Washington Nationals

I wonder if these guys know the Washington Generals. Honestly, the Nats are an okay team, but I really don't seem them winning it all.

Last year I pegged them as the kind of team that was improving but not ready to really threaten to win the whole thing. A team that would go 84-78 or something. I was wrong, they wound up winning more games than any team in baseball. They blew it in the playoffs but still had an amazing year. This year, they are more experienced and that is unlikely to happen again. Atlanta is a good club that should give them a challenge for the NL East, but I wouldn't be surprised if The Nationals won the division by 10 games, or even more. This team is a serious contender for the title: only a few teams are even in the discussion with them.

Washington is solid throughout. The bench is among the best in the game. The club has speed and good defense. The starting pitching is probably the best and deepest in the game, and they added Dan Haren to a strong front four of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman, and Ross Detwiler. Stephen Strasburg and outfielder Bryce Harper are two of the best young players the sport has to offer. The team lacks a truly terrifying slugger, but features plenty of effective hitters, including some underrated ones like Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond. Ryan Zimmerman is a very good third baseman when healthy, and the team added the leadoff hitter it was lacking in former Twins speedster Denard Span. They don't really wow you with any one dimension of the game but that's because they are rock solid at just about everything. Davey Johnson is one of the game's best managers and the team has the resources to get help during the year: the ownership has deep pockets. They added Rafael Soriano to an already deep bullpen. The team is at least competent at nearly every position, and arguably the deepest in the game.

Sure, like every team, there's holes on this club. Of course, health is the key for this, and every club. Second baseman Danny Espinosa has some power and speed, but he strikes out too much and may be looking over his shoulder at prospect Anthony Rendon. Jayson Werth played pretty well when healthy last year, but his huge contract was still a horrid decision by the team, as he is aging and, though a good player with The Phillies a few years back, he was never the kind of player who should've commanded such a big salary, . He may have some gas left in the tank . At 34 he's clearly past his peak though. There are questions at catcher, where Wilson Ramos-who missed most of last year- and Kurt Suzuki will battle for playing time. But these are minor problems compared to the issues that almost every other team faces.

It would be very disappointing if this club doesn't go far, as it is on the short list of likely champions this year.