The Washington Nationals are shockingly 2nd in runs in MLB — can fantasy baseball managers take advantage?

Wood and Abrams were both part of the Juan Soto trade back in August of 2022. As great as Soto is, the Nationals did fine in that trade. They also landed MacKenzie Gore as part of the six-player return. San Diego, of course, couldn’t keep Soto — trading him 16 months later.

The Washington order is surprisingly top-heavy. After Abrams and Wood, the next most valuable fantasy asset is Nasim Nuñez — who’s all legs, no bat. He’s hitting .209 with zero home runs, but he’s stolen 17 bases. The one-trick pony is largely ignored in Yahoo leagues, trading at 12%.

Maybe the sleepers here are players like Daylen Lile, Curtis Mead and Luis García Jr. Lile is hitting for a respectable .253 average, has some category juice (three homers, five steal attempts — but just two bags). Mead has a 123 OPS+ despite a puny .224 average, and has 13 walks against 15 strikeouts. His expected average is a strong .275, and most of his Savant sliders are on the right side, the good side. García was a category juice guy in the past, but it hasn’t shown up yet this year. He’s still just 26.

Is there any post-hype sleeper allure to Brady House? I wish the Nats would commit to playing him every day, but at least he usually slots in the 3-5 range when he’s in the lineup. His .232 average and .384 slugging don’t sound like much, though his batted-ball profile suggests a .251 average and .418 slugging. He’s still figuring out the strike zone, as all of his plate discipline metrics are mediocre. Still, it’s an age-23 season. At least he’s looked improved over last year.

Did we find anything out? Wood and Abrams are great. This team runs the bases well. It’s a young team, and I suppose an exciting team. Even if that runs scored column has a lot of fluke signs flashing. What makes an ocean wave wave?

As for the pitching, Foster Griffin has been outstanding (four wins, 2.12 ERA, 1.03 WHIP). He’s the ace here, and recently pushed past 50% rostered. The bullpen is a fractured committee — six different guys have recorded saves — and Griffin is the only starter with an ERA below 4.

Mash it all together and it’s a 19-22 team, nine games behind the front-running Braves in the NL East. The playoff odds are not encouraging — the data gives the National a 0.8% chance at the playoffs and literally no shot to win the World Series.

That 2019 World Series win feels like decades ago. Stephen Strasburg was healthy, Anthony Rendon still liked playing baseball, Max Scherzer was around, Soto was here. That title team also had a bunch of fun role players, guys you forget about but still kinda miss — Adam Eaton and Asdrubal Cabrera and Howie Kendrick and Gerardo Parra. Sean Doolittle was the closer. Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sánchez supported a strong rotation.

Flags fly forever, man.