You may have heard: some team called the Redskins plays their season opener this weekend. It seems as though that team has some sort of local following, so attention may start to shift away from baseball in the region soon. (Ahh, sarcasm: the sweet sustaining humor for those sick enough to still be reading – and writing – Nats posts this far into a lost year.) It’s a shame. If things had gone slightly differently…

In the crush of stories about stadium financing, team ownership, and MLB’s general level of Scrooge McDuck miserliness, it’s been easy to forget that, had the Nats been able to put a few more runs on the board last year, Washington’s inaugural baseball season would likely have included a playoff run. Washington’s patchwork starting staff and heroic bullpen were ninth in the league in runs allowed, but the Nats were dead last in runs…