The Washington Nationals (40-33), winners of six straight, may just be the streakiest team in baseball. The current leaders in the NL East got off to a horrendous start, posting a 7-13 record in their first 20 games. In their next 28 games, however, the Nats put up a blistering 22-6 record, which jumped them up to first place in the National League East, 1.5 games up on the New York Mets.
From there, Washington slumped again, going 6-14 in their next 20 games, which dropped them down to one game over .500 and 1.5 games behind the Mets. Since then, their roller coaster of a season has continued as the Nats have swept back-to-back series against the Pirates and Braves and are now seven games over .500, heading into their series against the Phillies this weekend
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The Nationals’ offense has been up and down right with their record. Currently, they are third in the National League in runs scored, which may seem a little misleading. During their first bad stretch in May, the Nats averaged 3.5 runs per game, which was the seventh worst in all of baseball. After the Nats caught fire however, it was a completely different story. Washington averaged an amazing 5.4 runs per game, which was good for the best in the NL. The Nats’ bats then went cold again, averaging 3.1 runs per game through June 18th. That stretch did include a 16 run game against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 16 at Tropicana Field
During their current six game winning streak, the Nats are averaging 5.2 runs per game. However, it has not been their offense that has been paving their way to victory, but rather their starting rotation. Dating back to the second inning of Joe Ross’s start on June 19th against the Pirates, the Nationals’ starting pitchers have gone a franchise record 41.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run.
With a now-healthy rotation that has rounded into “super rotation” form, this team may finally be able to shake off the term “streaky” and earn the more preferable term that fans expected when the season began, “dominant.” If the offense is able to score enough runs, then this pitching staff will always be able to put the Nats in a position to win. Between Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Max Scherzer, Jordan Zimmermann, and the rest of the Washington roster, the pieces are all there. It is just up to Matt Williams and Co. to maximize them.