This just in: The Washington Nationals' offense is good, like, scary good.
Just how dangerous are the Nats' bats? So much so it’s hard not to draw comparisons to the juggernaut that was last year’s Chicago Cubs. Remember when Kyle Schwarber shredded his knee in the third game of the 2016 season and everyone thought the Cubs wouldn’t be the same without him? Well, it turns out they were so stacked it didn't matter. Following Schwarber’s injury, Chicago proceeded to lead the majors in scoring for the month of April before winning the whole blob of Silly Putty in November. This year’s version of the Cubs? That would be the Nats. And playing the role of Schwarber is none other than classically trained actor Adam Eaton.
When Eaton went down with a gruesome leg injury Friday night against the Mets, it was hard not to think that Washington’s destiny had been irreversibly altered. After all, through the first three weeks of the season, Eaton, who came over from the White Sox in a December blockbuster trade, had been 100 percent pure certified nails at the top of the order. He was constantly getting on base (.393 OBP) and setting the table for the big dogs, and even provided a little pop of his own (.462 SLG). Later that weekend, when the full extent of the injury was revealed (torn ACL, with a torn meniscus and a high ankle sprain to boot), it was damn near impossible not to go all doom and gloom on the Nats. Sure, they could still take the NL East. Maybe they could even win a playoff series. But no way they could go the distance, not without Eaton.
Then Sunday happened.
On Sunday (bloody Sunday, if you’re a Mets fan), Washington pummeled New York by scoring 23 runs on 23 hits in a game started by Noah Syndergaard, one of baseball’s most dominant starters. Granted, it was just one game. And granted, Thor came into the game seemingly not whole (biceps tendinitis) and left seemingly even less whole (strained lat). Still, 23 runs is 23 runs is 23 runs. And what 23 runs is, or at least what it appeared to be on this particular day, was the Washington Nationals' way of saying, "Adam Eaton or no Adam Eaton, you do not wanna mess with us, like, ever." Those 23 runs were also a bold-faced, 72-font punctuation mark (I’m envisioning an exclamation point or five) that put the finishing touches on one of the most ridiculous offensive months you'll ever see.
Here are the April highlights:
• The Nationals finished the month averaging 6.8 runs per game, most in the majors and more than a full run better than the next closest team (Yankees, 5.6).
• They scored 15-plus runs on three separate occasions, which was one more time than the other 29 MLB teams combined.
• Their OPS for the month was .879, the same as the career OPS of Hall of Famer Paul Waner and two points higher than that of Sammy Sosa.
• They have five regulars hitting above .300 (Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy, Trea Turner and Matt Wieters), and one hitting above .400 (Zimmerman).
• The lowest batting average of any of their regulars (.278, Anthony Rendon) was higher than the highest batting average of any regular on either the Kansas City Royals or Texas Rangers.
• Their 8-hole hitter (Wieters) ranked 16th in the National League in OPS (.934), and was one of just 10 NL players who finished April slashing at least .300/.400/.500.
• The top three RBI leaders in the majors were all Nationals (Zimmerman 29, Harper 26, Murphy 26). According to Elias Sports Bureau research, Washington is the first team since at least 1920 to finish April with a monopoly on the top-three RBI spots.
• Harper, who led the majors with 32 runs, is on pace to score 207 times, which would shatter the modern-day record of 177, set by Babe Ruth back in 1921.
• None of the above accounts for reserve Adam Lind, who’s 5-for-10 with two homers as a pinch hitter and overall has a higher OPS (1.061) than any National not named Harper or Zimmerman.
• Within the past week, they’ve had one guy hit for the cycle (Turner) and another guy put together one of the greatest single-game performances in the history of the sport (Rendon: 6-for-6, 3 home runs, 10 RBIs).
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, there are caveats. For starters, two of those 15-plus outbursts, as well as Turner’s cycle, took place at Coors Field, where things like that have been known to happen. And there were periods, especially early in the month, when Washington had trouble scoring (the Nationals were held to three runs or fewer 10 times in 25 games). Still, looking at the big picture, there are several reasons why it’s easy to envision these Nats continuing their raking ways in May and beyond, even without Eaton.
First and foremost, Harper looks every bit as good as he was during his 2015 MVP season and then some. Beyond that, Zimmerman is reminding everyone that if he can actually stay healthy (which he hasn’t really done since 2013), he’s one of the more productive righty bats in the NL. Those two things, plus a full season of Turner, are more than enough to turn a good offense -- the Nats ranked fourth in the NL in scoring a year ago -- into a great offense, no matter what month it is.
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