Harper’s leg bends at an unnatural angle.

The Washington Nationals are one of the best teams in Major League Baseball. The team has a 15 game lead in the NL East, as well as one of the top lineups in baseball. Currently, they have the third best record in baseball and are a Vegas favorite to win the World Series. The Nationals have also persevered through several injuries to field one of the best pitching staffs in baseball; a staff that includes the favorite for the CY Young in Max Scherzer. Even the once horrendous bullpen has come alive after several great acquisitions right before the deadline.

However, the trajectory of this season may have taken a very sudden change, as MVP candidate Bryce Harper looked to suffer a gruesome knee injury against the Giants Saturday night. By some sort of miracle, there was no ligiment damage; just a signficant bone bruise. While he is expected back before the playoffs, he is headed to the DL now. Harper is the lifeblood of this ballclub and if he misses an extended period of time, the Nationals will be hurting.

The worst part about the injury is that it should have never happened.

Running to first, Harper stepped on a slick first base and hyper-extended his knee. This came in a meaningless game against the bottom feeding Giants. Already delayed for 3 hours due to weather, there was still a light rain coming down when the first pitch was thrown. Obvious to any viewer, the field was slick and not in playable condition. The rubber base covered in rain became as slick as freshly frozen ice. Despite these less than ideal conditions, the league acted irresponsibly and trotted out these teams to play on the rain soaked field. Protocol states that the call for whether or not to play is up to the MLB’s front office, with input from the home team. Teams only get 13 weekend home series a year, and a Saturday game against the Giants is expected to draw over 1 million dollars in revenue. The Washington front office really wanted this game to be played due to the revenue it would generate, and got their way after the MLB gave them the thumbs up. Now, they will likely pay for it.

Once the first pitch is thrown, it is in the MLB’s hands to call a game. From the very first pitch, it was apparent the field was not in good shape, yet the MLB allowed the game to go on. They felt as if they needed to get this game in, despite the danger it presented to the players. News flash: metal spikes are not made to be planted hard onto wet rubber. You see, the Nationals and Giants don’t play again this season, so the MLB would have to find a common off day for San Francisco to fly out to Washington to make up this game. Making this happen would have been very difficult, as the Giants only travel east of the Rockies one other time this season. Even with this true, it still could have been done. Although it would have been inconvenient for the Giants, the league needs to put the safety of players over anything else. The MLB was too lazy to worry about it, and now they must suffer the consequences, as they will potentially lose one of the game’s brightest stars(and biggest money makers) for a lengthy period of time. The MLB clearly had an error in judgement last night.

As for the Nationals, this will be the 4th outfielder they will lose to the DL this season. Harper is a huge loss, but they still have the depth to survive. Recently acquired outfielder Howie Kendricks has been tearing it up in limited playing time this season. Brian Goodwin has proved to be a solid starter. Both Michael A. Taylor and Jayson Werth are expected to return to action soon. Andrew Stevenson is a promising rookie that should see an extended role off the bench now. Even Trea Turner is capable of playing outfield, though Dusty Baker has made it clear he would like for him to stay at shortstop.

The Nationals have plenty of options. Even if the injury keeps Harper out through the playoffs, this is still a team capable of winning the World Series. The lineup would still have plenty of pop, and the pitching staff is capable of keeping games low scoring.They shouldn’t have to worry about it however, as Bryce Harper is a tough guy and should play again this season We all just need to be thankful Bryce has some abnormally strong joints.

While the injury may not be as bad as it appeared to be, this should still be a wake up call to the leauge office. Player safety should never be compromised. The MLB should be embarassed and ashamed. This is a bad look for baseball, and a sad situation for fans.