Charlie Fliegel: Nationals may be most balanced team in National League

With 50 games left in the season and the playoffs approaching, if you want to worry about the Nationals, you can certainly find something. They scored a total of three runs in their last three games, and they are getting no production out of first base, or, since May, Bryce Harper. Their bullpen looked shaky when their closer was injured and when he came back and couldn't produce, although it seems like they've remedied this.

However, the Nats remain atop the division, with the second-best record in the league. One or two missing pieces hasn't hurt them, and it's because they aren't reliant on one thing. In fact, the Nats are pretty much good at everything this season and are one of the most well-rounded teams in the league.

The pitching staff leads the way, with the second-best ERA, second-best FIP and third-best fWAR in the National League. And three of their starters are in the top 15 in fWAR. Tanner Roark (13th) has the most starts in the majors this year with seven or more innings pitched and no runs given up, Max Scherzer (eighth) has the most strikeouts and Stephen Strasburg (fifth) has the most wins.

It's not just the starting staff, though, it's the bullpen, too. While they haven't always been perfect, they haven't simply exceeded expectations, having the best ERA and FIP in the NL. While ERA can be misleading for relievers, it is noteworthy that the only members of their bullpen with an ERA above 2.90 this season have been Jonathan Papelbon, Oliver Perez and the now-traded Felipe Rivero.

That trade, which brought in Mark Melancon, seems to have made the bullpen significantly more stable. When Papelbon went to the DL due to injury and then returned but was ineffective, a very strong bullpen seemed to stumble. But having a closer in Melancon and a set-up man with Shawn Kelley, before having to go to Blake Treinen, Sammy Solis and Matt Belisle (and perhaps Koda Glover soon) for earlier innings, sets them up nicely to hold late leads.

One of the reasons their pitching staff looks so good, besides all the strikeouts from Scherzer and Strasburg, has been their defense. They rank fourth in defensive value and UZR, according to FanGraphs.com, and third in defensive efficiency (and have the fewest errors if you're into that sort of thing).

Their offense may be the biggest source of worry, but they're doing pretty well by most measures there, too. They rank fourth in the NL in runs scored, third in fWAR, fourth in wOBA and fifth in wRC+. It's not just Daniel Murphy and Wilson Ramos, either. There's the addition of Trea Turner, and since the beginning of June, Anthony Rendon has an OPS of .852, while Jayson Werth's is .814.

With runners in scoring position, their average goes up from .252 normally, ranking them eighth, to .257, ranking them seventh. Their on-base percentage goes from .326 normally to .350 with RISP. Their advanced stats are worse with RISP, but that is only due to a drop in power - their slugging drops from .428 to .404. A drop in power and a slight increase in batting average is nothing to get excited about, but it dispels the notion that they can't hit when it matters.

This team is not without its problems. Until Turner came along, they had some of the lowest CF production in the league. Same with first base, although there isn't such an easy solution there, but they do have some options.

The bigger issue is Harper, who is now in a protracted slump that goes back to May. There are some very recent signs of hope, in the upturn in his batted-ball exit velocity, but the fact that they continue to win with his poor offensive production highlights how good this team really is.

The case could be made that they are actually the most well-rounded team in the league. The Nats and the Cubs are the only teams in the NL that rank in the top five in offense, pitching and defense. But if you factor in the bullpens, the Nationals have had better results this year than Chicago. The Cubs have the better offense, and judging by record and run differential, they're the better team. But the Nats might be just as balanced as them, if not more so.

Charlie Fliegel blogs about the Nationals for The Nationals Review. Follow him Twitter: @nationalsreview. His thoughts on the Nationals will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.