The Nationals are not the Mets, but they’re starting to resemble them this season.
The Mets’ NL East rivals received more bad injury news Thursday in a season full of it when starter Stephen Strasburg returned to the disabled list after just one start back. The Nationals placed Strasburg on the 10-day DL retroactive to July 22 due to a pinched nerve in his neck, over a month after he was sidelined with inflammation in his pitching shoulder.
Strasburg’s injury woes, and unusually poor play as a result, epitomize 2018 for the Nationals, who had high hopes for returning to the postseason and finally advancing past the NLDS. Despite the talent on their roster, they have failed to do so in their four tries from 2012-17.
This year has been a disappointment for Strasburg in particular after he finished third in NL Cy Young voting in 2017. The former first-overall draft pick is 6-7 with a 3.90 ERA in 14 starts — after a season in which he went 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA in 28 starts, his highest total since 2014.
The Nationals are now 50-51, seven games out of first and 5 1/2 out of the second NL wild card. It has gotten so bad that Washington GM Mike Rizzo has been asked about trading free-agent-to-be Bryce Harper.
Strasburg, 30, returned to the Nationals on Friday, after being inactive since June 10, and was rocked by the NL East-leading Braves, allowing six earned runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He also was not immune to the Nationals’ off-field issues this season, getting into a heated altercation with All-Star teammate Max Scherzer in the dugout after being pulled from the game in the fifth inning.
Scherzer reportedly led the Nationals’ players-only meeting earlier this month after the team reached a particularly low point, dropping a season-high fifth straight game and moving below .500.
Manager Davey Martinez has shrugged off the internal problems that were festering after the Strasburg-Scherzer exchange, but the Nationals are in trouble.
“This stuff happens,” Martinez told reporters after Friday’s game. “I’ve been on teams where guys wanted to choke each other. It’s a long season. They get it. They understand. We talk about it. I don’t want to lose sleep about it. It was a really good conversation. I’ll just leave it at that. Things are good.”
To make matters worse, third baseman Anthony Rendon — who already has spent time on the disabled list this season along with Daniel Murphy, Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Wieters and Adam Eaton — went on paternity leave Thursday.
