The current focus of the MLB is on New York Mets' starter Matt Harvey, who will face the Washington Nationals tonight. But perhaps the biggest of all issues lies in Washington, where the Nats are in danger of missing the playoffs. Could it cost their general manager and manager their jobs?
Rumors as of late indicate manager Matt Williams could be fired if the Nationals fail to make the postseason. The club made headlines for months prior to 2015 after they signed Max Scherzer, who was expected to lead the so-called "super rotation" to the World Series.
Their starting rotation hasn't been bad (3.86 ERA ranks ninth in MLB), but many were expecting Scherzer's presence to put it over the edge after the unit led the league in starters' ERA (3.04) last season.
However, much of the blame can be placed on Williams because the Nationals rank among the league's best in total ERA (3.75, 10th in MLB) and runs scored (605, eighth in MLB).
A lot of the rumors surrounding managers at this point have also focused on Dan Jennings (MIA), Brad Ausmus (DET), Bryan Price (CIN) and Lloyd McClendon (SEA), but Williams makes for the most interesting case. He went 96-66 in his rookie season in 2014 and won NL Manager of the Year. That doesn't seem to matter to the team's ownership.
"While the only attributed comments coming out from Nats people regarding Williams thus far are GM Mike Rizzo's words of consistent support and praise, sources say Nationals ownership has been generally quite unhappy with what's going on with the team," writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. "Though Nats higher-ups may not be quick to admit this, sources suggest that behind closed doors club owners at some point within the past few weeks have spoken about the possibility of dismissing Williams, though it isn't known how seriously they actually considered it. (While Rizzo has been vocal in local stories regarding Williams, he declined comment on this story.)"
A rival GM told Heyman that Williams "looks too uptight" while an AL scout said the team as a whole looks "undisciplined."
His managerial strategies have increasingly come into question and a previous report suggested he is not a favorite among the players.
And although it's much less likely, the man who hired Williams - general manager Mike Rizzo - could also be in a vulnerable position. While there haven't been any reports on this front, some MLB executives have been pondering about such a drastic change in Washington.
"Rival executives continue to wonder whether ownership will initiate major changes if the team fails to make the playoffs -- changes even above manager Matt Williams," FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal writes.
"For now, all of the talk is speculation, and not necessarily informed speculation ...
"Still, the Nats opened the season with a club-record $164 million payroll, according to the Associated Press -- the sixth-highest in baseball. Ownership has every right to be restless -- for as much as the Nats boast about the success of the Stephen Strasburg shutdown in 2012, they have yet to win a postseason series."
Rizzo has done an excellent job building this current Nationals' team, and quite frankly, the fact that they can't put together wins doesn't have much to do with him. However, his choice of the team's manager has a lot to do with him, and the reason the wins are not as plentiful as they should be is likely because of Williams.
Rizzo has unequivocally defended Williams throughout the Nats' struggles, which were most glaring during the month of August (they finished 12-17). They were 13-13 in July and that shows Williams failed to adjust to the problems the team experienced, or were beginning to experience, the month prior.
And now it all comes down to September. The Nats sit five games behind the Mets for first place in the NL East and will face them five more times before the season ends. They also have one of the easiest schedules to close out the year, with matchups coming against the Marlins, Phillies, Braves, Reds and Orioles - all of whom are under .500.
Let's also not forget: Rizzo opted to stand pat at the trade deadline with impending free agents Ian Desmond and Jordan Zimmermann. (Denard Span and Doug Fister are also set to hit the market, but injuries significantly decreased their value.)
Desmond and Zimmermann are expected to walk at the end of the year, and although that was already known within the organization after the two rejected contract extension offers, ownership may not be too happy that Rizzo failed to get value for either player when he had the opportunity to do so.