It's Been a Shockingly Long Time Since Washington Nationals Traded With This Team
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The Washington Nationals are no strangers to making trades.
In recent years, they have been the ones to ship out their talented players, getting back prospects to kickstart their rebuild after they failed to defend their 2019 World Series Championship.
If there is a deal to be made, general manager Mike Rizzo has not shied away from making it, regardless of who is on the other side of the aisle.
Well, just about anyone that is.
There is a long-standing television rights deal battle that's taken place between the Nationals and Baltimore Orioles at MASN, and while things seem to be resolved now, perhaps that might be a reason why the two franchise hardly ever do deals with each other.
In fact, BrooksGate shared that it's been 23 years since these two teams made a trade with one another, and it wasn't even when Washington was in the nation's capital since they were still in Montreal as the Expos when they shipped Hall of Famer Tim Raines to the Orioles for cash on Oct. 3, 2001.
That's pretty surprising.
While the former owner of the Orioles, Peter Angelos, strongly opposed Major League Baseball moving the Nationals to Washington ahead of the 2005 season, not trading with a team for coming up on 24 years is taking the cold shoulder to the next level.
Of course, players have to be made available and be pieces that either team wants to acquire, but it's hard to imagine something couldn't have gotten since rivals across the sport have made trades with each other in this span.
Perhaps the contention over the MASN television rights deal and lobbying to block the move to Washington is enough for each franchise to blacklist the other when it comes to making a trade.
That wouldn't be shocking, especially when considering the egos of billionaire owners.
It will be interesting to see if or when this drought gets snapped.
Both the Nationals and Orioles are on an upward trajectory fueled by young talent, so that makes it even more unlikely that something gets done since neither wants to do anything to help the other gain an upper hand when it comes to prominence in this market.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai