Did Solid Stretch by Washington Nationals Boost Their Standing Among MLB Teams?
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The Washington Nationals have the pieces to be good in the near future. However, that has not shown on the field this season.
After the weekend series win, the Nationals are 9-13 and sit in fourth place in the NL East division. Those standings will no doubt continue to change as the year goes on, but Washington should not be upset with where they are right now.
MLB.com released their power rankings, and the Nationals were placed at No. 25. That is one spot lower than their ranking last week, but it's a fair spot for them.
Washington is close to turning the corner with their young stars.
James Wood has been very good in his sophomore season.
The left-handed hitter is slashing .232/.337/.524 with seven home runs, 17 RBI and 14 runs scored in 22 games played. Wood's batting average does not look great, but his OPS is well above the Major League average.
Per Baseball Savant, Wood is in the 92nd percentile in bat speed, 92nd percentile in hard-hit percentage, 94th percentile in barrel percentage, 94th percentile in average exit velocity and 89th percentile in xwOBA.
The 22-year-old is constantly hitting the ball hard and finding the sweet spot on the bat. With those numbers, the batting average will not stay where it is for long. The power numbers should be able to remain constant, as well.
Along with Wood, Keibert Ruiz and Nathaniel Lowe are both swinging the bat well, too. But Dylan Crews, Josh Bell and Jacob Young are all struggling.
If just one of those three can start heating up, the Nationals offense is going to greatly improve.
On the mound, Washington has an ace in the making.
MacKenzie Gore made history on Opening Day when he struck out the Philadelphia Phillies 13 times. The left-hander has shown no signs of slowing down after that performance.
Gore has a 3.41 ERA through five starts. In those five games, he has thrown 29.0 innings, struck out 45 batters and walked only eight. The eight walks is the biggest improvement for him.
In 2024, Gore had a walk rate of 8.9%. Thus far in 2025, he is at just 6.7%.
Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker have both been great for Washington, as well.
The bullpen for the Nationals needs to get a lot better if they are going to start winning more games, though.
Washington has an extremely high bullpen ERA of 7.19. That is the most in the MLB by almost two full runs. They have allowed 81 hits in 71.1 innings pitched while walking 47 batters. Besides Kyle Finnegan, the Nationals do not have many bullpen arms they can trust.
With their lack of relief options, it is not surprising to see the Nationals ranked so low.
But with their starting pitching and multiple good, young hitters, Washington's outlook the rest of the season is more positive than negative.
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Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He has been in journalism since 2022 and has a passion for baseball specifically, but he enjoys all sports. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.