For Nats, .500 mark remains elusive as ever
The Nationals' blowout loss to the Reds today was their 15th straight when a win would've lifted them to a .500 record
CINCINNATI – On May 14, 2024, the Nationals defeated the White Sox, 6-3, in the first game of a doubleheader at Rate Field to improve to 20-20. They would immediately drop the nightcap, getting shut down by old pal Erick Fedde, but it felt like there would be plenty more opportunities in the coming days and weeks to reach the .500 mark again. And, ideally, get over it for good.
There have been plenty more opportunities to reach .500 in the days, weeks, months and years that have followed. But they’ve all produced the exact same result: a loss.
Today, on the two-year anniversary of that momentous victory in Chicago, the Nats took the field once again one game under .500. And they once again lost, this time by the lopsided margin of 15-1 to the Reds, who managed to avoid a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.
Which made this the 15th consecutive time the Nationals have lost a game when a win would’ve brought their record to that oh-so-elusive .500 mark.
(For the record: They did begin this season 3-1, so they have owned a winning record in the last two years. But by beating the Cubs on Opening Day, they never found themselves under .500 during that mini-run and thus never found themselves facing the scenario they did today and the 14 previous occurrences.)
So, what gives? Are the Nats allergic to .500? Does it get in their heads every time they have a chance to do it, causing them to lose?
“I haven’t really heard anything from anybody,” Blake Butera insisted. “I’m not too caught up in our record here on May 15. ... I know we keep coming up to one game below .500, but at the end of the day, we care about where we’re at come August, September, October.”
