Eight moments Nationals fans can be thankful for this year

Thanksgiving is upon us! You know what that means... sitting down with family, eating turkey, and saying what we’re thankful for. Unfortunately, we can’t provide you with turkey (or family), but we can give you some moments from the past year (Nationals-related, of course) to be thankful for.

1. Anthony Rendon showing his love for Taylor Swift:

Okay, so technically this is two moments, but Anthony Rendon showed a whole lot of love for Taylor Swift during Spring Training — both verbally, and in t-shirt form — which we should all be *very* thankful for.

2. Bryce Harper’s campaign to “Make Baseball Fun Again”:

Harper started the season by making some very controversial statements in ESPN The Magazine about the unwritten rules of baseball, and then followed up on Opening Day with a hat reading “Make Baseball Fun Again.”

3. Bryce Harper’s 100th home run:

If you weren’t thankful for Bryce Harper after this season, just remember this one: the most dramatic player in baseball hitting a moonshot grand slam for his 100th home run. Bryce Harper, ladies and gentlemen.

4. Scherzer’s 20 strikeouts:

History is something we should always be thankful for — and Max Scherzer seems to be pretty good at making history, with two no-hitters and a 20-strikeout game, the latter of which came in May.

5. The “Johnny Jonathan” incident:

Remember when Jonathan Papelbon was on the Nationals? Even if he’s gone, and a lot of people didn’t like him when he was here, he was still on the Nats once, so you have to be thankful for him a little bit (like that one family member you have to be thankful for to some extent) — and we were all most thankful for him during the “Johnny Jonathan” incident.

6. The DC Strangler:

Jayson Werth says a lot of funny stuff, which is something that we can be thankful for every day. One of his best lines from last season? “The D.C. Strangler,” which came after a walk-off single against the Phillies. It’s anyone’s guess as to who he was talking about.

7. Kiss my A**:

Did we mention that Jayson Werth says a lot of funny stuff? In another (much more profane) postgame interview after another walk-off (this one a double against the Chicago Cubs), Jayson Werth dropped another great line.

Warning: These videos include a lot of profanity.

8. Bryce Harper’s tribute to Harambe (and generally great bat stickers):

Before Game 5 of the NLDS, Bryce Harper paid tribute to Harambe with a bat knob decal commemorating the life of America’s favorite gorilla — but that was just one of the many bat stickers Harper had showcased during the 2016 season, which were always a sight to behold (and a sight to be thankful for).

(All of the great bat stickers Harper featured this season can be found here.)

We almost certainly missed something — so let us know exactly what we missed by telling us the moment you were most thankful for last season in the comments section! (We’ll be very thankful if you choose to share.)