Thank you. It hasn't been easy for me these past few years. I went to school in central New York, surrounded by Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies fans. I didn't have a team I could call my own. Sure, I grew up an Orioles fan. Cal Ripken Jr will always be my favorite player. I still love the O's as my 2nd favorite team. But I am from Virginia. I went to middle and high school in Washington, DC. I hang out in DC. DC is my city. It's my home. So, that magical day when the Expos moved to town and got renamed the Nationals was a great moment in my life. I have been one of their biggest supporters since. My friends and I would buy $5 tickets and sit in centerfield of RFK, usually among the only people in the upper deck, and watch the likes of Brad Wilkerson, Junior Spivey and John Patterson lose a ton of games. But it didn't matter because we finally had OUR TEAM.
We suffered through the incompetence of Jim Bowden and being owned by Major League Baseball. We saw Alfonso Soriano have one of the greatest seasons in history and not finish in the top 5 of MVP voting (I mean seriously. He became the first 40-40-40 player in history, and had 20 OF assists, and he finished 6th?! Good lord). We felt sorry for Ryan Zimmerman, a star on a sub-standard team for years. But we went. We cheered. We were there every step of the way. We rejoiced when the Lerner's bought the team and hired Mike Rizzo. We will always remember where we were when Zim hit that walkoff home run on Opening Night at Nats Park. We saw what was coming when we drafted Stras and Bryce. We got glimpses of excellence when Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa turned their first double play. It got to the point where my brother and I decided we needed to go to more games, so we bought season tickets. We went on a roller-coaster relationship with Werth and LaRoche, from wondering why we signed them to loving their leadership. We went crazy when Morse went Beast Mode last year, making us forget all about the scrub we traded for him (thank you, Ryan Langerhans). And then there was this season...
It was amazing. No one thought we would be this good. We were a year away. Morse and Drew Storen were hurt. Zim got hurt in the season. Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in the offseason, then tore his ACL. But it didn't matter. We came out and were in 1st place almost the entire year. In late April, Bryce Harper came up and proved that he deserved the hype. Stras and Gio Gonzalez anchored the best rotation in baseball. Davey Johnson did a masterful job managing the club, and it all culminated on a rainy Monday night in October, when the Nats clinched the NL East. I was there. I went crazy. It was the best feeling I have had related to sports since Syracuse won the 2003 National Championship. One of my teams actually won something. We then went out the next 2 days and made sure that the Phillies didn't have a winning season. We clinched the best record in baseball. Hell, Teddy even won the Presidents' Race! The smile cannot be wiped off my face.
Sure, now that we are in the playoffs, I want more. But no matter what happens in the postseason, this was a huge success for baseball in Washington. Rizzo and his crew have built a team that looks like it can compete for the division title (if not the NL title) for years to come. We will get to see playoff baseball for the first time since FDR was in office. I don't even mind the new fans because it is building up the fanbase across the DC area. Natitude is at an all-time high.
So, thank you, my beloved Washington Nationals. Thank you for making this true diehard fan's year with our division title. I can't wait until Opening Day next year, when we get to raise that NL East Champions banner. Here's hoping that it isn't the only banner we are raising. Go Nats!
Love,
JFLAN
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