The Morning Briefing: September 27

Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, September 27.

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Leading this Morning's Briefing: Au Revoir, Patrick

Yesterday afternoon marked the 170th and final start of Patrick Corbin's tenure with the Nationals. Multiple things can be true. One, the Nats do not win the 2019 World Series without Corbin making himself available for every call during that playoff run, most especially the three relief innings in Game Seven of the World Series. Two, he was statistically the worst starting pitcher in the sport for the remaining five seasons of his contract. And three, he never called out sick, never got hurt, never missed a turn or a bullpen or a workout. He may not have been good, but he was certainly a professional. And his last start in a Nationals uniform played all of the hits: four runs in five and a third, a super-shaky inning that began with a walk and followed with several hits in a row, a home run, and recovering to retire ten straight to finish his outing. He got a standing ovation from the sparse crowd and tipped his cap.

Last Game Out

Not only did the Nationals score a run, they scored four! Three of them came courtesy of a Luis García Jr. home run that tied the score, but it stayed that way until the ninth, when Kyle Finnegan once again had a poor outing in a non-save situation, coughing up three runs in the ninth for a 7-4 loss and a sweep.

Nationals Headline of the Day: Corbin Has Thoughts

After the game, Corbin reflected on the entirety of his tenure with the Nats, which Jessica Camerato wrote about for MLB.com

Down on the Farm

The minor league season is complete, and there was no new news yesterday.

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

For those of you frustrated with the Lerner family's tight budgets and declining ballpark experience over the past few years, be glad that you are not a fan of the A's and John Fisher, a failson if there ever one, who is driving a proud franchise under the ground. The other day he wrote not just an embarrassing but an embarrassingly false and cowardly letter to the Oakland fans...that wasn't even proofread.

Former National of the Day

Nick Johnson joined the Expos for their final year in Montreal as a post-hype Yankees prospect in a trade for pitcher Jávier Vásquez. He came to Washington and remained a National until 2009, when he was traded to the Marlins at the deadline for pitcher Aaron Thompson. Johnson was a good hitter, slashing .280/.408/.460 over 487 games...but he only played in 487 games over almost five seasons, topping 133 just once. There exists a universe where a healthy Nick Johnson with his 129 OPS+ is a multi-time All-Star first baseman and fringe MVP candidate.

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