Washington Nationals
Best-case scenario: The Nats have one of the youngest core groups in baseball. Among projected regulars Keibert Ruiz, Luis Garcia, CJ Abrams, James Wood, Trey Lipscomb and Jacob Young, the average age is not yet 25. If that youthful exuberance matures as Nats fans expect it to, Washington could be the surprise of the NL.
The pitching depth isn’t there to support competitiveness with the division’s heavyweights. But if MacKenzie Gore can improve on his 10-12, 3.90 ERA performance in 166 innings from last year, he’ll give the Nats an anchor. Mitchell Parker is only 25 with the talent to knock at least a half point off his 4.29 ERA. The same holds true for DJ Herz.
Give Nats manager Dave Martinez all that and it’s not impossible to envision a 10-game improvement to the .500 level.
Worst-case scenario: Or perhaps the kids don’t mature. Among the six youthful regulars mentioned above, none produced an OPS pushing .800 last year… what’s to say any of them will do it in 2025?
Washington was last in the NL in homers last season and 14th in runs per game. Abrams did manage 20 homers, but he also led the team in whiffs. The Nats imported Nathaniel Lowe to play first base and provide punch, but he only hit 16 homers last season with a 762 OPS. Is that really the answer?
If the offense doesn’t improve, it’s hard to see Washington doing much more than floating through the season in fourth place.
Most likely scenario: With that much young and developing talent, some of it almost has to mature. That alone should make the Nats better than a 71-win team. But it would take a lot — probably too much — to work all the way up to 81 wins, much less contend.