Nationals’ red-hot offense helps push them further up the power rankings originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Washington Nationals were not a team that many people had on their radars coming into the season. However, they are now a team that everyone is paying attention to.
They have blown past their limited expectations to become a team that could fight for a postseason spot later this year.
They have taken down some of MLB’s more elite teams, like the Atlanta Braves, and that has largely been because of the team’s red-hot offense. They have scored 416 runs going into Monday, which is the most across MLB, while holding a .741 OPS, which ranks them fifth.
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Nationals’ red-hot offense helps push them further up the power rankings
Last week, the Nationals had a challenge on their hands. While it wasn’t earlier in the week against the Kansas City Royals, it was the weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
They took care of the Royals, taking the series 2-1, but would fold against the Rays, losing the series 1-2. But even with an average week, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter still bumped them up a spot in his latest power rankings from No. 9 last week to No. 8 this week.
“Another week is in the books and the Nationals still lead the majors with 416 runs scored. Even glove-first second baseman Nasim Nunez is getting in on the action out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup with a gaudy .404/.451/.532 over 51 plate appearances in June. It will be fun to watch their lineup square off against Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez on Thursday.”
This scorching offense will now turn its attention to the Phillies, with a matchup on Thursday against one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, Cristopher Sanchez.
After that, they play a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles, and those two series should be a real test for this team this week.
