WASHINGTON — “I don’t want to think about what it would be like if he wasn’t here,” Sean Doolittle said, 56 hours before the MLB trade deadline. Doolittle is back in Washington this season, but out for the rest of the year with an elbow injury. As such, it’s looking increasingly unlikely he’ll ever play alongside Juan Soto again.
On what could be Soto’s last weekend as a Washington National, you wouldn’t really know it from the vibe inside the ballpark. Fans cheered for him loudest during the introductions and ahead of his at-bats — but whether that was as a precautionary farewell or simply because he’s the best player on the team is hard to tell.