The Nationals’ 12-5 run over the past 17 games has them climbing the ranks in just about everybody’s power rankings.
The Nationals, who have been racking up homers while cutting back on sloppy defensive play during their resurgence, will have a chance to pick more ground in the National League East with an 11-game homestand that starts Thursday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Washington’s rare quartet of back-to-back-to-back home runs Sunday epitomized a team that is moving past some of its early-season problems.
TheScore, a Toronto-based sports site, has the Nationals up four spots to No. 19 in its latest power rankings, while Bleacher Report has them at No. 18 and USAToday has them at No. 20.
This is the same team that secured a five-game losing streak and averaged the lowest ERA in the MLB last month.
Thanks to the homers, the Nationals are scoring runs in bunches. But they’re also stealing runs from opponents with defensive gems, like this one from Victor Robles in Tuesday night’s loss in Chicago.
.@Victor__Robles ran roughly a million feet to make this catch. 😱 pic.twitter.com/fUG6qfHete
— MLB (@MLB) June 12, 2019
The Nationals outfielders dive even earned rave reviews from White Sox fans, according to NBC Sports’ Quinton Mayo.
“The catch, which is a sure-fire #SCTop10, garnered plenty of “oohs and aahs” from the Chicago crowd; so much so that the Guaranteed Rate Field faithful gave a standing ovation to the third-year guy from Santo Domingo Este,” Mayo wrote.
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