Building blocks

I’ve always felt writing things down in the heat of the moment is the best way to bestow the true emotion of a situation. So to start that off…

I’m absolutely devastated.

I’ve been a straight-ticket DC sports fan for life and I’ve witnessed my fair share of heartbreak. It’s never been easy and my teams have always, ALWAYS let me down.

But that hurt the most. That hurt really bad.

It will go down in history as the biggest collapse in MLB postseason history, but that doesn’t quite sum up how much a punch in the gut that truly was. While Jayson Werth’s walk-off on Thursday night was “unbelievable” as Charlie Slowes so elegantly put it in his radio call on 1067, the Friday night nightmare was just as unbelievable… but in that awful way that’s hard to put into words.

But let’s not forget what a magical ride this season has been.

We experienced something great in 2012. At the beginning of the season, we told ourselves we were a year away from major accomplishments and were using this year as a building block. That building block turned into five months at the top of the division, our first NL East title, and the best record in baseball. I can’t find a single person that said we could achieve that much in 2012. Not one.

That’s nothing to scoff at. That’s something to build on.

The Nationals are built to endure the test of time. The team is young and the major parts (Werth, Harp, Stras, Zimm, Zimm(nn) Desmond, Gio) are locked down for a number of years and with what we have, our window with only these players have opened a five year window of success. And that’s without any additions. The potential for this squad is astounding. I’m excited to see what they do in the coming years.

I still have the Natitude that was so amazingly ignited this season. Yeah, you’ll see that as a joke, but it’s not. This season turned me from someone who liked baseball to someone who came to truly love. So I wanna say thank you to Davey, the team, and the organization for putting something special in place that I’ll be able to vigilantly cheer for in the years to come.

170 until Opening Day.

Can’t wait.