Baker-led Nats the complete package
Let's forget about the 2012 season, when the Washington Nationals saw their No. 1 picks in consecutive years mature in a flash and become franchise players for a generation.Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper produced a two-fold phenomena four years ago: Not only did they help their franchise, which began in
Let's forget about the 2012 season, when the Washington Nationals saw their No. 1 picks in consecutive years mature in a flash and become franchise players for a generation.
The Nationals dropped the NL Divsion Series to the Cardinals.
Then came 2014. Let's definitely forget that season for the Nats. And, yes, I know they ended with the league's best record at 96-66. Those numbers also weren't flukes since they had pitching depth and impressive hitting, especially with Strasburg and Harper still growing and prospering. They captured the division by 17 games that time instead of by four, but they still caused sighing around the nation's capital after losing the NLDS to the Giants.
In contrast to other regular seasons for the Nationals, this one is threatening to evolve into a splendid postseason. They have the look (along with the pitching, the hitting and the essence of nearly everything else that comprises an elite team) of a gifted bunch that could go beyond just making the postseason. Think of the World Series, and now think of the Nats actually winning their last game.
I can't think of any issues for the Nationals.
"Yeah, we've been playing pretty well, but to be honest, our hitting has sort of been up and down," Nats center fielder
No question there. As a career .279 hitter,
Actually, seven is the Nationals' favorite number, because they rank seventh in the Majors in homers, runs scored and stolen bases. Or maybe two is the Nats' favorite number. So get used to hearing "Nationals" and "Cubs" in the same sentence for a moment. After all, regarding the number two or its equivalent, the Nats are second only to the Cubs in the big leagues in run differential, team ERA and opponents' batting average. Only the Dodgers make fewer errors than the Nationals (tied with the Tigers), and only the Dodgers have pitchers with more strikeouts overall.
In case you haven't guessed, the Nationals can pitch a little.
Sounds like this is the best Nationals team since the franchise moved from Montreal to Washington before the 2005 season. When I mentioned as much to Harper the other day inside of the visitors' clubhouse at Turner Field in Atlanta, he responded like many of his teammates: He nodded, and then he pointed to the perennially open door of the manager's office.
"It all starts with that man over there, sitting in his chair," Harper said, referring to Dusty Baker in his first year with the Nats and his 21st overall as a Major League manager. After running the Giants, the Cubs and the Reds during his previous stops, Baker has three NL Manager of the Year Awards, seven trips to the postseason and an NL pennant.
Among other things, Baker is noted for bringing dormant franchises back to life. During his first year with the Giants, they went from 72-90 to 103-59. The Cubs hadn't won their division in 15 years until Baker's North Siders did as much, and he also took the Reds to their first postseason trip in 15 years. So it isn't surprising that the Nationals have followed their mediocre finish last year of 83-79 with a steadily rising 78-55 mark. They enter their weekend series on the road against the second-place Mets ahead by 9 1/2 games.
To hear Harper and others tell, everything good about these Nats goes back to Baker, who specializes in keeping his players calm and confident with his easy personality and dangling toothpick.
"Having a guy like Dusty, who really brings that mentality here that you should have fun and enjoy the game, this all starts from him," Harper said. "We take advantage of that. We talk to him about anything we're going through, because we enjoy having him around. He's like that cool grandpa that you want to talk baseball with and that you just want to hang out with."
What Baker wants more than anything else in baseball is what he often says was his primary motivation for seeking another chance to run a team during his two-year layoff from the game: He wants his first World Series ring as a manager, and you know what?
With this Nationals team, well, why not?
Terence Moore is a columnist for MLB.com.