Remembering where you were...

“Remember where you are, so you remember where you are, right now, at 11:50 Eastern Time. Remember where you are, on October 30th, 2019, when the Washington Nationals finished the fight.”

Ask every Nationals fan where they were when Charlie Slowes uttered those ever so slightly grammatically incorrect words, they will be able to tell you in a heartbeat.

Me? I was at my favorite sports bar just outside of Boston with maybe about 15-20 other Nationals fans, about to have more than a few adult beverages until the early hours, not too concerned about work the next day and a likely grim four-hour bus ride to New York City.

Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

I was also proud to be at Federal Baseball, covering the World Series and postseason for the Nationals, writing stories pretty much daily to attempt to capture the team’s historic run.

Having the opportunity to write about Howie Kendrick’s go-ahead grand slam in Los Angeles, Ryan Zimmerman hitting the first World Series home run in franchise history, and the build-up to that fateful Game 7 in Houston will always be personal highlights for me.

After just over three and a half years at Federal Baseball, a time that I’m so happy included that magical World Series run, I’m sad to say that I will no longer be writing for the site, even if the circumstances which have led to this mean it’s a decision I’m not entirely thrilled about.

To say that it has been a journey during my time with Federal Baseball would be an understatement.

When I joined the site back in early 2019. Bryce Harper was still a free agent, Juan Soto was coming off of a season as a bright-eyed rookie, and little did we know what that season would bring.

I depart with the franchise about to go through an almighty rebuild — no, Mike Rizzo, you can’t call it a reboot anymore, sorry — to try and build the next core of a competitive roster.

I can’t say enough good things about Patrick and what he does for the FBB community. He’s been not only a great editor and colleague, saving me numerous times from my heinous British spelling and grammar, but has also been a good friend and sounding board during my time here.

Patrick does not get the credit he deserves for everything he has done for Federal Baseball, so it was a pleasure to be able to write for the site he helped build.

It’s also been great to share the site with fellow writers during my times here, Matt Weyrich, Will Kubzansky, Audrey Stark, Brett Barnett, Marty Niland, David Driver, and James Meyerriecks.

Unlike most of the names above, I don’t really come from a journalistic background. I wrote because I enjoyed it outside of my day job, following the Nationals in more depth, and putting my usually dumb ideas out into the world. Every chance I got to read everyone else’s pieces for FBB, I did, and took the opportunity to learn to be more than an idiot with a keyboard.

And, obviously, the FBB community that makes the whole thing tick. I always tried to keep up with the comments on-site, even during that World Series run when hundreds upon hundreds of comments flooded in as we all experienced the emotions together.

Whenever I wrote, I always wanted to be as objective as possible, putting aside what I want to happen, and looking at what I think will happen. But I’m still a Nationals fan. So, I was right there with you, through the highs of 2019, to the lows there have been since then.

I don’t know what’s coming next for me. I still enjoy writing about baseball, even in the doldrums of the Nationals’ 2022 season, and have launched a new podcast about the team.

Maybe you’ll see me pop up somewhere writing about my dumb baseball ideas again. I don’t know.

In the meantime, come and say hi to me on Twitter at @FinneyBlake. For some reason, Twitter decided to give me a scary blue checkmark, but I promise I’m friendly!

Hopefully, I’ll see you all on the other side of this rebuild for the Nationals. But at the end of my time here at Federal Baseball, I thought it was a fitting time to remember how I was here for some pretty damn incredible moments...