​Happy holidays, folks! We’re almost at the end of this cursed year, and by now, you’re hopefully reading this from the comfort of your home, sipping some hot chocolate by the fire, safe and sound with the bustle of holiday travel behind you (if you chose to travel this year). It’s been approximately twenty-one days since the lockout began, meaning that there’s been little baseball news to get you through this cold, uncertain December.

However, if you’re like me, that hasn’t stopped you from dreaming about what the Nationals might accomplish next season! Even though we don’t know precisely how or when the lockout will end, and we know that next season might not be pretty, I’m sure we each have a Nats wishlistfor the holidays. Here are five things to think about for next season, while visions of sugarplums dance in your head.

5. Scherzday, with a twist

The Nationals open their season at Citi Field against the Mets on March 31, 2022. Max Scherzer may be set to start. However, unlike in years past, he will not be starting with the Washington Nationals—he’ll be siding with the enemy. On November 29, 2021, Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million deal with the Mets, smashing through the former AAV record with a new record of $43.3 million per year. The contract reportedly also includes a no-trade clause, an opt-out after two years, four premium tickets to every home game, and additional incentives for awards won.

As devastating as it will be for Max to be wearing the enemy’s uniform come March, there may be some cool matchups in store due to the move, most notably the inevitable Scherzer-Soto matchup. My delayed Christmas hope for April is for Max to firstly get the standing ovation he deserves for all he’s done for the city, even if it is accompanied with a smattering of boos. Then, after there has been sufficient applause—I need Soto to take him yard. Multiple times.

4. I miss the old Victor, straight from the ‘Go Victor

Victor Robles—2019 World Champion, star CF, once highly touted prospect—finished his 2021 season with the AAA Rochester Red Wings. After struggling offensively in 107 games played, Robles had a BA barely above .200, an OBP of .310, and an OPS of .605. Although 56.2 percent of the pitches Robles saw were fastballs, he hit only .243 against them, driving his abysmal numbers. On August 31, 2021, on a team in a rebuild that could afford to give him at-bats, Robles was demoted to AAA.

Since joining the Red Wings, Robles has performed well, though it remains to be seen whether he’s ready again for the majors or is stuck at the “quadruple A” level. On October 1, through the last games of the minor leagueseason, Robles had a BA of .325 and had already hit three home runs, one more than he had at the major league level. He will almost certainly be in contention with Lane Thomas for the starting CF role at spring training in 2022, and while I love what a bright spot Thomas has been, I am rooting for Robles to figure it out and make his way back to Washington.

3. Get well soon, Stras

On July 27, 2021, we heard the all-too-familiar news: Stephen Strasburg would need to undergo season-ending surgery after pitching barely any innings during the season. Instead of it being 2020, however, and instead of needing to undergo surgery to alleviate carpal tunnel neuritis in his right hand, it was 2021, and Strasburg required surgery to alleviate neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). Two years into a mammoth seven-year, $245 million contract, Strasburg has pitched only 26.6 innings. Strasburg’s injury was one of the final nails in the coffin that led Rizzo to trade eight players at the deadline only a few days later.

TOS surgery is a much more serious surgery than Tommy John surgery, and some pitchers never return to their prior competitiveness (see: Matt Harvey, who after having TOS surgery in 2016, struggled with ERAs of 6.70, 4.94, 7.09, 11.57, and 6.27 in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively). However, a study published in The Physician and Sportsmedicine in March 2021 found that 74 percent of professional pitchers who undergo TOS surgery returned to pitch in the majors, with an average time of 297 days between surgery and return. While the study found that ERA in postoperative pitchers with TOS remained elevated compared to preoperative levels, fastball velocity and strike percentage were roughly equivalent.

297 days from July 28, 2021 is May 21, 2022—otherwise known as Game 2 of the Nat’s three-game series against the Brewers. What a wonderful late Christmas present it would be for Strasburg to pitch then, if not sooner.

2. Josiah in the highest

Josiah Gray came over in the blockbuster Scherzer-Turner deal in July 2021 as one of the Dodgers’ top pitching prospects, a huge get for a Nationals bullpen that had been battered by injuries and horrific performances. Gray, however, has taken some time to adjust: in twelve games started and 62.2 innings pitched with the Nats, he allowed 56 hits, 38 runs, and 28 walks, leading to an ERA of 5.31. His starts careened from solid to frustrating as he found his footing, though he did eventually earn two wins.

Gray is an integral part of our rotation moving forward, and it’s in everyone’s best interests for him to come out of the gate next season fired up and ready to go. He has already demonstrated his interest in becoming a part of the DC sports scene, and he’s brought his charisma to the Half Street High Heat podcast (where he said he thought he could strike out Soto looking on five pitches). Gray also expressed on our podcast his desire to pitch 200 innings in 2022, a laudable goal for someone so young. I’m rooting for Gray to do well in 2022 and reach his full potential with the Nats.

1. Please sign Juan Soto to an extension. Please. I’m begging.

I don’t even have any fun, snarky title for this one. Juan Soto is a generational talent and a generational person. Between coming in second in MVP voting this year, winning a second Silver Slugger award in RF, and encouraging folks to get vaccinated (and being candid about his initial reservations), Soto is an incredible talent who the city could build around. And I’m not just talking about the Nationals, either—long after Zimmerman and Ovechkin, the two undisputed kings of DC sports, retire, Soto could take up the mantle and remain the face of DC sports for possibly decades to come.

That is, of course, if the Lerners decide to sign him to an extension. As many have written about before, they will need to make him an offer he can’t refuse, somewhere to the tune of $500 million, if they want to be able to say honestly that they did everything possible to retain him. A Juan Soto extension would be a true Christmas miracle, indeed.