On July 16, 2022, more than 37,000 fans crammed into Nationals Park on a muggy midsummer afternoon. Washington already had 62 losses by that point — still days before the All-Star break — and there was little hope that a second-half surge was coming. Fans were there to see their homegrown prodigy, Juan Soto, and because of a Star Wars-themed bobblehead giveaway: “Juan Solo.”
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Soto had helped the franchise win its first World Series in 2019, and became the youngest player to win an NL batting title the following season. On that afternoon, fans clutched their bobbleheads and rose to their feet every time Soto stepped to the batter’s box,
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