With the start of the 2019 season rapidly approaching, I believe it’s time that we give you the ultimate breakdown of each division and predict their position in the standings come season’s end. It’s hard to predict record, so we’ll just give you their placement in the standings. Of course, this is coming from a fan’s perspective and what we think it could look like, not what it will. Today, we focus on the National League East and the Washington Nationals:
Washington Nationals
2018 record: 82-80, 2nd in NL East
Projected Lineup:
RF Adam Eaton
SS Trea Turner
LF Juan Soto
3B Anthony Rendon
1B Ryan Zimmerman
2B Brian Dozier
CF Victor Robles
C Kurt Suzuki
Pitcher
Starting Rotation:
RH Max Scherzer
RH Stephen Strasburg
LH Patrick Corbin
RH Anibal Sanchez
RH Joe Ross
Rh Jeremy Hellickson
Key Bullpen Pieces:
LH Sean Doolittle
RH Trevor Rosenthal
RH Kyle Barraclough
Key Bench Pieces:
INF Wilmer DiFo
INF Howie Kendrick
OF Michael A. Taylor
1B Matt Adams
C Yan Gomes
In recent years, the Nationals have been crowned the NL East champions during the preseason because, on paper, they’ve had playoff contending teams. Sure, they lost Harper which is a huge blow, but they still have Anthony Rendon who is quickly becoming one of the top 3B in the game. A triple slash line of .308/.374/.535 with 24 home runs, 44 doubles in 2018. A free agent after the 2019 season, the Nationals should really look to lock him up long term and pair him with the young superstar Juan Soto and hopeful stud Victor Robles for years to come. Soto looks to expand on his excellent rookie season where he hit .292 with 22 home runs and a team leading .923 OPS in 116 games. If you extrapolate those numbers to include another 40 games, the Nationals may not miss Harper all that much.
Max Scherzer has had 5 consecutive seasons of 250 strikeouts or more, 6 straight seasons of 200+ innings, and 3 Cy Youngs with 2 within the last 3 years; he is one of the best in baseball and the true definition of an ace. After him, you get Strasburg and the newly acquired Corbin. That’s a very good 1-2-3 to start your season off. You just have to hope that Corbin can produce like he did in his 2018 or 2013 campaigns and not like any of his other seasons where he was your average middle of the rotation guy. After them, the rotation drops off a bit with the aging Anibal Sanchez, the underperforming Joe Ross and the veteran Jeremy Hellickson.
The Nats have a solid reliever at the back end of that bullpen with Doolittle. 1.60 ERA, 0.600 WHIP 25 saves, 60 strikeouts in 43 games in 2018. He leads the bullpen supported by guys like Rosenthal, Barraclough and Tony Sipp.
82 wins and a 2nd place finish was disappointing for the Nationals who were slated to win their division with ease in 2018. Even with the loss of Harper, the emergence of Soto, Rendon, Turner and eventual debut of Robles, I think the offense has enough to support an already strong rotation, a solid bullpen and a pretty good bench. They seem to be the most complete team right now in the division. They just need for all the chips to fall in the right places.
2019 prediction: 1st in NL East
