Commentary: Nationals uncover silver lining amidst losses

By Brian Reinhart     10/22/09 7:00pm

It was another bad year for baseball in Washington, D.C. The Washington Nationals were again the worst team in the major leagues, again lost over 100 games and again found newer, more creative ways to achieve futility. Much of the national media enjoyed making the "Gnats" a punchline this year. But the lonely souls who actually followed the Nats weren't laughing.

I am one of those unfortunate few. I have been a Nationals fan since their first game in 2005 and have suffered through all five seasons since. When most people discover this, their response is, "Why?"

The answer is simple but paradoxical: This disastrous team taught me to love baseball.

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For most people it would seem more intuitive if I learned to love baseball from a winning team. And, indeed, many of my best sports memories are of victories: The Boston Red Sox's stunning defeat of the New York Yankees in the 2004 playoffs, or the worst-to-first 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. But only part of the joy of those memories is the thrill of victory. My Nationals have lost 205 games in the last two seasons. I can tell you for a fact that it is not the feeling of winning I love, but the thrill of baseball itself.

With the Nationals, a happy ending is a rare and precious thing. Victory is an unexpected bonus, so we usually have to enjoy our games without it. I try not to look at win-loss records, stats or playoff elimination numbers. Instead I focus on having fun watching baseball.

Baseball is a grand strategy game with a heavy element of random chance, a sport in which individual players hit and pitch but win championships through teamwork, the race to score the most runs usually won by a strong defense. In those respects it is a bit paradoxical and entirely fascinating. You do not need to win baseball to know what makes it special.

Nationals fans learn to love the little things. While trying to forget about the box score or the standings of a losing team, there's still much to think about, even enjoy. You watch players' faces, or the pitcher's arm motions, or the way the sunlight dances on the grass.

In consequence, my love of baseball is a little different. I do not have favorite players. There are no teams I hate, not even division rivals. After many years of feeling otherwise, I recently stopped hating even the New York Yankees. Because my Nationals lose 100 games a year, I don't watch baseball for the victories. I watch it for the baseball.

Is it outrageous to suggest that sports are not at all about winning but about having fun? Nobody expresses this view better than Ian Desmond, who is, not coinc ident a l ly, the Washington Nationals' shortstop. Desmond began this year in the minor leagues, dealing with a hitting slump, and adjusted by changing his attitude. He explained the shift in an interview with David Laurila of Baseball Prospectus:

"There are a lot of times I'll be out at shortstop, and I'll be like, 'Man, it's beautiful out here. This is a great day, and I get to play in this game, and they're paying me,' as opposed to, 'Man, my body is tired, we have four more games, and I'm hitting .220; I need to pick it up a little bit.' Do you know what I mean? I just try to look at the positive; I try to find positive things in every situation."

And that mentality works. While he was still stressing about his batting average, Desmond was just another mediocre minor leaguer. A week after giving that interview, Desmond was called up to the majors and hit an astonishing .588 in his first week. He finished the season with four home runs and 12 runs batted in over 21 games.

Desmond may never be that good again. He was just happy to be in the major leagues. But he has the Nationals' attitude about baseball: Find the positive things in the game and learn to enjoy the whole experience. Yes, my team stinks. But it's beautiful out here, this is a great day and I get to watch a baseball game. Believe it or not, even that is cause for celebration.

Brian Reinhart is a Wiess College senior and Thresher calendar editor.

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