David Huzzard: Nats dispelling some back luck by racking up wins

Adam Eaton is out for the season, Bryce Harper left yesterday's game with a groin strain, the back end of the rotation is a mess with a career minor leaguer just being inserted as the fifth starter and then there's the bullpen, and I think we all know the problems there. Yet the Nationals are 19-9, the best record in the major leagues. The Nationals are having the same bad luck with starters staying healthy they've always had and now have issues with pitching depth. And yet they just keep winning games and aren't just beating up on bad teams.

Both the Rockies and Diamondbacks are off to surprising starts, and the Nats mauled the Rockies and their pitching shutdown the offense-heavy Diamondbacks. Coming into Thursday's game, the Nationals were averaging 6.48 runs a game, a full 1.37 runs higher than the next best team, the Milwaukee Brewers. It is unlikely that Michael A. Taylor can fill the hole left by Eaton and it is unknown how long Harper will be out of the lineup, but the Nationals lineup has been bolstered by surprising seasons from Matt Wieters and Ryan Zimmerman. Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon are stars in their own right and their production should not come as a surprise.

The Nationals need their offense to carry them because when we flip to the pitching stats, the news isn't as good. The Nationals are in the bottom half of the National League allowing 4.78 runs a game and if the offense cools off before the pitching finds itself or a couple more regulars succumb to the Nats' yearly rash of injuries, then things could go downhill quickly. The good news is the Nats have banked a number of wins and built the largest division lead in baseball, and if the Mets continue to struggle, the division is going to be the weakest in baseball.

Feasting on the Braves and Marlins should not be a problem for the Nationals. The Phillies have some good young talent and more that will arrive in the later part of the season, but the Nats should still handle their business against them. It is too early to say the division race is over, but a six-game lead is impressive this early in the season, and the Nats should be able to build on it or at least not lose it too quickly if their bad luck continues.

In seasons like 2013 and 2015, the bad luck was never answered with any type of good luck. But this season has so far been different. The Nats have found Jacob Turner, and Zimmerman has found the 2009 version of himself. It would be nice to see the positive luck continue and the bad luck come to an end. Luck is always an underrated factor in any championship season, and the Nats have had just as much go right as they have had go wrong. It would be nice to learn that Harper's groin strain is a day or two out of the lineup thing, Taylor finally turns his tools into production, and Zimmerman and Jacob Turner keep living their fairytales.

For now, the Nationals are a very good team with a few obvious holes. Those holes will eventually need to be addressed, but for now the Nationals are 19-9, have a big lead in the division and a lineup clicking on all cylinders. A big lead can be built on or it can disappear in a week. The season is still young, but it's off to a great start and a cushion of wins can absorb a lot of bad luck.

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.