The Nationals can’t seem to win — and not just division series.
Faced with relentless criticism about an alleged curse of Teddy Roosevelt, the team responded by having Teddy win every playoff presidents race from 2012 to 2014 through last week’s Game 1.
When that didn’t work out so well, they shifted gears and plotted a victory for Thomas Jefferson for Sunday’s Game 2 — which the Nationals won.
So for Thursday night’s decisive Game 5, another elaborate plot had Roosevelt fooling his fellow presidents by running the wrong way, then reversing course and bolting for the finish.
Again, it was Jefferson who caught up from behind, this time plowing into the Bull Moose and knocking Teddy into the stands.
Sadly for Nationals fans, the victories for Jefferson turned out to be as unrelated to the outcome as those historic Roosevelt wins, as the Nationals lost an epic heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Dodgers to end their 2016 season.
It was nonetheless a great showcase game for a team that has come a long way in it’s relatively short tenure in DC. Fans stayed — and stayed on their feet — until nearly 1:00am despite the closure of the Metro an hour earlier. The #NatsRide program, generated entirely by fans the day before the game, was an unqualified success, and a badge of honor for the team’s passionate and supportive fan base.
Some fans (see below) manage to still blame things on Teddy, but here’s hoping we’re finally past that.
Thanks to LetTeddyWin contributor lfahome for another season of great finish line videos:
LET TEDDY WIN 