Davey Johnson and Mike Rizzo show optimism about Washington Nationals for future-MLB News
Heartbreaking failure in the last game of the five-match National League Division Series against St. Louis Cardinals has not made Washington Nationals’ officials forget the overall success they enjoyed in the season.
Both, manager Davey Johnson and General Manager Mike Rizzo, take pride from the great number of wins their team managed in the regular season.
They bank on the tremendous talent of their young players to express optimism and to believe that they will start a new journey from now onward which ensures them regular appearances in the playoffs.
Nationals are relatively inexperienced with regard to playing in the post-season. Most of their players are in the process of becoming fierce competitors one day. They will take a couple of years before they become mentally strong.
Washington entered into the playoffs this year with an impressive win-loss record. If their dominance in the regular season was any indicator, they will have easily got through to the post-season.
However, their players despite being talented could not absorb the pressure of the crucial matches. They ended up handing the Cardinals the licence to proceed further in the season.
GM Rizzo is of the view that the losses suffered in NLDS will help his players improve next year and learn how to finish high profile games as winners.
"Come spring training next year, we'll be more battle-tested. Our young players will have grown up and they'll be veterans," Rizzo said. "And we'll know how to react to the playoff atmosphere."
Johnson worked extremely hard with the Nationals all through the season. In-fact, his meticulous planning and innovative ways of managing the team are one of the reasons why the Nationals played so well in the regular season.
Johnson, though disappointed after an unlikely loss against the Cardinals in the fifth match of the series, has claimed that he is satisfied with the performance of his team by-and-large.
"We proved our worth and we just need to let this be a lesson and ... learn from it, have more resolve, come back and carry it a lot farther," Johnson said.
For a club which has not tasted the experience of the playoffs for years, making it there can in itself be a great achievement. No wonder the Nationals have left the season holding their heads up high.
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