Because the last time the Washington Nationals were 53-70 was on Aug 22, 2010, with Jim Riggleman bringing home a 69-93, last-place team.
So, yes, the correlation is clear between consecutive 103-loss and 102-loss seasons in 2008 and 2009, the 93-loss 2010 season, and the building blocks of four division winners and a World Series champion.
So it took the Nationals three seasons to go from the worst to best in baseball over 162 games.
Of all the bases, home is the most important to cover because that’s the one a runner has to touch to score.
On Saturday, 15-year veteran Ryan Zimmerman risked injury with a mad dash and dive that still didn’t prevent Kolten Wong from scoring from third on a foul pop.
Again on Sunday, when Josh Bell overthrew Riley Adams on a tag play at home plate, one of the three runners, Manny Piña, was probably going to score on the error, anyway.
Speaking of pitchers: Many Nats’ hurlers have struggled at some point this season, including some that the team traded away.
That ties three others for the second-most in a game since the team moved to Washington in 2005, behind only a 12-walk victory over Atlanta on Sept.
Milwaukee ran wild on the Nats’ rookie catching corps, too.
Manager Davey Martinez walks a fine line every day between listing all the basic mistakes the team makes in losing games and praising his players’ competitiveness and hustle.
So the 2008-2010 model offers three seasons of tanking and two more after that until the team becomes a perennial contender.
Eleven years is also enough for fans who once considered themselves lucky to have a team to develop expectations.
Eleven years is also long enough for other teams to join the race to the bottom as well.
There are a lot of prospect reports coming out now, with accompanied gushing over how many top 10 or top 50 or top 100 prospects a team has.
What we pay for as ticket holders and supporters of the team’s sponsors is major league-level baseball, with realistic hopes of the postseason.
But barring a surprise move this off-season, there will be a lot of losing for at least two more seasons after this one.