Rachel Levitin: Is it too little too late for the Nats?

The Nationals are now six games back in the wild card chase behind Cincinnati with 17 games left on the schedule. This is after Wednesday night's 3-0 victory against the New York Mets in which Washington notched its fifth consecutive victory. It's like MASN's Dan Kolko said yesterday: finally, it's all clicking. But is it too late? That's the question facing the Nationals. Offense has been an ongoing issue for Washington throughout the season. Batting coach Rick Eckstein was let go, Rick Schu stepped in, and now it appears the Nats are back on track especially the past few days. Another ongoing discussion point for Washington has been about the Nats playing ball the way manager Davey Johnson believes they can. From his perspective, the season's missteps are a result of his roster not playing to the fullest extent of its potential. I mentioned in earlier guest posts that 2012 was a special season in which the entire roster - from free agent pick-ups to homegrown talent - had peak performances that seemed to have arrived at the same time. And now that everything appears to be clicking for the Nats, despite it taking 4 1/2 months to get there, it looks like they can truly make a run at that wild card. There's no telling how 2013 will end for the Nats just yet. A number of outside factors beyond trying to win games will affect the outcome of their season. Will the Reds collapse as a team? Will someone on the Reds suffer an injury? Will the Nats fall apart after finding their groove? Will a Washington player succumb to injury? The list goes on, but that's baseball for you. Rachel Levitin blogs about the Nationals for We Love DC, and will be sharing her observations about baseball in the nation's capital as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. 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 roster of writers.