The Washington Nationals entered April as the odds-on favorites to win the National League. Coming off a 96-win 2014 campaign that saw Matt Williams win the National League Manager of the Year award, things were definitely looking up for Washington. And after it added ace starter Max Scherzer to the mix, the team looked nearly unbeatable.
Eight months later, and the Nationals are home for October after finishing this past regular season with an 83-79 record.
This disappointing season has also cost Williams his job — an amazing about-face less than a year after earned the NL's top manager honors.
It was an abrupt end to a two-year tenure what saw Williams criticized a great deal for in-game decision making, especially during the Nationals disappointing 2015 campaign. Amazingly, Williams finishes as Nationals managerial career 34 games over .500. Such is the nature of the beast when expectations are set incredibly high.
In addition to the firing of Williams, the Nationals completely cleaned house.
Randy Knorr (bench coach), Steve McCatty (pitching coach), Rick Schu (hitting coach), Bobby Henley (third-base coach), Tony Tarasco (first-base coach) and Matt LeCroy (bullpen coach) are also out of jobs.