Despite struggles, Nats need only to reach mediocrity in 2020

Twenty-four games is not enough to adequately evaluate a ballclub. It's certainly not in a 162-game season. No club executive, manager or reasonable outside observer would try.

But in this most unusual baseball year, 24 games represents 40 percent of the regular season. And under normal circumstances, 40 percent of a season is ample time to start making judgments. Even the 2019 Nationals could tell at that juncture they were headed in the right direction after their terrible start.

So how do general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez figure out what to make of the 2020 Nationals at this point?

They're 10-14, fourth in the National League East and only a half-game up on the reeling Phillies. They've lost Stephen Strasburg and Starlin Castro for the season. Sean Doolittle doesn't appear to be returning anytime soon. Howie Kendrick finally played in one of Saturday's games, but will have to be used carefully as he deals with hamstring issues.

The lineup is consistently inconsistent. The bullpen has actually been a strength, mostly because of a group of young pitchers who weren't supposed to anchor that unit this season. The rotation hasn't been anything close to what it's supposed to be.

Could everything turn around, as it did last year? Sure. There's no question the talent is here to do it again. Problem is, there isn't nearly as much time as there was in 2019.

The Nationals' saving grace, if you want to look at it this way, is Major League Baseball, which decided moments before Max Scherzer threw the first pitch of the season to Aaron Hicks it was going to expand the postseason from 10 to 16 teams.

Suddenly, the Nats don't have to win their division to guarantee a full playoff series. They don't even have to finish in second place. Anyone who does is assured of a spot in the best-of-three wild card series in early October, but each league's two next-best teams also qualify.

Yes, the Nationals could theoretically finish fourth in the NL East and still make the postseason. At which point - as we all know - anything can happen.

So even at 10-14, the goal for these guys doesn't need to be to climb well over the .500 mark. They just need to hang right around the .500 mark and hope that's enough to make the tournament.

It feels completely foreign in a sport that for more than a century has placed a huge emphasis on finishing in first place. But it's the way it is in 2020.

Is there a chance the Nationals never figure it out, can't overcome the injuries and the inconsistent play and never approach .500? Sure. And it'll be disappointing if they do.

But in this strangest of baseball seasons, they only need to be mediocre in the end. That may feel like an odd objective. But at this point, it's probably the best hope they've got.