Top stories of 2017: Another Game 5 loss

As we count down the final days of 2017, we're counting down the most significant stories of the year for the Nationals. Some are positive. Some are negative. All helped define this baseball season in Washington. We'll reveal two per day through New Year's Eve, concluding right now with ...

No. 1: Another Game 5 loss

It has become something of an annual ritual around here, rehashing another gut-wrenching loss in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. But until the Nationals prove they are capable of authoring a different ending to this story, we have no choice but to keep reliving the same nightmare over and over and over.

It happened in 2012, when the Nationals blew an early six-run lead to the Cardinals in Game 5 and then a two-run lead with two strikes and two outs in the ninth. It happened in 2014, when Matt Williams pulled Jordan Zimmermann with two outs in the ninth and a one-run lead in Game 2, turning the tide in a series the Giants ultimately won in four games. It happened in 2016, when a back-and-forth Game 5 with the Dodgers ended in a one-run loss.

And it happened yet again in 2017, in a fashion all too familiar.

The Nationals had done several things earlier in the series to try to change the narrative. An eighth-inning rally in Game 2 featuring dramatic home runs by Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman suggested this team was actually capable of hitting in the clutch in October. And a brilliant performance by an ailing Stephen Strasburg (plus Michael A. Taylor's grand slam) in Game 4 suggested this team was actually capable of staring elimination in the face and brushing it aside.

But Game 5 the following night had all the hallmarks of previous playoff meltdowns. Gio Gonzalez was given an early lead but let the opposition start clawing back and wound up lasting only three innings. Jayson Werth and Matt Wieters committed ghastly defensive mistakes that cost their team runs. And Max Scherzer, the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner who dominated Game 3 as a starter, completely fell apart during a one-inning relief appearance that changed the course of this game.

When it was over, the Cubs celebrated in the middle of the diamond, the Nationals trudged back to their clubhouse and a packed ballpark that had pulsed all night pleading with the home team to finally get the job done filed out quietly trying to comprehend this 9-8 loss.

It was the Nationals' second one-run loss in this series. All three of their losses to the Dodgers in 2016 came by one run. As did all three of their losses to the Giants in 2014.

It's the same story, told nearly every October, with only minor variations. And this one had major ramifications, costing Dusty Baker his job and leading to the hiring of Dave Martinez as the club's seventh manager in 14 seasons in the District.

Martinez inherits a club that will again be overwhelming favorites to win the National League East. But he'll go into the job knowing that's not going to be good enough. He was hired to lead this team over a hump the previous three skippers were unable to surpass. Add in the fact both Harper and Daniel Murphy are due to be free agents next winter, and the pressure to win in 2018 only grows.

There was so much else to praise the Nationals for accomplishing in 2017. Scherzer won another Cy Young Award. Zimmerman enjoyed a brilliant comeback season. Strasburg and Anthony Rendon stepped up and proved to be elite players. Harper and Murphy were MVP contenders at various points. Taylor made major strides. The bullpen was transformed from a weakness to a strength.

But this ultimately is a team sport, and no individual achievement outweighs the final result on the scoreboard.

Everyone in D.C. is tired of this story. But until the Nationals find a way to write a new one, it's the only story we know around here.