If you are a Nationals fan, you are likely no stranger to defeat. Nationals fans have truly experienced the purest highs –a 2019 World Series trophy– and the seemingly bottomless lows – finishing with the worst W-L record in baseball several years in their franchise history– of the sport that we love. Finishing with a 55-107 record, the 2022 Nationals obviously were less than stellar. However, Washington fans who have stuck around since the years of the team’s relocation are even more accustomed to the feeling of watching their team be defeated. For the first 7 years after the team became the Washington Nationals, they sat right at a .500 or below win percentage. Amongst these average or below-average years, one in particular stands out as almost as disappointing as the Nats 2022 season.

The 2009 Nationals were another iteration of the team that severely underperformed. They concluded that season with a 59-103 record, finishing with only four more wins than our current Nats did last season. There are similarities, differences, and conclusions we can look at between these two most dreadful of seasons in the team’s history. It will involve mostly looking at the negative aspects of the two teams that helped them put together the two worst seasons the franchise has seen. It won’t be all doom and gloom, however. The mid-to-late 2010s brought Washington its fair share of glory and success, so the losing obviously didn’t last forever.

The 2009 Washington Nationals

Since the disappointments of the ‘22 season are still on most fans’ minds, we’ll look at the 2009 season first. The ultimate question posed when a team falters in this way is “What went wrong?”, but the answer is never a simple one. A vast array of things led to the 103 losses in 2009. The hitters in the lineup underperformed. None of the starting rotation was anything more than below average. Even the uniforms were wrong, with two players jerseys reading “Natinals” for three innings of a game before they were switched. There were no blockbuster moves or incredibly impactful pieces picked up. Nothing seemed to have gone right for the team that year.

The lineup posted a middling team batting average of .258. These batters also put up a mediocre team OPS of .743. While the hitting was not horrendous, it was not a particularly strong lineup. This is not to say that all of the hitters were just average. Nationals stalwart Ryan Zimmerman hit 33 home runs, drove in 106 runs, and ended the season with a 133 OPS+. Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham hit 38 and 24 home runs respectively. These great hitters were the only real diamonds in the rough for this overall lackluster squad.

While the lineup managed to stay average or above for the most part, the same unfortunately could not be said about the ‘09 Nats pitching staff. The staff’s ERA sits right at a 5.00, and if you look through the stats of most of the pitchers, you will see a wealth of 5’s and 6’s at the front of their ERA numbers. There were standouts amongst them, but they were few and far between. Tyler Clippard was a reliable arm, pitching 60 innings out of the pen, and posted a 2.69 ERA and a respectable 1.127 WHIP. Closer Mike MacDougal had 20 saves out of 40 games finished, with a 3.60 ERA. 24-year-old John Lannan was the only starter with a sub-4.00 ERA. Other than these few individuals, the pitching stuttered and faltered all year.

In short, this team was not very good. However, baseball is give and take. As we’ve seen there were players to highlight even amongst all the losses. It would only be a few seasons before the team started to gain their relevance and success. We all know that 2022 was not one of those seasons.

The 2022 Nationals

I’ll keep this section brief because this abysmal season wasn’t long ago enough to completely forget. The 2022 Nationals were a bad team that somehow managed to exceed the expectations of just how poorly they would perform. The season started with one of the best players in the game in Soto, and a top-10 1B in Josh Bell. Unfortunately, they were given no help even at the start of the year. Even before the eventual trade of both of these players, the lineup around them still struggled. The hitters limped to the end of the season with a .249 BA and a .668 OPS, both numbers lower than even what the ‘09 team ended with. There were no stellar players on the squad that weren’t dealt to the Padres. A few players, such as Luis Garcia, put up serviceable numbers, but as we all are well aware, it wasn’t even close to enough.

Putting it bluntly, the starting rotation was for the most part, atrocious. Patrick Corbin provided the Nats with the worst ERA in the majors. Several of the other starters posted 5+ ERAs. There was nothing special about the rotation. If it serves as any consolation, Josiah Gray, at least, is young. His problems may be ironed out in the future. Despite this, the 2022 rotation clearly was just not good enough. There were some solid performances coming out of the bullpen from the likes of Erasmo Ramirez, Carl Edwards Jr., Andres Machado, etc. This didn’t really serve to soften the blow of watching the team get shelled over and over. There is a clear disparity even with a pitching staff as underwhelming as the ‘09 squad.

Where to now?

So I said it wouldn’t all be doom and gloom and I intend to keep that promise. In baseball you can never truly predict what the future holds. The ‘09 Nationals maybe never thought they would ever escape the bottom of the barrel. But they did. The 2022 Nationals might have the same thought process. Yet, they don’t truly know what the future holds. The easiest way to look at how the current Nats could push forward in comparison to the 2009 Nationals is to look at the younger players.

Obviously, the roadmap for the Nationals this season and over the next few seasons hinges a large amount on the prosperity of the prospects in the system. Players like Gore, Cavalli, Hassel, Wood, the list goes on, all are the biggest pieces of the future of the team. Certain young players with some MLB experience already are also set to play a crucial role, such as the battery of Keibert Ruiz and Josiah Gray. This was also the case for the Nationals way back in 2009. Jordan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond, and Mr. National himself, Ryan Zimmerman, would all go on to be crucial pieces of the Nationals squad and lead them to be a much better team in years to come. All of these players were under 25 in 2009. Drew Storen was drafted by the Nationals that year, and proved to be a reliable pitcher in the next several seasons. The biggest thing that happened in 2009, amidst all the losses and struggles, was drafting one man that would be one of the most important Nationals in franchise history: Stephen Strasburg. We all are aware of just how good he was.

The future is never certain, especially in sports. The road will likely be bumpy, there will be more controversial decisions, more upsetting moments, more crushing defeats. That’s not all there is to the story however. The lows will always make the highs even more rewarding and exhilarating. As we’ve looked at today, there is a point where it’s only up from here. If the ‘09 Nats could make it, so can the ‘22 Nats.