Last season the White Sox set an MLB-record with 121 losses marking them as literally historically bad. Onto this season, the Rockies entered the Month of June with a record of 9-49 - abysmal. However, we are now more than halfway through June and the Nationals have entered the conversation of being amongst the MLB's worst teams, supported with an MLB worst 3-14 record in the first month of the summer.
The Nationals hitting, though still subpar, has been their strength this season. James Wood is a star of this team batting .285 with an OPS of .925 at the time of writing. CJ Abrams follows not far behind with his average at .273 and OPS of .815 . Despite these young stars, the team has still been below average on offense. Depth is key, and they lack stellar depth. Their ranks in some categories are as follows: BABIP (Batting Average Balls in Play) of 26th, WAR (Wins Above Average) of 26th, BB% of 25th, Average and OPS ranking of 22nd, and a total team offensive rating of 23rd. This here... this is their strength. The team has to be better, and they are not.
Onto the Washington pitching staff, they truly leave much to be desired. Mackenzie Gore has been an all-star caliber ace, but besides him, the staff ranks out very poorly. The pitching stats rank as: ERA of 26th (and this is aided by Gore), xFIP of 25th, Left on Base % 26th, and BABIP of 25th. Their defense as well? All-world bad. Their defensive rating on Fangraphs ranks dead last in the MLB and their Outs Above Average is 29th, just ahead of the Athletics.
As of June 20th, there are still five MLB teams with a record worse than the Washington Nationals. This is the Rockies, White Sox, Pirates, Marlins, and Athletics. So let's dive into how they rank across the league.
The Rockies are a consensus currently as the league's worst team. They trump everyone by being bottom five and worse than Washington in five key offensive categories - WAR, Offensive Rating, AVG, OBP, SLG . They also hold this same mark in four key pitching categories - WAR, xFIP, ERA, BABIP. It is safe to say that the Nationals are at least better than the Rockies. That being said, they did win 3/4 this week against the Nats...
How about the White Sox? They are also quite bad. They share the same bottom five profile as the Rockies do on offense. Their pitching, however, is a lot more solid, only being bottom five in two of the listed pitching categories. Shane Smith and Adrian Houser both have sub-3.00 ERA's, so credit can be given to Chicago for showing something respectable in their pitching, though it still falls short as being considered good. In comparison, the Nationals only have one starter with a sub-4.00 ERA (Mackenzie Gore).
The two previous are surely the MLB's worst, but we will look into the others. The Pirates are also bottom five in all five offensive categories - no good. Their pitching, on the other hand, does not show up at all amongst the MLB's worst. Paul Skenes is probably going to win the Cy Young in 2025. Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney hold sub-3.50 ERA's and their 4th option Mitch Keller is just at a 4.08 ERA. They need hitting improvement, and the Nationals lead them in that sector, but they lose any advantage in the pitching side of things.
The Marlins are the sole team this season that the Rockies managed to sweep in a series. Being a fact, this makes Miami less than stellar. They rank 24th in offensive rating, but show promise in other categories. The Marlins, in fact, are 8th in the MLB in average and 4th in BABIP. Their pitching is what makes them certified bad, being bottom five in the MLB in all four listed key categories. As a consensus you could say that they are about on-par with the Nationals with better hitting, but also poor/worse pitching. The Marlins did sweep the Nats earlier this month.
The Athletics shown flashes, and as the Nationals have been struggling, the A's have been a better than bad. The Athletics have hit quite well compared to league average. Their offense is 9th in the MLB in rating and 10th in batting average. However, they are dead last in pitching WAR. Like the Marlins, they show shine, but need more all-around promise to be a playoff team.
When you run down the league's bottom tier teams, the Nationals have gone head to head in some aspects. This is not very promising for the fans. The team has been on a downslide recently, losing 2/3 to Colorado and a sweep hosting Miami. They also lost a 2 game set to a subpar Texas team and got swept by the Mets. This team has one more month to answer the criticism. If they fail to do so, the season may as well be lost and more moves will have to be made both at the deadline and in the offseason to end a 6-year postseason slump.
Do you think I am too hard on the team? Do you have any extra information that you would like to be shared? Let me know your thoughts on X - @jetbets17