David Huzzard: With Strasburg in doubt, young arms must step up

Some time last season, the Washington Nationals became just another D.C. sports team to me. This doesn't mean I'm no longer a huge Nationals fan or that I'm not going to buy a 2016 division champs t-shirt, because I am and I will. It means that I watch Nationals games in much the same way as I do Wizards or Capitals games; with mild disinterest and a bonus when the team wins. Most of the time I just fall asleep before the game is over.

For most of their existence the Nationals were the one sports team that I watched with bated breath, living and dying with every pitch. Over the course of a summer the players became like extended parts of the family that I invited into the living room each and every night. As D.C. sports fans, we know how the story goes. The teams will play well enough to give us hope and then take it all away in disastrous fashion.

There has been no worse sports moment in my life than Game 5 of the National League Division Series in 2012. I was seated directly across from the Nationals dugout and I watched the players stand on the top step, perched, ready to leap over the railing and mob then-closer Drew Storen on the mound, and as Storen continued to forever be one strike away from ending the game, I watched as the players shrunk back into the dugout and then back into their seats.

The Nationals have always been viewed as the team that can bring hope back to D.C., but was hoped dashed last night when Stephen Strasburg clutched his elbow? (sorry to be as melodramatic as a hack ESPN morning show host. I truly and sincerely apologize for that last sentence). Strasburg is one pitcher. He is one very good pitcher and the playoffs are most of the time low scoring affairs where every run allowed makes it that much more difficult to win. The Nationals won't be facing the Braves in the playoffs. They are going to have to prevent runs to make it easier to outscore their opponents, but there are other ways.

The key to playoff success for the Nationals now hinges on the bevy of young arms and the extended bullpen. Whoever ends up being the third starter in the playoffs can't be counted on for more than three innings. That is going to make Joe Ross' health and Reynaldo Lopez's success all that more important because they are going to be the key relievers in the playoffs for the Nationals. They are going to be the guys who follow whomever the third starter is when he departs the game early. Managers Bruce Bochy, Tony LaRussa, and Ned Yost have all had success in the playoffs with this exact tactic. Use the expanded bullpen in place of a mediocre starter. Why count on someone that you know will let you down when there are better options available?

Hope should never be truly lost and writing about the possibility of a deep playoff run gets my heart beating. The Nationals are the team with the best shot to bring a championship to D.C. My TV is always tuned to one of the local sports channels, but for me sports are background noise for life. The Nationals this October have a chance to bring sports back to life but they'll now just have to get a little creative.

David Huzzard blogs about the Nationals at Citizens of Natstown. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHuzzard. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our regular roster of writers.