The Morning Briefing: September 30

Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, September 4.

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Leading this Morning's Briefing: Nats Match 2023 Record

It might seem disappointing for the Nats to finish 2024 with the same 71-91 record as in 2023, but there are a lot of signs pointing to this year being better. For one, there were a lot more players finishing their seasons on the 2024 roster who have a chance of being part of a successful future. For another, several players took rather sizable steps forward, even if consistency was sometimes an issue throughout the course of 162 games: Luis García Jr., Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker (raise your hand if you had him penciled in for 29 MLB starts), Jacob Young, DJ Herz, Jose A. Ferrer...it's a long list. And a whopping ten rookies debuted for the Nats, including two of the top ten prospects in baseball entering 2024, and most of the ten have a chance to carve out a role for themselves yet on the next Nats contender.

Last Game Out

Jake Irvin was unable to finish the season in the same fashion as Trevor Williams and MacKenzie Gore in the first two games against the Phillies, and Juan Yepez came up about three feet short of a walk-off grand slam - meaning the Nats finished the season without a walk-off home run for the first time since their inaugural 2005 season. The bottom of the ninth was really a microcosm for the season as a whole - scrap and claw into a good position but then fall short thanks to being unable to put together strong ABs and move runners, and not have quite enough power to make a big inning happen.

Nationals Headline of the Day: Yes, There Was Growth

Melanie Martinez-Lopez at MLB.com writes about how the final series of the season showed growth from the young Nats, even if the final record ended up identical to 2023.

Down on the Farm

The minor league season is complete.

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

The Mets and Barves will play a doubleheader today to determine the last two spots in the National League playoff bracket. Here's a handy explanation on the various possible scenarios.

Former National of the Day

When the Nationals last jumped to being a truly competitive team, one of the most important players in that leap was shortstop Ian Desmond, who followed up an unexciting .253/.298/.358 campaign in 2011 with a .292/.335/.511 breakout at age 26 in 2012, making his first of two All-Star teams and helping to propel the Nats to an NL-best 98-64. After turning down a nine-figure extension, Desmond became a free agent after the 2015 season, but it turned out he was effectively done as a shortstop after age 29, shifting primarily to the outfield for first Texas and later Colorado. He finished his career after the 2019 season, batting .263/.315/.427 with 181 home runs and 181 stolen bases in eleven seasons.

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