With the Phillies winning the season opener in Washington, we hearken back to this graphic:

Good pull by Mr. Powers. Totally forgot about the Natitude tweet from August of 2020. That was the season after their fluke World Series win, when Houston collapsed in the late innings of game seven. The Phils weren’t doing particularly well in the shortened COVID season, then they won 82 games the following season, fired Joe Girardi, and went on a run to the World Series.

The Nationals, meantime, haven’t had a winning season since their World Series accident. They’ve won 65, 55, 71, and 71 games in the last four seasons. No one wants to play in a half-full ballpark with terrible shadows and smarmy Washington politicos scattered throughout. That tweet aged like the raw milk in Bryce Harper’s latte. It’s right up there for worst baseball proclamation since Jazz Chisholm Jr. said the Marlins were ready for prime time, then got swept in the wild card round en route to losing 31 of their next 41 games. Talk about a mush! Put Chisholm Jr. in the bathroom with the Nats’ social media manager!