The Washington Nationals open today at 4.5 games from a Wild Card slot and trailing the Philadelphia Phillies for that final Wild Card spot. Mired in a 5-game losing streak, the team has to wake up. The trade deadline is over. Time for the Nationals to get back to winning.
Manager Blake Butera has to get his offense going. The top offense in baseball has been mostly limited to home runs for their offense, and not enough RISP hitting recently.
❝A really tough time, and a tough week. … Not an ideal time to go through a funk. I thought we played really well until this past week. … Every team goes through it, a stretch of time they haven’t played their best. … Guys are frustrated with losing.❞
On offense, the Nats have the 1st in MLB for the most runs scored this season at 607 runs, and that is an impressive 5.37 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.76 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +18 run differential on the season.
The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.
Washington Nationals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1st Pitch: 6:40PM EDT TV: Nationals.TV Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 175 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
I said that my goal is to make the Nationals the envy of sport.
To me, that means an organization defined by our relentless pursuit of excellence, strengthened by our connection to each other and fueled by our positive energy. As a result, we become an organization that players and staff are itching to join because they know it’s where they will develop and thrive most; a place that energizes our loyal fans and attracts new ones, and where success is achieved – and sustained – over time.
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