# So do Nats get an extra year as reigning Champs? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [March 31, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749 "2020-03-31T18:29:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/1 "2020-03-31T18:29:47Z")
I know it’s petty but will Nats be the reigning Champs for 2 years with a cancelled season? ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/2 "2020-03-31T18:39:58Z")
Not that it came up a lot bug I said the Caps were the current Stanley Cup champs until game seven of the 2019 finals ended. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/3 "2020-03-31T18:58:58Z")
As a Nats fan, this has been the one little silver lining I cling to. The Nats are World Champions until further notice. When I really need a pick me up, I watch Howie Kendrick’s go ahead HR that hits the foul pole (ding!). ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/4 "2020-03-31T19:40:12Z")
I’d say so. I’m pretty sure that the Blue Jays were considered “reigning champions” going into the 1995 season. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/5 "2020-03-31T19:48:24Z")
More or less by default, yes. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/6 "2020-03-31T20:16:28Z")
I’m not sure it’s even an official thing. In theory, though, if the next season is 2021, then the Nationals are still defending their title. I’m pretty sure baseball will get an abbreviated season of some kind in. Half a season is better than none. The NBA and NHL are screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/7 "2020-03-31T21:08:49Z")
Maybe it’s like a term of office and their championship ends on schedule. Then there’s a vacant spot for the current season until a new champion is established. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/8 "2020-03-31T21:35:18Z")
They are champions til there’s a new champion. By the same token, the Asterisks retain their title of Cheatin’ Chokers. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/9 "2020-03-31T21:43:10Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > They are champions til there’s a new champion. By the same token, the Asterisks retain their title of Cheatin’ Chokers. Could you imagine the uproar had the Astros actually beaten the Nats? We might be talking of a 4-year span of no legitimately recognized champ. The Cubs would potentially be the “true” defending champs! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/10 "2020-04-01T23:38:57Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > They are champions til there’s a new champion. By the same token, the Asterisks retain their title of Cheatin’ Chokers. That’s my new conspiracy theory. The Los Angeles Xtreme developed and released the coronavirus so the new XFL season would be cancelled halfway through and they get to keep their championship from 2001. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/11 "2020-04-02T07:38:12Z")
I gloated online that the Eagles were still “real” NFL champions are the Patriots feeble victory over the Rams in Super Bowl 53. Frankly it was a frail boast. At best the Nationals if the season is delayed until 2021 will be “defending” champions but in no way 2020 champs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/12 "2020-04-02T14:39:12Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > the Nationals if the season is delayed until 2021 will be “defending” champions but in no way 2020 champs. This. Should there be no MLB games in 2020, the Nationals will still only have won the one championship in 2019, but would be the reigning/defending champions in 2021. The analogy would be how the 1993 World Series winners (Toronto Blue Jays) were the defending WS champions in 1995, since there was no World Series played in 1994 due to the strike-terminated season and lack of any post-season. That doesn’t mean the answer to some kind of gotcha trivia question, “Who was the MLB World Series champion in 1994?” would have a legit answer of “Toronto Blue Jays, as carryover from the last WS played” - the legit answer is “no value”. As for a guy like Howie Kendrick being able to put “World Series Champion” on his calling card or something, he already can do that for the rest of his life. Once a champion, always a champion - kind of like the title of “President” is used for all US Presidents, present and former, living or dead. Unless they were to go the unprecedented step of vacating the 2017 World Series, I suppose, which the Commissioner has already said is not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-nats-get-an-extra-year-as-reigning-champs/850749/13 "2020-04-02T15:05:25Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > As a Nats fan, this has been the one little silver lining I cling to. The Nats are World Champions until further notice. When I really need a pick me up, I watch Howie Kendrick’s go ahead HR that hits the foul pole (ding!). I’ll probably still be watching that periodically decades from now while I’m crapping my Depends. Future grandkids will say, “Gramps looks sad; let’s show him the Howie video again.”