Can the Nats do it?

It was 22 years ago in 1992 when a championship trophy was last hoisted by a Washington DC big-4 sports team. According to one DC sports figure, that is about to change. ESPN and other news sources are reporting that Bryce Harper’s media interview preceding a spring training practice exuded confidence as he stated his intentions to win the World Series this year. For what it is worth, every player has championship aspirations for their team whether their team is a legitimate contender or not.

Therein is the question: Are the Washington Nationals the favorites to win the 2015 World Series? Are they even contenders?

After a disappointing NLDS against the eventual World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, it is natural that the Nationals have high hopes for the new season. Within their own division, the cards are clearly in their favor. The random decline of the Phillies and the Braves highlighted by clubhouse controversy and baffling trade decisions eliminate them from the conversation. A still growing Mets team still seems like a long shot. This proves the only real competition to the Nationals for the top spot in the NL East is the Miami Marlins who are posed for a nice wild card run this year.

To place the assumed NL East banner-winners up against the best of the NL gives the conversation merit. Assuming everyone in the league stays healthy – not likely – the pitching rotation for the Nationals seems strong with Strasberg and former Tigers Cy Young winner Max Scherzer but can it match up with Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu from the Dodgers or Bumgarner, Cain, and Lincecum in San Francisco? The answer is no. Strasberg and Scherzer are good pitchers – elite even – but the rest of the rotation doesn’t quite add up.

But pitching is only a small part of the game, you say. Indeed. Defense in general, aside from pitching is nearly ruled out skill wise as new shifts and strategies make every player seem better. Thus in our age, to win a game means you have to score runs which is now more of a skill, not prevent runs from being scored.

So how do the batters for the Nationals look next to other top hitting teams? The basic standard would be batting average. Continuing with the Giants and the Dodgers (last year’s winner and pre-season favorite) both teams had three players hitting over .300 (Panick, Pagan, and Posey; Uribe, Crawford, Turner) while Denard Span was the only National with the accomplishment. In fact, the team’s overall batting average only ranked twelfth in the MLB and fifth in the National League (behind COL, LAD, PIT, and SF).


The one hope that the Nationals really can hold onto at this point is that eight players will be playing for contracts this season. If all eight step-up and the batting can improve, the Nationals have a shot at the National League pennant and a shot at the World Series. Though possible, the Nationals would still be considered a bit of an outsider in the championship conversation. 

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