Photo by Intrepid/Nats.Talk

They say April showers bring May flowers, and for the Washington Nationals, they have guaranteed themselves a winning month of May to go with a 3-2 record in the month of March. A win today for the Nats would also win another series for the team with hopes and dreams for bigger and better.

The Nationals are not making any secrets of their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for making winning a constant. There was some bulletin board material posted by Padres’ shortstop Xander Bogaerts about the Nats before the series began.

A week ago, Jacob Young was interviewed on 106.7 the Fan radio to talk about the Nats as potential contenders, and the team’s belief of ❝Why not us.❞ Why not. Crazier things have happened in sports.

The Nats starter today is Zack Littell, his five appearances before today combined for a 2.19 ERA and a 4-0 record. His last appearance was his longest of the season at 7.0 innings and 106 pitches. With the extra day-off for the rotation, let’s hope that Littell is fresh and pitching like an ace today.

With the Nats offense leading baseball in runs scored, the Nats Big-5, the L.A.W.Y.R.’s of Lile, Abrams, Wood, Young and Ruiz have a combined +7.9. And recently, Young, Ruiz, and Curtis Mead have all passed Lile in WAR with Wood at the top. Mead is just behind Ruiz at +0.9. While that might not sound like a lot, that’s a 2.5 WAR player who wasn’t a starter until recently.

Here is the usage chart for manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. The numbers are getting very large as the season is headed towards the halfway point on June 24. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

San Diego Padres vs. Washington Nationals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 177 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.