The 2013 season is filled with storylines. Will Mike Trout and Bryce Harper continue dominating their craft? Will the New York Yankees be able to survive all their injuries? Can the Los Angeles Angels finally make the playoffs? These and many other questions come to mind. One of the other main storylines coming into the season has been how well the Washington Nationals will play this season. Most “experts” expected them to run away with the division and some even crowned them the best team in all of baseball. At this point in the season those experts have been dead wrong.
The National League East to this point in the season has been dominated by the Atlanta Braves. They are currently 28-18 and are on a six game winning streak. The Nationals on the other hand are only one game over .500, with a mark of 24-23. The main storyline for why the Braves have been so good is their bats. Justin Upton, who is currently leading the league in home runs with 14 is a big reason why. Justin is not the only hot bat in this lineup. Rookie legend Evan Gattis has hit 10 home runs on the year and is the high favorite for rookie of the year.
The Braves have been playing great at home this season with a record of 15-5. They swept the Nationals earlier in the season and split a series in mid April. Many skeptics are confused as to why the Nationals are not playing like the team they were in 2012. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of run support their pitching staff has received. They are 14th in the NL for batting average at an ugly .225. Since their batting average is so low it has affected the amount of runs they score a game. They are currently 13th in the NL and have only scored 159 runs, compared to the Braves 204.
Enough about the offense, lets get into the pitching side of things. The Braves have a team ERA of 3.35, while the highly favored Nationals pitching staff checks in at a 3.53. Craig Kimbrel, the closer for the Atlanta Braves had a bump in the road during their 10 game road trip and has blown three saves on the year. He has recently gotten back on track and looks like the Kimbrel of 2012. The Nationals closer Rafael Soriano has also blown three saves on the year and is looking good as well.
The talk of the year has been Stephen Strasburg. He has pitched well on the season but is only 2-5. His ERA is great at 2.66 and a lot like Kris Medlen needs more run support when he is on the bump. Strasburg had an outing against Atlanta that scared a lot of Nationals fans. It seemed after every single pitch he was favoring his throwing arm and trying his hardest to get it loose. He had zero control that game and ended up receiving the loss. From that day on he has pitched much better but is still looking for that run support every pitcher craves.
It is no secret that the Braves and Nationals are the two front runners in the East. The Nationals bats should wake up soon but if the Braves keep playing at the pace that they are, it might not be enough. Regardless this season is going to be very interesting and the potential to see these teams match up in the NL Championship Series is still very possible.