What’s Next for Washington Sports?

If you’re a fan of the professional sports teams in our nation’s capital, which of the following best describes your current state of mind?:

A.) “Wow!  All four of my teams are looking great!  Wizards and Caps in the second round of the playoffs, Nationals with one of the best lineups in baseball, and the Skins just landed the best defensive player in the draft!  I haven’t been this excited in a long time!”

B.) “It’s unlikely that the Wizards and Caps advance, but man they were exciting to watch.  Once the Nats get a closer healthy, they’re the team to beat.  It’s only a matter of time before Kirk Cousins is signed to a monster 15-year deal that will make him a Redskin for life.  We might not win anything this year, but next year LOTS of championship trophies!”

C.) “Until we’re in the championship game in any sport, it’s all just fluff to me.”

D.) “GODDAMN IT OVECHKIN!!! PASS THE PUCK!!!”

E.) “Go DC United!”

F.) “I like the Mystics’ chances this year.”

Indeed, it’s been a while since all four DC professional franchises have been this good all at once.  There’s been a lot of success lately, but nothing to show for it other than highlight reel plays, awkward contract negotiations with Dan Snyder, and far too many overtime games against an 8-seed.  That’s not to say a championship trophy for any of these teams is out of reach.  In fact, each team has decent odds for taking home a championship trophy fairly soon.  But each team also has decent odds for breaking it down and starting it all over again.  I wouldn’t say that all of them are in a “win now” mode (though one can make an argument that the Redskins are currently in that mindset as they enter the final years for both Gruden and Cousins), but they’re pretty close.  The pendulum can swing either way at this point.

Washington Capitals

Year after year after year, the Capitals are the best team in hockey…during the regular season.  And year after year after year, they fall short and never make it past the second round.  Why?  No one can really seem to find an answer.  Some say it’s because they are weak in the center and allow themselves to get pinned into their own side of the ice. Some say that they’re not fast enough for bad match-ups in the playoffs. Some say that Ovechkin doesn’t know how to pass at the right times.  To be honest it’s all of that, and none of that.  Sometimes it’s simply bad luck.  Watching them in the playoffs, you can tell that there’s something not quite clicking like it had been during the regular season.  I think a lot of that is the giant playoff monkey named Sidney Crosby that has been dancing on their backs for several seasons.  An argument can be made that the new NHL playoff format (which is a total joke and slap in the face to all that is holy and good in the world) is the main reason.  How can you possibly pair the #1 vs. #2 seeds against each other in the second round?  If anything, it makes the regular season completely irrelevant.  Still, the Caps had the fortune to face the “Wild Card 2” (aka #8 seed) Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. It should have been a sweep, considering that the Caps finished with 55 wins and an 81 point goal differential compared to 40 wins and a goal differential of 9 for the Leafs.  The Caps won the series 4-2, but five of those six games went into overtime.  Not a good sign for the NHL’s best team who already had a knack for playoff failure.

What’s next?  It’s hard to say.  At the time of writing this, the Caps beat the Penguins to force a game 7, so I would say that the future is finally looking bright.  However, where the Caps go from here could easily hinge on this one game.  Win, and the Caps finally dump the Crosby kid off their backs.  Lose, and they face a long, uncertain future where fans and players alike begin to accept that nothing can ever be done to get to the Eastern Conference finals.  Not even the greatest coach in the world could convince the players otherwise.

Washington Nationals

Harper, Turner, Murphy, Weiters…this team can hit the paint off the ball.  Their rotation continues to be strong.  For the 2010s, the Nationals have been one of the top teams in baseball and continue to gain a stronger following.  This year, they have the third best record in baseball and already sport a six game lead over the second place, sex toy marketing, golf hangover laden New York Mets.  But that bullpen, oh my God that bullpen.  Here’s a live look as Blake Treinen takes the mound:

What’s next?  The Nationals are still young enough and talented enough to make it to the World Series.  The bullpen will be fine once they all come back from the DL, which will allow Blake Treinen to enter some much needed therapy given how many horrible outings he’s produced.  Once the bullpen returns to health, this team could reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history.

However…

There is one big elephant in the room:  Bryce Harper’s contract.  He’s eligible for arbitration next year and can become a free agent in 2019.  Already there are people saying that he will be headed to the Yankees, and possibly so.  If the Nats lose the cornerstone of their franchise, it will be very difficult to compete in the coming years.  I won’t say the Nats are in “win now” mode, but with Harper’s contract it’s damn close.

Washington Wizards

For the past few years, the Wizards have been good but not great.  It’s no secret that their two stars, Bradley Beal and John Wall, don’t exactly get chummy with one another on or off the court.  Wizards fans counted down the days until their hometown kid, Kevin Durant, became a free agent.  Unfortunately for Wizards fans, Durant didn’t even grant the team an interview.  While Durant began the season acclimating to life on the left coast and the high-flying Warriors, the Wizards began the season in disarray.  It looked early on like the season was lost, but suddenly Wall and Beal kicked it into a second gear and the team took off.  They surprised a lot of people when they pulled ahead of the Raptors and made a run to finish within striking distance of Boston and Cleveland for the top two seeds.  It took them six games to get past the scrappy Hawks in the first round, and now they’re in a literal boxing match with the #1 seed Boston Celtics.  The winner heads to the Eastern Conference Finals to face a well-rested Cleveland team who swept the Raptors with so much ease, that Lebron decided to shoot left handed to see what would happen.

What’s next?  If the Wizards can get past the Celtics, they are going to be worn down.  It would not be surprising if they get swept by the Cavs.  However, of all the DC professional teams the Wizards’ future looks the brightest when you look at it in the long-term.  Thanks to a new rule in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, teams can now spend more to keep their star players without it counting so much against the cap.  This will ensure that star players are able to stay with their teams for much longer.  Cleveland’s run will eventually run out and the Wizards have the talent and youth to stick around for a while.

Washington Redskins

I’ve spoken at length about the situation with the Redskins here.   The Redskins had one of the best drafts in recent memory this past month and landed some much needed defensive help.  Losing Garcon and DJax hurt, but not as much as people might think.  Pryor is more than capable of filling DJax’s shoes.  Garcon’s possession skills will be missed, but Cousins will find a way to get the ball around.  They won the division the season before last and nearly made the playoffs this past season.

What’s next?  Fear and uncertainty.  That’s what’s next.  This organization is run by the worst owner in sports.  Gruden is nearing the end of his contract and Cousins is on the franchise tag.  If there’s ever been a team to define the “win now” mentality, it’s the 2017 Washington Redskins.  Even if the Redskins somehow manage to re-sign Cousins to a long-term deal and extend Gruden to a few more years, there is going to be some steep competition in the division.  The Eagles had an amazing offseason, the Giants addressed some much needed depth, and the Cowboys are still locked and loaded with Dak and Zeke.

So Washington fans, here’s my advice.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  You may win some championships, and you may not, but for a city that hasn’t seen a major championship since my wife was in kindergarten, you have to strap in and hope for the best.

My wife, Marissa (left) and her cousin Jason (right).  This photo was taken around the time Washington saw its last professional championship.