The Washington Nationals were strong favorites coming into the season to possibly lead the league in wins due to the lack of quality in their division. Perhaps the NL East was underrated by those observers.
The Washington Nationals have opened their season 6-8 coming into the weekend, having just lost catalyst Adam Eaton to the DL and third baseman Anthony Rendon out of Saturday’s lineup after hurting his toe on Friday.
The Washington Nationals were widely assumed to have an easy road to an exceptional record in 2018, but while their play hasn’t been perfect, it’s the rest of the division being better than many believed that has the Nationals opening Saturday in 4th place in their own division.
Let’s look at each of those division foes and the challenge they place for the Washington Nationals this season going forward:
Atlanta Braves
The Braves have been rebuilding since the 2014-2015 offseason, when they traded away multiple major pieces of their organization for minor leaguers and young players. That rebuild is seeing its first wave hit the major leagues, and the #1 farm system for multiple years running, according to Baseball America, has shown its strength in its young players this season.
The scary part for the Nationals is that the Braves should only get better this season. Uber-prospect Ronald Acuna should come up from AAA early in the season, power left-handed arms Luiz Gohara and Max Fried are on the cusp of the major league rotation. Multiple power arms are going to work their way into the rotation.
The talent level of the Braves in August and September should be better than April, and already, the Braves have taken half of the contests on the season against the Nationals, going 3-3 over their first six games, outscored by Atlanta 27-24 in those matchups.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins have shown to be as expected, and they are the one team that opened Saturday below the Washington Nationals in the National League East standings.
The scary thing for the Nationals to consider with the Marlins is that they are already seeing some of the highlights that a young team like theirs can produce, like a first-time starter going six no-hit innings in his first career start, young 3B Brian Anderson sports a .400+ on base after his first 13 games, and center fielder Lewis Brinson is playing incredible defense. More will be on the way and in any game one of those young players could flash out and spoil what should be a win on paper for the Nationals.
New York Mets
Washington Nationals fans on Twitter have taken to the hashtag “#LOLMets” to make fun of their Big Apple division rivals. Instead as those hashtags abound with every new injury the Mets suffer, they just keep winning, now off to the best start in the major leagues at 11-1.
The Mets have elite pitching at the front of their rotation, and they’ve shown with new manager Mickey Callaway that they will be managing a deep pitching staff of talented arms in unique ways that can maximize performance of all pitchers on staff.
The Mets lack some in lineup depth in a direct comparison to the Washington Nationals, but with both clubs seeing first-year managers at the helm, it could be an interesting matchup throughout the season, one the Mets have swept so far this season.
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Philadelphia Phillies
Phillies manager Gabe Kapler is also in his first season at the controls in Philadelphia, and he has a young team that is on the rise that should continue to grow more and more accustomed to its surroundings in the big leagues as the season wears on.
One of the biggest issues in Philly so far has been how to split up playing time among all of their talented infielders, and finding the right mixture among them. As the season wears on, that balance will be found and will give the Phillies even more production.
The Phillies rotation has found its anchor in offseason signee Jake Arrieta to front a deep group of talented arms, with more reinforcements on the way that should arrive later in the season.
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The Washington Nationals certainly shouldn’t be worried this early in the season by any means, but they will likely have a much more steep challenge ahead in 2018 than most thought going into the season.