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As excited as he is about the starting rotation he will get to work with and the talent the Washington Nationals have assembled for the 2014 campaign, Nats' pitching coach Steve McCatty stopped short of any bold predictions for the upcoming season in his recent appearance on the MLB Network's Hot Stove show. "Kind of like last year, after the 'World Series or Bust'-thing, I'm not going to say anything," McCatty joked. "We don't play this game on paper, so we'll wait and see how it goes. I'm going to keep my excitement back a little bit."
Davey Johnson's bold statement, which he later admitted was just an honest expression of what he thought the goal should be after 2012's Nats took the division title and came within a strike of the NLCS, has been blamed for placing too much pressure on the 2013 Nationals, who underachieved and fell well short of their goal of returning to the postseason and winning it all.
Johnson told the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore in a mid-September interview that he realized early in the season that there were some "cracks in the dam" and said late this year that the goal changed to setting his successor up to win. "'We still have a few little things to fix, so the next guy coming in can say, ‘We’re going to win the World Series,'" Johnson explained.
FBB Archives: #WSOB And Another Comedy Pyramid
While Johnson's '86 Mets responded well to his bold preseason pronouncements, with the likes of Wally Backman and Darryl Strawberry saying it inspired confidence and led to them playing all season like they were going to the division, it didn't go as well in the nation's capital in 2013.
So maybe we can come up with a new motto for the 2014 season that won't place as much pressure on the Nats? While everyone is relaxing on the day off/holiday, any chance we can build a comedy pyramid?
(ed. note - "Comedy Pyramid" n., (käm′ə dē pir′ə mid): def:1. a. On a live radio show Nats blog in the winter, where listeners readers call in comment and add their own anectdotes, etc., on a specific topic, thereby growing the bit funnier and funnier.")
1. 2014 Nats: They 'should' be better than the Marlins. No pressure though.
2. 2014 Nats: Who wants to win in an unlucky year? 2014 World Series Champs sounds much better.
3. 2014 Nats: 82 Wins or Bust! Don't Be Greedy.
4. 2014 Nats: Who wants to be our Buckner?
5. ?
Got a better one? Add your own "World Series or Bust!"-ish motto for 2014 in the comments and see if you can amuse anyone who actually comes around today...
