Congrats to the Nats!

We're No. 1!

Congratulations to the Washington Nationals!  Their season-long mission is finally complete.  With yesterday's loss (or was it a win?) to the ... whoever the heck they're playing (we're not really paying much attention anymore), the team clinched its second consecutive No. 1 overall draft pick.  Huzzah!

Although, the other way to put it is that they've clinched their second straight worst-record-in-baseball crown.  Ah, if only they played golf.  They'd be shooting a course record 53.

Yesterday's loss officially ends the meaningful portion of the season.  In reality, though, that ended about April 15.  The only reason to watch the games anymore is for the playoff implications; the Nats face the Braves in a four-game series, which could mean life or death for the Wild Card-charging Braves.

The Nats are only the second team to have the No. 1 pick in back-to-back seasons.  The other: the '07-'08 Tampa Bay Rays.  Now before you get excited and think about their World Series appearance and how those picks let the team march into the playoffs, those two players were David Price and Tim Beckham.  Neither contributed much (or anything, really) to the Rays' season-long slog to the playoffs. 

So don't think that Strassy and Mr. X are going to pay immediate dividends.

Now of course all that depends on who Mr. X is.  The early favorite is uberkind Bryce Harper.  Harper's just 16 years old, but dominated his high school competition to such a degree that he dropped out of school to get his GED so that he could attend college. 

He's got worlds of potential, but he's still just 16 and with Scott Boras looming, he won't sign easily.

But that's for another day.  For now, celebrate the Nats' accomplishment and revel in the history Nats fans have seen.  It takes a special kind of team, a special group of players, a special group of management and some unique owners to run a team into the ground like this.

So congrats, Lerners!  We're No. 1!  Again. 

Sigh.

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