The not-golden gymnastics team

Photo by @GioGonzalez47

The Nats rookies pose before boarding their train for New York last night.

It's an annual rite of September, the day veteran players make their rookie teammates dress up in silly costumes for a road trip and subject them to all sorts of public and private ridicule.

Most MLB clubs do it, but the Nationals seem to be among the more creative groups when it comes to costume themes.

Last year, Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, Wilson Ramos and others were forced to paint their faces and chests blue and travel by train to New York dressed as Smurfs.

This year, Bryce Harper, Steve Lombardozzi, Tyler Moore, Christian Garcia, Eury Perez, Corey Brown and Sandy Leon walked into the clubhouse following yesterday's loss to the Marlins and found their regular clothes replaced by red leotards, doctored up to look like uniforms the U.S. Olympics Women's Gymnastics team would have worn in London this summer.

Their task: Squeeze into the leotards, pose for photos, take the team bus to Union Station, walk through the station in full public view, take the team's charter train to New York, walk through Penn Station in full public view, take the team bus to their Manhattan hotel and then walk through the lobby in full public view.

"I'm humiliated for them," first baseman Adam LaRoche said." I remember dressing up in a Spider-Man spandex costume about nine or 10 years ago. It's not a good feeling. They're all in [the clubhouse bathroom] doing all their man-scaping right now to get as cleaned up as they can."

We can only hope that "man-scaping" prevented any truly embarrassing moments for the lads during what had to feel like the longest trip of their lives.