Houston Astros and Washington Nationals: How they stack up for the World Series
By Bill Felber
Offense
By numerous measurements, Houston had the best offense in Major League Baseball in 2019. The Houston Astros ranked first in numerous categories, among them batting average (.274), on-base average (.352), slugging average (.495), and bases on balls (645). They also ranked last in strikeouts (1,166), another very good trait.
If Houston wasn’t first overall in a category, it was probably close. The American League champions ranked third in the majors in runs scored (920), hits (1,538) and home runs (288).
They were indifferent in only one category of note, that being their 17th standing in stolen bases (with 67). As if anybody cared about stolen bases these days.
Save for steals, Houston ranked ahead of Washington in every one of the above-mentioned categories. For the record, the Washington Nationals were third in the majors in steals with 116.
But if Washington’s offense was not as dynamic as Houston’s, it was still dynamic. The Astros ranked second behind Houston in on-base average (.342), sixth in batting average (.265), sixth in runs scored (873), seventh in both base hits (1,460) and slugging (.454), and eighth in walks (584).
While they struck out more frequently than the Astros, it wasn’t a lot more frequently. Washington ranked 27th among the 30 teams in whiffs with 1,308.
Their one obvious and potential problematic shortcoming is power. The Nats ranked only 13th in home runs (231), and tied for ninth in OPS+ — that’s context-adjusted on-base plus slugging – at exactly the major league average of 100. The Astros led in that category too with 119.