David Huzzard: 2016 version of Nationals comes with grit

Ty Cobb once said, "Baseball is something like a war," and the Nationals' seven games against the Chicago Cubs were exactly that. They were brutal, back-and-forth affairs often coming down to who had the last at-bat.

Every game was decided by three runs or less, and featured several lead changes. Every time one team answered the other would answer right back. They truly felt like playoff games and there is a chance that we see this showdown again in October. And while that is an important takeaway, I can't help but think that the 2015 Nationals would have had no answer and would have been blown away by the Cubs and not been in or won a single game in the season series.

The Washington Nationals over the past two seasons have done a good job of making me believe in things that can't be understood by stats. That doesn't mean I've given up on advanced stats and am going to rant and rave about pitchers wins and batting average like an 80-year-old color announcer, but it does mean I think there is more to the human spirit, determination of an athlete, and effects of a manager than stats can show us. Now, all these things will show up in the stats and the 2016 Nats have several statistic advantages over the 2015 Nats.

The biggest difference between the Washington Nationals in 2016 and 2015 is health. That is the first and most important difference. Jayson Werth has shown that even as he ages, he still has the ability to be a productive baseball player. He is just one that takes a bit to get going. He has had slow starts in almost all of his seasons in Washington. Anthony Rendon was another player that got off to a slow start and over the last 20 days Werth has hit .298/.385/.479 and Rendon .298/.368/.532. The surprising thing is they aren't the only Washington Nationals having a great past 30 days. The top five by wOBA with at least 20 at-bats over the past 30 days are Wilson Ramos, Rendon, Daniel Murphy, Werth, and Danny Espinosa.

I remember in 2015 at times looking at the top five Nationals over the past 30 days or on the season and the list would start with Bryce Harper and fall off a cliff of depression afterwards. A lot has gone right for the 2016 Nationals. Espinosa has made it a debate on whether to bring up Trea Turner or not, and the bench has been exceptional. In 2015, nothing went right and every unexpected occurrence was negative. The bench production likely has to do with how Dusty Baker has made certain to get them all playing time and keep their bats fresh. Baker has always been known as a manager that squeezes every ounce of talent out of every man on his roster.

As much of a difference having a human being with emotions as a manager has helped the Washington Nationals, the pitching cannot be ignored. The Nationals' pitching is third in the majors in ERA and fourth in FIP. The starting pitching is third in ERA and fifth in FIP. The 2015 Washington Nationals ranked seventh in the majors in ERA and fourth in FIP. That difference could be chalked up to luck, but having watched them it's clear they weren't as unlucky as they were bad at ways FIP doesn't measure.

There is something different about the 2016 Nationals. Both the offense and starting pitching have been better. If Harper had slumped for a month and a half in 2015, the team would've been awful. In 2016, there have been plenty of other players that have stepped up and the pitching has done a masterful job of keeping the Nationals in nearly every game they play. Baker has been better than anyone could have expected. He has gotten everything from this roster and it is starting to look like the Nationals are getting ready to put the hammer down and leave the Mets a memory en route to their third division title in five years.

David Huzzard blogs about the Nationals at Citizens of Natstown. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHuzzard. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. 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 regular roster of writers.