Let’s face it: the Washington Nationals‘ postseason hopes all but ended when the team failed to win a pre-trade deadline series in Miami. If there was any remaining doubt, Sunday’s 12-1 thrashing and the series loss to those same Marlins sealed the 2018 season’s fate.
Earlier this week, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo made the difficult but correct decisions to trade pending free agents Matt Adams and Daniel Murphy to the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, respectively.
The moves led several observers, including a former Nats beat writer, to declare Washington’s window of contention closed.