00:00But I do want to take you to a positive story here in the National League East right now.
00:04And it is the duo with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals.
00:09The Washington Nationals have won three in a row.
00:11They are a game over 500 at 28 and 27.
00:15Meanwhile, Philly is 27 and 27.
00:19And Don Mattingly has been managing like the best in baseball so far in his managerial tenure after the Phillies
00:26parted ways with Rob Thompson.
00:28A couple of notes here from our friends at Just Baseball or from us at Just Baseball, I should say,
00:33but our friends on the social side.
00:36The Nats offense in 2025, they were bottom three in the National League and run scored.
00:42They were bottom four in WRC plus, and they had a bottom five offense in the eyes of F4.
00:47In 2026, they have scored more runs than anybody else in Major League Baseball.
00:52They are fourth in Major League Baseball on Team WRC plus, and they're fifth in Major League Baseball by lineup
00:58F4.
00:59Now, that is being buoyed by a couple of guys, right?
01:01Wood and Abrams are certainly the guys that are stirring the drink at the moment.
01:05But they ship Brady House down to Rochester.
01:07They recall Dylan Cruz.
01:09They are mixing and matching.
01:11Nassim Nunez has not been a good guy in the batter's box, but when he's on base, he's stealing bases
01:16with the best of them in Major League Baseball right now.
01:18Now, their offense is like, you can't take your eyes off of it right now.
01:23It's so much fun, and I mean, they're blitzing some teams that are throwing the ball really well.
01:28It just seems like no matter who they face right now, like, they're well prepared, and they're swinging it.
01:33And I think you mentioned, like, Nassim Nunez is probably the one spot of the lineup that you're looking at
01:38and saying, okay, that's a weakness, I guess, there.
01:40But then he gives you value in legitimately every other facet of the game.
01:43But other than that, there's not really a weakness in this lineup.
01:46They brought up Dylan Cruz, and so you hope that he can hit his footing.
01:49But, like, could you imagine if I told you two years ago, like, after the pick, that in a couple
01:54years, the Nationals will be above .500,
01:56and Dylan Cruz may be one of the weaker links in the lineup at that present moment?
02:00Like, that is ridiculous.
02:02You wouldn't believe me.
02:03And that's the thing that I'm seeing with this team is, and I've said it a lot ad nauseum on
02:09the podcast,
02:09but I just think a lot of players who stalled out or hit a wall last year or just haven't
02:15been able to regain the production that we've seen from them in the past,
02:18like a Kiebert Ruiz or Luis Garcia, are better this year because I just think there's better infrastructure there.
02:26Information.
02:26I mean, and an Abrams.
02:27How do you take a good player and make him great?
02:30And we'll see if he can sustain it through the year.
02:32I think this is going to be the year that he does it because you think about an Abrams who
02:35hits a wall second half of last year,
02:36and maybe some of that was self-inflicted, but also just not having the information maybe to figure out what
02:43he's doing wrong,
02:43how to get right, whatever it may be.
02:46This is why I think this Nationals organization, we said it from day one,
02:50even before this team was succeeding in the Major League level, that you could see the shift minor league-wise.
02:54I can't remember the last time I've seen a shift with the Major League side of things that quickly,
02:58other than the Rockies as well.
03:00And I think it shows you two teams here that were maybe operating so archaically
03:04that you could actually fix it pretty quickly at the big league level.
03:07Now, does that mean that they're going to compete all year long?
03:08I don't know.
03:09But I think it's abundantly clear when you have a guy like Hubert Uys,
03:12who has been putrid the last couple years, has the ability now back to being that solid bet.
03:18You have a guy like Luis Garcia back to being a little bit more like himself.
03:21And then you have your really good players taking that big step forward.
03:25And then on the pitching side as well.
03:26So I just think it's very clear that Taboni has created an infrastructure
03:31that is going to help his players be set up for success and maximize their abilities.
03:36And that is very clear that that was not happening in the last few years.
03:40And they made some personnel swaps.
03:42Like in terms of who was already on the roster that's performing better,
03:46like Kibbert Ruiz, I didn't expect to see a 7 leading his OPS at any time soon.
03:50But he's got a 754 OPS so far this year.
03:53He's been swinging it as of late.
03:54Like Lyle, we already knew was good.
03:56It feels like he's being a bit unlocked.
03:58Abrams, we already knew was good.
04:00It feels like he's being a bit unlocked.
04:02There are guys like that.
04:03Nassim Nunez, again, OPS under 500, but he's 22 for 24 in the stolen base department.
04:08It feels like he and the best version of him is being a little unlocked.
04:12But you see it best, honestly, in what they're doing on the Hill.
04:16Like Orlando Ribalta was a guy that has been in that situation for quite a while.
04:22He's been in the Washington fold for quite a while, but this pitching infrastructure has
04:27quickly changed the way that Orlando Ribalta can throw the baseball.
04:31And so far, opponents are hitting under 200 against him in 11 and two-thirds innings.
04:34Richard Lovelady in his Washington time, 15 and two-thirds.
04:38He's scattering hits.
04:40He's scattering walks, and he's got an ERA under two.
04:43P.J.
04:43Poulin has been an interesting arm for them.
04:46Foster Griffin, I know he had that blow-up start, but Foster Griffin was a good identification.
04:49They are doing really well at winning in the margins right now, and that'll result in some
04:55good things.
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