September baseball can be agonizing for many reasons, but mainly because it’s not October. It could be agonizing because your team is waiting on a mercy killing or (as is the case with the Nationals) because they are involved in the world’s slowest countdown – the countdown of the magic number.
One of the most unique things about September baseball is that it can make watching a division rival’s game more enticing than watching your own team.
Now before I get stoned to death for blasphemy, let me explain. It’s not that I didn’t watch the Nationals play on Wednesday night – I did. It’s just that in my dual screen system the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves made it onto the big screen, while the Nats’ 8-3 drubbing of the Miami Marlins was relegated to the smaller screen – and what a night it was to watch the Braves.
Atlanta has always been a distasteful team to me. I never liked them when the Nats couldn’t beat them, and I don’t like them now that the roles are reversed. I did however like them an awful lot for the past week while they were busy sweeping the Mets, and almost loved them when Ender Inciarte put on an eye-popping display of athleticism when he robbed Yoenis Cespedes of a walkoff three-run homer for the last out of the series reducing the Nationals’ magic number to just two. September baseball can do strange things to people.
The fact remains however, that as agonizing as it can be to slog through, September baseball is still important. For the Nats it could mean the difference between being in a friendly stadium for the playoffs or playing on the road.
You can argue until you’re blue in the face about home field advantage not mattering when the playoffs roll around. You can even pull the Nationals’ 1-4 record in home playoff games and wave it around in my face, it still won’t change my mind that September baseball is important. Not only could it determine where you will be playing in October, it also dictates that mystical yet all important aspect of sports — momentum.
Every year in every sport we see the importance of momentum. Momentum is the reason the President’s Trophy-winning Capitals can’t beat the Wilkes-Barre Baby Penguins in the playoffs (no, I’m not bitter), and why the Nationals will need to finish September strong in order to have the success they desire in October and beyond.
More important than home-field advantage (admittedly a less important advantage in baseball than most other sports) is the idea of momentum. Winning is a habit and tends to create an attitude in the minds of players, an expectation of excellence. Nationals fans have seen what a losing mentality can do to a team, a run of excellence through the end of September could be enough to show us what a winning mentality can do.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy September baseball.
Tags: Nationals, Nats, Washington Nationals
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