Just when you thought the Washington Nationals couldn't sink any lower, there they go, plunging to new depths.
Less than 24 hours after they were officially eliminated from postseason contention, the Nats watched Jonathan Papelbon, their mercurial closer, try to choke Bryce Harper, their star player and the potential National League Most Valuable Player—and the rest of us got to watch it, too.
I say "got to." But at this point, there's not even much perverse enjoyment to be gleaned from this train wreck. The Nats have gone from a disappointment to a downright embarrassment. The only appropriate response is to shake your head and look away.
The latest incident occurred Sunday in the eighth inning of Washington's 12-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. After Harper flied out to shallow left with the score knotted 4-4 and barely jogged down the first base line, Papelbon had words for his teammate in the dugout.
The exchange quickly escalated and came to an ugly head when Papelbon grabbed Harper by the throat before the two men were separated.
In the ninth, Papelbon took the hill, promptly coughed up the lead and exited to a serenade of boos from the Nationals Park crowd.
After the game, Papelbon attempted to downplay the scuffle.
"I grew up with brothers, he grew up with brothers, I view him as a brother," Papelbon said of Harper, per ESPN.com. "And sometimes in this game, there's a lot of testosterone and things spill over."
Manager Matt Williams told ESPN it is a "family issue" but added that "it's no fun when stuff like this happens."
This season hasn't offered much fun of any kind for the Nationals, who came into spring as prohibitive favorites to win the NL East, with their loaded lineup and star-studded super rotation.
Instead, the New York Mets have whizzed past them, while Washington has crumbled into a fractured heap of undelivered promise.
Even before Papelbon laid his hand on arguably the best hitter in baseball, there was acrimony swirling in the clubhouse.
"It's a terrible environment," an unnamed player told Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. "And the amazing part is everybody feels that way."
Blame can no doubt be spread around. Papelbon, who cemented his status as a classless malcontent while playing for Philadelphia, flashed his colors again on Sunday.
And the bad blood was already brewing between Harper and Papelbon. The pitcher drilled the Baltimore Orioles' Manny Machado on Wednesday in apparent retaliation for a home run celebration he deemed too emphatic. Harper responded by calling Papelbon's tactics "tired," per FoxSports.com.
But the buck stops with the skipper, and right now, Williams looks like a man with a dagger dangling over his head.
The Nationals won 96 games and the NL East last season under Williams, and the former All-Star third baseman won NL Manager of the Year.
Now, he appears to be losing his grasp on a team in free-fall.
"A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have thought it made any difference," another player told Svrluga, speaking about the importance of a manager in relation to overall cohesiveness. "But after what we've been through for two years? It's huge. Huge."
Does that mean Williams will get the axe? Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo left the door wide open, saying he would "evaluate everything that went right and went wrong this season," per Chris Lingebach of CBS D.C.
Rizzo will have plenty to jot in the "what went wrong" column.
The Nats were bitten by injuries, with Denard Span, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Doug Fister, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman all making trips to the disabled list. And others, including shortstop Ian Desmond, have significantly underperformed.
They've frequently swallowed their mitts, ranking 22nd in baseball with minus-18 defensive runs saved as of Sunday, per FanGraphs.
And the pitching staff, while not horrible, has failed to measure up to the preseason hype, posting the seventh-best ERA in the NL—almost literally the middle of the pack.
Really, it's been death by a thousand paper cuts for Washington, as CBSSports.com's Dayn Perry spelled out:
Again, there's no singular and obvious shortcoming with the Nats this season. You can't point to a league-worst offense or a bottom-feeding pitching staff or anything like that. It's instead been "soft" failures on a number of fronts that have made them the most disappointing team of 2015.
The Nationals have plenty to build around, including an offensive nucleus of Harper, Rendon and young talent such as Trea Turner. And they have studs in the stable, including Strasburg and Max Scherzer, the latter mostly living up to the massive deal he signed over the winter.
The first step is probably to wave goodbye to Williams and change the clubhouse vibe, symbolically and practically. Then you slap a muzzle on Papelbon (who is signed through 2016) and keep him the hell away from your franchise player's esophagus.
That by itself would be a great start.
Sunday might be remembered as the day the Nationals finally, emphatically hit bottom. At least, they'd better hope so.
Because if it gets worse than this, it's going to be painful to watch.
All statistics and standings current as of Sept. 27 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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