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Are the World Series-bound Nationals throwing shade at Bryce Harper?

mike oz

You know this narrative by now: The Washington Nationals have made it further in the postseason without Bryce Harper than they ever did with Bryce Harper. This is particularly true now that they’re World Series bound for the first time in franchise history.

And while there are plenty of baseball reasons to explain why the Nats are a better team this season than in the past, the meme era really isn’t as into logic as it is LOLs.

The past couple weeks have seen plenty of people on social media making Bryce Harper jokes — including us here at Yahoo Sports. But something happened Tuesday to make us wonder if even the Washington Nationals are getting their Bryce jokes off.

Behold this tweet and video that the Nats released before Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. It seems like a harmless hype video that a team would release before a game that could lead to a World Series berth for the first time in Expos/Nationals history.

The part of this to pay close attention to is, “We want to bring a title back to DC.” Seems like an earnest enough goal. But if you remember pro athlete gaffes, you’ll remember what happened during Harper’s introductory news conference with the Philadelphia Phillies last spring.

Is this just a coincidence? Maybe. But is anything really a coincidence these days in brand Twitter?

So if this was a moment of fan-service for the Nats fans who are reveling in their October charge, the fans got it and appreciated it. Just look at some of the replies:

So even if the whole thing were just a coincidence, the Nats are still winning in their fans’ eyes, but they also have plausible deniability. That’s what makes it a good tweet.

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Mike Oz is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @mikeoz

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