David Huzzard: Nationals have prospered against adversity

The Nationals have faced as much adversity possible for a team more than a dozen games up in their division in late August. There exists a subset of baseball fans that theorize that the teams that do best in the playoffs are those that have been battle-hardened by a tough division race or fight for the wild card. This is the typical type of adversity people think of, but the Nationals have faced a different kind and it may prove beneficial when they reach the playoffs this season.

D.C. is the land of playoff failures and early exits. From Lebron whispering into the ear of Gilbert Arenas to RGIII's knee and career imploding against the Seahawks to the Capitals' repeated failures to close out series to the Nationals forever being one strike away from advancing, D.C. has its share of recent playoff heartbreak. One of the knocks on the Nationals of years past is that they lacked toughness. Whether this is bloviating by a narrative-driven media or a factor in the failure is truly unknown, but it will be hard to say this Nationals team isn't tough. If the Nationals' current disabled list could form their own team and play the Nationals, there is a good argument they would win.

Adam Eaton, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper would be a formidable top of the order and a lot of teams wouldn't mind a top of the rotation with Max Scherzer and Joe Ross. If Montreal got an expansion team, I'd wager their fans would be pretty happy with those five players as the start of their franchise. The Nationals are banged-up and have been for some time, but Jayson Werth and Turner have started minor league rehab assignments, and while the Nats are taking things slow with Scherzer, he isn't expected to miss much more than one or two more starts. And the injured players are coming back at the right time. It is going to take some time for them to get their timing back and having a month or a little more will be perfect. Nearly half the Nats roster will be coming out of spring training to start to playoffs while players like Daniel Murphy, Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon will be stronger for having carried the team the entire season.

Toughness being an intangible that can't be argued to even exist or matter isn't the only reason the adversity the Nationals have faced will help them in the playoffs. With Adam Lind, Howie Kendrick and Wilmer Difo, the Nationals have the best bench they've had in the playoffs, but because of the injuries they've dealt with they've been able to give players like Difo and Brian Goodwin many more at bats and all that extra seasoning could come in handy in late game situations in the playoffs. The 2017 Nationals have gotten contributions from way more than the 25-man roster and they are going to need those extra players when the roster is healthier come playoff time.

The experience of the men coming off the bench can be a deciding factor in a playoff series, and not only is the Nats bench talented, it is also now more experienced. Once in the playoffs, the level of talent between teams is much less different than in the regular season, and the little differences are going to be the deciding factor of a series. Having bench players that have plenty of regular at-bats during the regular season is an advantage and one the Nationals now have.

If the Nationals fail once again to make it deep in the playoffs, it won't be because they didn't face adversity. They may not have played a meaningful game since June, but they have faced plenty of adversity. They have watched player after player go down with injury and never missed a beat. They have found ways to win when every time it felt like this was the blow that would bring them back to the pack. As injuries mounted, so did their win total. My conclusion is the Nationals can't be stopped, and if the baseball gods themselves cannot defeat them, how does a team of mortals stand a chance?

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.