Nats' Bully Problem Costs Season | Washington Nationals News

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It's July 13th, welcome in. This is Washington Nationals News Today, where team coverage meets AI.
The Washington Nationals are in a tough spot right now. They just got swept by the Yankees, losing three games where they held a lead going into the A-Denning.
This puts them below a 500 record heading into the All-Star break, which is kind of an unofficial deadline for teams to figure out if they're buyers or sellers. On the offensive side, the Nats are actually leading the league in a bunch of categories like run scored, total bases and stolen bases. They're also near the top in home runs and RBIs. So, the Bats are definitely doing their thing, which is something they haven't always had. But here's the real issue, the bullpen. It's been historically bad. Their earned run average is fourth worst in baseball, and they've given up more hits and earned runs than any other team. The biggest problem is the long ball. They've already given up 71 home runs from their relievers.
To try and fix this mess, they've already used 20 different pitchers out of the bullpen, and most of them aren't even injured. They brought guys up from the minors, grabbed players off waivers, and made trades. All to no avail. This historically bad bullpen is costing them games and, potentially, their season. Now, the team has a decent farm system for the first time in a while, but it looks like they'll have to trade some of that young talent to get the pitching they desperately need. It feels like a waste to break up their strong offense, especially when they've been waiting so long for this kind of production. They're only four games out of a wild card spot, but they've got a lot of teams to jump over.