After best April in club history, what does May have in store for Nats?

ST. LOUIS - The calendar has shifted at last, the baseball season has entered its second month and the Nationals (unlike a year ago) are thrilled to have no reason to be shouting "Mayday!" right now.

April could not have gone much better for the Nats, who at 16-7 are off to the best start in club history and the best start by any Washington ballclub since 1932.

Sure, much of their success came against the likes of the Braves, Marlins and Twins. But they've kicked off one of the most daunting road trips they've ever experienced with back-to-back wins over the Cardinals, securing their first series victory at Busch Stadium since 2007.

Bryce Harper if off to another MVP-caliber start. Daniel Murphy has been everything the Nats could have hoped he would be. The rotation is pitching like it actually is the best rotation in baseball at last, and that's with Max Scherzer sporting a 4.35 ERA in April.

Perhaps most impressively, they've gone 16-7 despite four regular members of the lineup currently owning batting averages below .220: Ryan Zimmerman (.219), Jayson Werth (.211), Danny Espinosa (.185) and Michael A. Taylor (.183).

Individual performances aside, the Nationals themselves are most encouraged by the manner in which they have come together as a team under new manager Dusty Baker after the disappointment (and at times dysfunction) of 2015.

"Dusty has done a great job with the team, coming in here and ... really getting to know the guys," Werth said. "And he's got a good feel to him. We've got great chemistry in the clubhouse and communication. All signs are pointing in the right direction right now. We just need to keep it going. We've got a long, tough road trip, and it's good to get it started that way we have. We'll see if we can build on it."

Werth pointed out that it doesn't matter how you start, only how you finish. Which, technically speaking, is true. But is there any correlation to a good start and a good finish? Consider the Nationals' record each of the last four Aprils:

* 2012: 14-8
* 2013: 13-14
* 2014: 16-12
* 2015: 10-13

No, a winning April doesn't guarantee a winning season. But in each of the last four years, the Nationals' April performance did ultimately offer a reasonable hint of what to expect the rest of the way.

Now we find out if that trend continues in 2016.