If you’re a member of the Washington Nationals’ front office, you have to be thanking the baseball gods for setting up what might just be the most perfect unplanned PR stunt in the history of Major League Baseball.
Well, half-planned anyway.
After a promising 20-15 start, where a Nationals’ victory was considered in the realm of possibility each night, Washington has dropped 16 of its last 23, including five of its last six.
With the kind of luck Washington fans have had this year, you could almost hear the collective “Here we go again…” from your sofa.
But tomorrow the proclaimed savior of baseball in Washington, Stephen Strasburg, will take the field in his major league debut. Nationals Park, which seldom fills three-quarters of its seats, will be filled to the brim with curly W’s and talk of future championships.
And now, better than Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo could have ever drawn it up, those dreams will include Bryce Harper roaming the outfield for the 2012 World Series champion Washington Nationals.
While they watch in awe of the 21 year-old Strasburg’s polish, Nats’ fans will drool over the 17 year-old Harper’s potential. As their jaws slacken at the sight of one of Strasburg’s knee-buckling breaking balls, their mouths will recount the story of Harper’s 570-foot blast over the highway in the Las Vegas desert.
Should the Nationals win tomorrow in Strasburg’s debut, many fans will leave the ballpark confident that the rookie can carry Washington to the playoffs this year.
Even more will leave wide-eyed at what Strasburg and the Nationals’ other young stars—including Ryan Zimmerman and Drew Storen—could do with Harper in the mix.
And Mike Rizzo? He’ll be thanking a higher power for delivering his club the greatest PR stunt in MLB history.
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