(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Washington Nationals were 55-107 in 2022 and 71-91 last year.
Everyone knows they have a lot of talented prospects and young players, but virtually no one expected them to be relatively close to .500 in 2024.
They were seen as being one or two years away at this point.
And they still aren’t quite a contender, but it’s hard to deny that they have taken steps forward in the last two seasons.
They are currently surging, and sealed their second consecutive series win by beating the always tough Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
“The @Nationals pick up back-to-back series wins. They’ve won five of their last seven games,” MLB tweeted.
The @Nationals pick up back-to-back series wins.
They’ve won five of their last seven games. pic.twitter.com/0XW0K3efgv
— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2024
Here they come!
The Nationals, with their last victory, are now 26-29 on the season as a whole.
They are third in the NL East, ahead of a team that made the playoffs as recently as 2022 (the New York Mets) and the Miami Marlins, a squad that was playing postseason baseball a few months ago.
Washington’s offense is not particularly productive, even though they do have some talented contributors such as Lane Thomas (still trying to recapture his 2023 form but showing signs of life in recent games), CJ Abrams, Nick Senzel, Jacob Young, Jesse Winker, and Luis Garcia Jr.
The pitching, however, has been rising to the challenge.
At 3.83, the Nationals have the 11th-best ERA in baseball, which is huge considering they were 27th last year with a 5.02 mark.
Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey have been relief aces, and MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, and rookie Mitchell Parker have been outstanding in the rotation.
This is a promising team on an upward trend.
Pay close attention to the Nats going forward.
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