It’s the final week of the season for the Nats. Just six games remain in the next six days, so we thought we’d give you that many reasons to head over to RFK one last time.

1. Fonsi’s Career Year
When Bowden and Co. went out and traded for Alfonso Soriano last year, we celebrated the bold move. In June, we made the case for keeping him, in the face of relentless pressure (some of which we applied ourselves) to trade him for an anticipated prospect bonanza. Soriano stayed, and now is putting the finishing touches on a year that is historic by any statistical standard: he’s the fourth player with a 40 homer/40 steal season ever, and has distinguished himself from that club by hitting 40 doubles. At a brand new position, his 22 outfield assists are far and away the most in the league. Batting third this final week, he has the chance to get to 50 homers and 100 RBI.

Does he also have high error and strikeout totals? Sure. Does the prospect of losing him to free agency this winter make it difficult to embrace him? You bet. But he’s finishing a damn fine offensive season, and has the chance to make it even better this week.

2. A Team That Never Quit
As fun as last year’s first-half run was, the wheels came off in the second half. There was ugly infighting, and a lot of guys clearly stopped trying as the slide continued.

Though out of contention for most (all?) of this season, the team has shown a remarkable amount of grit, especially lately. The Nats have played .565 ball in September, winning five of the seven series played. When Nick Johnson broke his leg in a nasty collision this weekend, the team rallied around him, donning his knee-high socks and displaying his jersey in the dugout during Sunday’s win at Shea. Last year’s team may have won more ballgames, but they never gelled the way this team finally has.

AP photo by Kathy Willens