Washington Nationals on verge of repenting shut-down decision of Stephen Strasburg-MLB Update
With the National League Division Series between Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals tied, the former are in danger of succumbing to pressure in the next three games. The fact their pitching staff appears to be below par all of a sudden, it will
be hard for their hurlers to stymie the resurgent Cardinals that have beaten them so comprehensively in the second game.
Nationals’ starters have so far not performed as was expected. From the way their hurlers have outwitted batters throughout the regular season, it was a given that in the playoffs they will be even better.
However, in the first two matches of the post-season, they have failed to live up to their reputation.
In the first game, Gio Gonzalez who boasts being a Cy Young Award candidate struggled with his control. He was unable to absorb the pressure of the game as he ended up walking seven batters. Thanks to the relievers, he escaped the loss and witnessed his
side winning in the end.
Similarly in the second game, Jordan Zimmermann far from spearheading the Nationals to victory became the cause of their failure in the game. He gave up runs and let the Cardinals dominate the Nationals right from the beginning.
Against this backdrop, if the Nationals continue watching their hurlers disappointing them in the post-season, they will more likely regret the shut-down of their ace Stephen Strasburg.
Strasburg led the Nationals throughout the major part of their regular season and brought wins for them.
His axing from the season drew criticism against the team management as the experts believed that without Strasburg the Nationals may miss a great opportunity of winning the World Series in the season.
Far from paying heed to the denouncements, the Nationals removed Strasburg from the season so that they can protect him for the upcoming years.
The next few games will decide largely as to how the fans react to the decision of Strasburg’s shut-down. In case the Nationals lose the series, they will be unable to avoid the sea of criticism emerging against the management.
It will be interesting to see how the Nationals perform in the upcoming matches.
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