The Washington Nationals have been marred by a woeful bullpen that’s challenged all season to be the worst in MLB. They’ve also had to battle through a series of injuries to their starting rotation, including back issues for its ace Max Scherzer. And throw in the fact they’ve been searching for a fifth starter since March.
Yet, the Nationals are atop of the NL Wild Card standings, and a large reason behind that is their overpowering offense. Monday, it was on full display as they hammered the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-0. Washington jumped out to an 11-0 lead by the fourth inning highlighted by four home runs.
Monday’s power storm follows an impressive showing comes on the heels of their scoring 14 runs Saturday in a loss, and 16 runs Sunday in a win against the Milwaukee Brewers. The 43 runs is a franchise record for most runs over a three-game stretch.
The Nationals also became the first National League team since 1996 to score 13 or more runs in three straight games.
Throw in their 17-run display against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 14, Washington has scored 62 runs in their last five outings, the most since the 2007 New York Yankees.
The Nationals have won seven of their last eight games. Their lone loss was to the Brewers Saturday in which a Sean Doolittle blown save helped lead to a 15-14 extra innings loss.
The Nationals have hit 24 home runs during that eight game stretch, including 12 over the last two games. They have averaged 9.87 runs during that stretch. Washington, who have a two-game lead for the top NL Wild Card and are five back of first-place Atlanta in the NL East, now have the second-best runs differential in the NL at plus-81.
The Nationals offense is potent from top to bottom that features Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, Matt Adams, Trea Turner, and Adam Eaton. But, has also got plenty of contributions from the likes of Asdrubal Cabrera, Victor Robles, Brian Dozier, and Howie Kendrick among others.
Their bullpen has been struggled posting an NL-worst 6.00 ERA. Their closer Sean Doolittle is on the 10-day injured list with knee tendinitis after struggling through his last several outings. However, it appears the Nationals have an antidote to their pitching woes, simply just bash in more runs.
With Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, and a returning Max Scherzer to man the top of their rotation, the Nationals are inching towards being a dangerous team late in the season going into a possible run at October baseball.
