down to a heated race at the end of the season.
The Nationals this year has found itself in such an upswing from its final year in Montreal. As the Expos, the team averaged fewer than 10,000 fans per game for its final season in Montreal. This season, the “new look” Nationals has already topped 1 million spectators for the season.
One thing the Nationals have done this year is that they have used the support given to them to their advantage. Washington D.C. has given more support than ever expected, and the Nationals have turned around and used it in such ways to now find itself as a team with a 37-26 record.
Who knows how far the Nationals will go this year? The season is not even to the All-Star Break yet. However, baseball has seen some weird things happen lately from previous seasons.
The Red Sox did win the World Series last year, didn’t they?