Nick Piccone
The Nationals have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs this season, with an even better chance at assisting the New York Mets in their routinely scheduled September collapse.
But on Monday, the Mets didn’t make it easy for them. In a game full of plays that make you go how are one of these teams about to make the playoffs, Bryce Harper was miffed that the fans left the stadium early during a crucial game [one that the Nationals lost]. I’m not surprised, and neither should you be.
“I mean, they left in the seventh, so that’s pretty brutal,” Harper said. “I don’t know. Whatever.”
Harper was not wrong. The Nationals announced attendance at 34,210, which is above their season average, though the park was not full. By the eighth and ninth innings, after the Mets had turned a topsy-turvy game their way and opened a three-run lead, much of the upper deck and visible swaths of the lower levels were more sparsely populated than they once were.
…
“I mean, playoffs is totally different. When we play in the playoffs, our fans are going nuts. They’re going crazy. I think the loudest I’ve ever heard it was probably when me and (Asdrubal) Cabrera went back-to-back in (Game 1 of the 2014 NLDS). That was pretty insane. Throwing the towels, doing what they’re doing, that was pretty incredible. This is a totally different atmosphere than what playoffs is like.”
Former Phillies closer, Jonathan Papelbon, also lit into the fans when the Nationals hosted the Braves this past weekend.
“I’ve got a little bone to pick with some of the fans here tonight,” Papelbon said then. “I saw a few of them sitting down. I’m not gonna lie, we need to stand up in those situations. Let’s get that going, ya know what I mean. Because this is playoff baseball.”
It’s one thing to wait until the playoffs to come out and cheer for your team. It’s another thing to not realize this is your playoff run because if you don’t catch the Mets, you’re not getting in. Nationals fans aren’t that smart.