David Huzzard: The Nats offense doesn't get enough credit

It should come as no surprise that the same debates about the Nationals are being had in 2016 that were had in 2012 and 2014 as Mike Rizzo built very similar teams. Even the 2013 and 2015 Nationals that failed to make the playoffs were similar. The Nats offense always seems to be in the top half of the league and the success of the team depends on the performance of the pitching. The debate in all those years has always been about the offense.

Yesterday morning, I woke up and saw multiple articles on how the Nats offense had struggled in their recent homestand. This should come as no surprise as they were facing the Giants and the Indians. These are two of the better starting staffs in baseball, so it should come as no surprise that the Nationals weren't scoring a whole lot of runs, and that will be how the games are played in the playoffs. The Nats are going to have to win low-scoring close games. There are very few slugfests in the playoffs.

The main argument about the numbers around the Nats offense being unbelievable is that they rely too much on Daniel Murphy and Wilson Ramos. This misses the fact that Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth all have numbers that indicate they're above average at the plate. Add in Trea Turner and that is four above-average hitters, two spectacular hitters and Danny Espinosa (who might be the best number eight hitter in baseball). The only real hole in the Nationals lineup is whoever is playing first base. It is sad to witness what has become of Ryan Zimmerman, but he is the one liability at the plate that the Nats have.

The worst thing that can be said about the Nationals offense is that they aren't the Cubs. There are only three teams in the National League that have scored more runs than the Nationals. They didn't do that with only Murphy and Ramos hitting. They have been the two best Nationals hitters, but a baseball team can go a long way with a lineup of average hitters and two spectacular hitters. Murphy and Ramos continuing to have success and Harper finding his stroke are going to be key to the Nationals' success in the playoffs, but there are other ways they can win.

Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer are both having excellent seasons and Tanner Roark hasn't slowed down at all. The back end of the rotation is a bit of a question mark with Joe Ross having a setback and all Nationals fans are familiar with Gio Gonzalez's struggles in the playoffs. If the top three can do what is expected of them, the Nats offense isn't going to have to be perfect in the playoffs even though what they have been is a lot better than they gets credit for.

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.