Tonight, I saw something that seemed to represent the Washington Nationals’ season very well: a wet, lonely baseball sitting in a parking lot with the rain pouring down all around it. Its prospects were very low. However, the potential of that baseball apart from its circumstances was very high! But, in its current state, it was useless and hopeless. This is most likely how many Nationals’ fans feel about how their season ended up. What went wrong? This season has fans scratching their heads and wondering how things could have gone so incredibly wrong.

This was a team that was predicted to at least get to, if not win, the World Series this year. They did anything but that this season. Things started out dismally. Everyone thought they would turn it around after a while. They just need to “warm up.” Starters suffered injuries and everyone said, “They’ll work around it and ride it out!” And they did…for a while. But not long enough. And it got harder and harder to simply blame their failures on the injuries. Especially as one after another, their starters trickled back to where they had about 90% of their original starting lineup back healthy again. Many thought this would be the turning point in their season. And it indeed should have been. Instead, things only got worse! As the Mets ramped up their play and started stringing wins together left and right, the pressure built and the Nats started to crumble. “Must win” after “must win” series slipped away and before they knew it, the former NL East Champions had dropped below .500 and let the Mets take a secure grasp on the division. Aside from a few moments of intensity and dramatic wins, they really never rebounded.

Many blame the management. Matt Williams, after winning National League Manager of the Year in 2014, seemed to have severely lost touch with the team as a whole. And after many, many questionable in-game decisions—Game Four against San Francisco last year, anyone?—and off the field decisions—is Danny Espinosa even on the team anymore?—the word is that he will be gone at the conclusion of this season. Which is ultimately a very good thing, based on the word now coming out of the clubhouse about his managerial habits in general. However, it does make you look back and think how good this team was supposed to be for years. We had an incredibly deep farm system, bench, and a loaded rotation and lineup. We were supposed to be set. And in the blink of an eye, it’s like our previous playoff endeavors never happened. It seems like an eternity since Nats’ fans endured the gut-wrenching round one loss to first the Cards and then Giants.

A number of questionable managerial moves, highly debatable signings in first Soriano and then Papelbon to deal with the supposed problem that was Storen, 29-31 saves, and all this season, and here we are. A team in shambles. A tired fan base. And a soon-to-be team without a manager and seemingly without direction. However, all is not lost. We do still have the encouraging young infielder, Trea Turner, to look forward to and hopefully another blowout year from Bryce Harper.

So while it feels extremely dismal and hopeless right now, this incredibly forgettable season will soon come to a close and hopefully a new chapter will begin for the Nationals. This is a team that can do big things, and if all the pieces can come together properly I see positive things in our future. This season has simply shown that no matter how high the expectations and predictions are, no team is ever guaranteed success. You never know what can happen. And this year it just simply didn’t go our way at all.