Champs done: Time to look toward 2021 for eliminated Nats

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Yan Gomes was asked about the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals essentially playing out the string over the last four games of this season, the catcher was put off by the premise.

“I don’t think we’re technically out of it yet,” Gomes said.

Technically, at that moment, he was right. About four hours later, once Wednesday had turned into Thursday and a game involving other teams ended the wrong way for Washington’s tiny remaining hopes, the Nationals were officially done.

For the second straight season, manager Dave Martinez’s club got off to a 19-31 start. This time, there were not enough games to dig out of that hole.

A year after winning the franchise’s first championship thanks to a historic turnaround, the Nationals woke up Thursday in last place in the NL East with a 23-33 record and no mathematical chance of returning to the playoffs in a pandemic-shortened 2020.

That extends a trend: No team has won the World Series in consecutive years since the 2000 New York Yankees capped a run of three titles in a row, making the current drought the longest in Major League Baseball without a repeat champion.

“Not too many teams have done it. With that being said, it was definitely a challenge, with everything going on this year,” Martinez said after Washington’s 12-3 loss to Philadelphia and old pal Bryce Harper, who hit two of the Phillies’ five homers in an empty Nationals Park on Wednesday night.

It was an odd year, to be sure, and meant that Washington and its fans never got to properly commemorate what happened last October. There was no opportunity for a sellout crowd to roar during the raising of a championship banner or to witness a World Series ring ceremony.

And while there were strong performances at...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Champs-done-Time-to-look-toward-2021-for-15594262.php