Washington Nationals feast or famine offense continues to frustrate

After a second straight shutout, it is time to talk about how boom or bust the Nationals offense is

The Washington Nationals offense this season has been pretty mediocre statistically. Not terrible, but not very good either. However, the way they have managed to do that has been pretty crazy. The Nats offense has been a total roller coaster this year. They seem to find a way to score 10 runs one game and then get shutout the next day.

The last week has perfectly encapsulated the Nationals offense. In the Reds series, the Nats had back to back great offensive displays. During the first game of the series, the Nats put up double figures. They actually have 10 games where they have put up double digits now.

In game 2 of that series, the offense showed some good adjustability and resilience. They were getting carved up by rookie Chase Burns for the first few innings. However, they uncharacteristically found a way to turn the tide. Josh Bell’s homer kicked things off, and the rest of the lineup began to figure out the young flame thrower.

Don’t get it twisted, the offense has shown plenty of good this season. There have been nights where this looks light a dynamic unit with production up and down the lineup. However, they can just disappear in an instant.

It is a pure Jekyll and Hyde act. The last game of the Reds series showed that. There have been 10 complete game shut outs this season, and three of them have come against the Nats. Erick Fedde, David Peterson and Nick Lodolo have all gone the distance without giving up a run.

Last night, the Nats misery continued against Zebby Matthews and the Twins. Minnesota only managed one run themselves, but that was enough for them to get the win. For a second straight game, the offense never felt close to scoring.

So why is the offense so up and down? For me, it has a lot to do with the team approach. We talked about how the Nats hit more ground balls then anyone in baseball yesterday. Hitting that many ground balls puts your fate at the mercy of the baseball gods. Sometimes they find holes, sometimes they don’t.

Walks also become incredibly hard to come by for this offense when they are struggling. They had gone 20 innings without a walk before Jacob Young drew one in the 8th inning. It is tough to score runs with a lack of power and a lack of base runners.

When the offense is clicking, the balls are finding holes and the Nats can really string some hits together. They also have more of a power threat in the lineup this year, with guys like James Wood, Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell.

However, so many of these guys are just inconsistent players to their core. When CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr. and Josh Bell make up a third of your lineup, it should not be surprising that the unit is inconsistent. These are some of the most feast or famine bats in all of baseball. When they are going well, they can carry a lineup. However, when they are off their game, they can drag a lineup into the abyss.

It is so frustrating to see a talented lineup be so inconsistent. The Nats have now been shutout 9 times this year. 19 times, they have either scored 10+ or scored zero runs. That is about a fifth of the games. This is the definition of boom or bust.