Washington Nationals: Plan to Make 2017 World Series
By Ron Juckett
ROSTER CAN WIN IT ALL
We can moan all winter over whether a healthy Stephen Strasburg would be the difference maker in the NL Divisional Series loss. Remember, in games Max Scherzer did not pitch in the NLDS, the Nats went 2-1.
We cannot go back and plug Strasburg into that series, but with the rotation where it is they can win a playoff round.
If you add a Bryce Harper producing at a higher level than he did this year and a full year under Pedro Severino’s belt behind the plate, you have a team that easily won the NL East this year and had home field for the LDS. That is an advantage.
This assumes Mark Melancon stays and Trea Turner produces at a level close to what he did in his half-season, but outside of the Chicago Cubs, a healthy Washington Nationals were the second-best team in the NL.
Seasons such as what the Cubs pulled off are once every 10 years in dominance. No matter what happens during the World Series, history is against another Cubs regular season steamroll. The 25 men on the active roster are capable of winning it all, provided there are no more major injuries. Those 95 wins this season was not an accident.