Washington Nationals: Five Reasons They Won NL East
By Ron Juckett
STARTING PITCHING
We all expected Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg to post monster numbers. What Tanner Roark did to fill in during Strasburg’s injuries was not.
Roark’s 2.70 ERA leads the rotation. His 15 wins ties Strasburg for second and his 200.1 innings is a career high.
In his fourth season, Roark pitched himself into the number two slot of a powerful rotation on merit. Nine times this year he took a shutout into the seventh inning.
Scherzer pitched himself in contention for a Cy Young. His 267 strikeouts in 217.1 innings kept batters off balance all year. With 18 wins, his pinpoint control and stinginess with baserunners caused many sleepless nights for the opposition.
Strasburg did not lose a decision until July 21. If a flexor mass injury had not reared this summer, he was on the verge of a 20-win season with a sub-3.00 ERA. Still, he went 15-4 and pitched deep nearly every game.
Joe Ross emerged as a solid starter and Gio Gonzalez flashed some of the brilliance he owned during his 21-win season a few years ago.
Grabbing Mark Melancon from the Pirates at the trade deadline shored up the bullpen, but the strength of Washington’s starting pitching is why they won the division.