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Washington Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon is suffering with an intercostal strain and has been placed on the 15-day disabled list. It is uncertain when he will be able to return. 

Continue for updates. 

Baker Comments on Papelbon’s Injury

Tuesday, June 14

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Papelbon suffered the injury warming up on Sunday, adding that participating in a postgame celebration “didn’t help.”

On Monday, Baker told reporters his closer “was feeling pretty sore, and he was ailing, so we didn’t really have Pap tonight.”

Papelbon Placed on DL, Belisle Called Up

Tuesday, June 14

According to Dan Kolko of MASN Sports, Papelbon was placed on the disabled list, and the Nationals activated Matt Belisle from the DL to take his spot.   

Nationals Have Depth to Handled Papelbon’s Absence

The Nationals did not use Papelbon in Monday’s 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post noted Papelbon was in the Nationals clubhouse prior to the game Monday and was “seemingly moving around as normal.” The 35-year-old pitched Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing one run and earning the win thanks to Jayson Werth’s walk-off single. 

This has been an unusual season for Papelbon. He’s still getting saves because the Nationals are one of the league’s best teams, but his fastball velocity (90.7) and strikeout rate (6.9) are the worst marks of his career, per FanGraphs. 

Papelbon has a lot of years and mileage on his arm, so it would be unfair to expect him to return to an All-Star level like he was at his peak. 

The good news for Washington is Belisle is a good reliever. He had a 2.67 ERA last year in St. Louis and a 1.50 ERA in seven appearances with the Nationals before going on the DL. 

Losing Papelbon for at least 15 days does hurt Washington’s bullpen, but the team is well equipped to keep playing well with a strong starting rotation and reliever depth. 

Stats per FanGraphs.

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Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg exited Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds after suffering an apparent calf injury, per Joe Kay of the Associated Press.

Continue for updates.

Strasburg Exits in 6th Inning of Matchup with Reds

Saturday, June 4

Nationals manager Dusty Baker said Strasburg left with calf cramping but feels fine now, per James Wagner of the Washington Post.

MASN provided comments from Strasburg after the game:

The 27-year-old hurler entered 2016 with big expectations on his shoulders after the departure of Jordan Zimmermann, and he has produced to the tune of a 9-0 record and a 2.69 ERA through his first 11 starts.

He began the season so impressively, in fact, that the Nats signed him to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension.

Strasburg has always been an elite talent, but injuries and inconsistency have prevented him from establishing himself as one of Major League Baseball’s upper-echelon arms.

Although Strasburg led the National League in starts during the 2014 season with 34, he was limited to just 23 starts in 2015. He previously underwent Tommy John surgery in 2010 as well, so he has a fairly lengthy injury history.

The former All-Star can be dominant when he is healthy and on top of his game, and while he went just 11-7 with a 3.46 ERA last season, his 2.81 FIP, per Baseball-Reference.com, suggests that he was also somewhat unlucky.

Strasburg came into the 2016 campaign with the goal of remaining healthy and being a force deep into the season, according to James Wagner of the Washington Post:

I’m going to continue to work throughout the season. It’s not like you’re working from Day 1. You’re looking to peak in September, October, the second half. It’s like I’ve done it enough times to know that you’re still going to be building throughout the course of the year. As far as getting the normal workload every five days, I feel like I’m ready for that.

The injury bug has bitten Strasburg once again, however, which puts the Nationals in a difficult position if he has to miss some time.

In the event that Strasburg ends up needing a stint on the disabled list, Max Scherzer will bear even more of a burden to pick up the slack. Gio Gonzalez, Tanner Roark and Joe Ross will also become even more integral as they move up in the rotation.

It is nearly impossible to replace a powerful, swing-and-miss starter like Strasburg, and the fact Washington lost some of its pitching depth during the offseason doesn’t help matters.

The Nationals have a talented, playoff-worthy team, but that could be in jeopardy if Strasburg’s injury turns out to be significant.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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They’re already in first place in the NL East, but the Washington Nationals have decided to call in the cavalry anyway.

As Talk Nats Blog first reported, Washington is expected to promote speedy shortstop Trea Turner, whom MLB.com rates as baseball’s No. 9 prospect, from Triple-A Syracuse. MLB.com’s William Ladson confirmed Turner will join the team Friday in Cincinnati:

After an uneventful 27-game look-see last September, this will be Turner’s second go-around in The Show. And this one may also be brief and uneventful. With Ryan Zimmerman only expected to be out for a couple of days, Turner may only be with the Nationals long enough to fill in on the infield before going back to the minors.

However, there is more than a decent chance Turner could be up for good.

As Jeff Todd noted at MLB Trade Rumors, the Nationals don’t need to worry about playing the service-time game with Turner. He won’t get credit for a full season in the majors no matter how long he stays up. As such, Washington will still control his rights through 2022. 

Beyond that, there’s the kinda-sorta-very obvious reality that the Nationals could use a player with Turner’s talents.

In the midst of a spring training showing in which he posted a .717 OPS, Turner was arguably ready to be a Nationals regular at the start of the 2016 season. After what he’s done at Triple-A since, he looks even more ready. 

In 50 games, Turner has put up a .310/.376/.472 slash line. His 61 total hits put him third among International League hitters, and he’s looked good in collecting them.

Though Turner hasn’t hit the ball with much authority, Daren Willman of MLB.com and Baseball Savant fame showed how he’s done an excellent job of spreading his hits around:

Between this and his raw numbers, the 22-year-old NC State alum is supporting the widely held notion that he has an above-average hit tool. 

Meanwhile, Turner is making the most of his way-way-way above-average speed. In 17 tries, he’s swiped 17 bags. That’s already more than halfway to his single-season high of 29, an improvement he credits to how he’s developed the smarts to match his legs.

“I think it’s just about knowing the game,” Turner said of his baserunning last month, via MiLB.com’s Michael Peng. “Knowing what the pitcher is going to do, knowing who’s hitting behind you and the counts. Just trying to relax out there. When you try to get jumps, you may end up doing stupid things and make a mistake. If you stay relaxed, I think you can take advantage of a lot of opportunities out there.”

Despite his hit tool and speed, Turner is not a perfect prospect. He has some swing-and-miss in his game. Even calling his power “average” may be a stretch. And as MASN Sports’ Mark Zuckerman reported, a big reason the Nationals sent Turner to Syracuse was to work on his defense.

Turner’s glove may still be a work in progress. When Baseball Prospectus’ Adam Hayes saw Turner in May, he remarked that, though the physical tools to play a good shortstop were there, Turner was “still working to improve timing/reads.” 

Adding Turner to the Nats defense could therefore be a case of subtraction by addition. Since Daniel Murphy isn’t moving from second base, Turner would replace Danny Espinosa at shortstop. According to the metrics, Espinosa’s mostly a good defender.

But the catch with Espinosa is no secret. His defense is barely (if at all) worth his .200 average or his .637 OPS. Since Stephen Drew hasn’t done any better when he’s spelled Espinosa, it’s no wonder the Nationals are at No. 23 overall in shortstop offense (65 wRC+).

That’s one problem Turner might be able to fix, and it’s not even the biggest one.

As bad as the Nationals shortstops have been at the dish, the club’s leadoff hitters have been worse. They own just a .185/.231/.303 batting line, putting them dead last in MLB in adjusted offense. Michael Taylor wasn’t the answer. Ben Revere hasn’t been, either.

Turner’s bat and speed potentially provide an ideal solution to the problem. That could mean yet another boost for a Nationals offense that, despite a slumping Bryce Harper, has been on a nice roll since a slow April.

Because their offense has been rolling along just fine without Turner, the Nationals won’t necessarily be shooting themselves in the foot if they only have him fill in over the weekend. They’re not in a “red alert” situation, so they shouldn’t feel compelled to keep him around just for the sake of having some fresh blood.

There’s no question, though, that the needs Turner can fill for the Nationals are needs he’s going to fill sooner or later. If the Nationals choose sooner, an already good team stands to get even better.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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It’s finally Trea Turner’s time to shine in the nation’s capital as the Washington Nationals announced Friday that Turner has been recalled with Ryan Zimmerman going on paternity leave. 

MLB.com’s William Ladson first reported the news on Thursday.

MLB rules state Zimmerman can miss up to three days on leave following the birth of his child. 

Turner, who was selected 13th overall by the San Diego Padres in the 2014 MLB draft, is considered one of the brightest young prospects in baseball. The shortstop ranks No. 9 overall on Baseball America‘s Top 100 Prospects list, and MLB.com lists him as the fourth-best shortstop in the minors behind the Philadelphia Phillies‘ J.P. Crawford, Milwaukee Brewers‘ Orlando Arcia and Atlanta Braves‘ Dansby Swanson. 

Through 50 games with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs this season, Turner is batting .310 with a .376 on-base percentage, .472 slugging percentage, .848 OPS, three home runs, 24 RBI and 17 stolen bases. 

The 22-year-old made his major league debut last August, but he proceeded to bat just .225 with two stolen bases and one home run over the course of 44 plate appearances. 

This time around, the Nationals will hope for more production out of Turner, since the team has generally lacked strong hitting from its shortstops during a solid 33-21 start to the season. 

Starter Danny Espinosa, in particular, has failed to make an impact at the plate. Through 198 plate appearances, the 29-year-old is sitting right at the Mendoza Line even though he’s more than halfway to eclipsing last season’s home run total of 13 (he has seven). 

Stephen Drew, who has played 30.2 innings at shortstop, is also struggling with his bat. Although the sample is limited to 57 plate appearances, Drew is batting .173 with a .228 on-base percentage. 

While the team has yet to announce how long Turner’s next stint in MLB will last, it will be worth monitoring Washington’s interest in an extended stay. As the Washington Post‘s James Wagner noted, Turner was on the roster for 45 days a year ago, and he needs 127 more days with the club to accrue a full season of MLB service time. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

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Remember when Bryce Harper was Bryce Harper?

Oh, sure. The Washington Nationals‘ star right fielder has occasionally looked like himself here and there in recent weeks. And before he took a wayward fastball to his right knee on Memorial Day, Harper had been showing signs of life.

But from a wider perspective, what Harper’s been going through still looks like an extended slump. And since it’s been going on for more than a month, it’s deserving of investigative treatment.

Let’s begin on April 24, a day in which Harper’s follow-up to his unanimous National League MVP season in 2015 peaked with a pinch-hit, game-tying home run against the Minnesota Twins:

That was Harper’s ninth home run in only 18 games, and it raised his batting line for 2016 to .323/.405/.855.

Even better, Harper’s batting line over the last calendar year at that point was .336/.458/.688 with 47 home runs. At the least, he was established as baseball’s most feared hitter. At the most, he had surpassed Mike Trout as baseball’s best player, period.

Thus entered the slump. Harper has managed a line of just .189/.420/.326 ever since. This has happened over 33 games, which is not a small sample size. Hence, the valid usage of the word “slump.”

Granted, it’s not worth nothing that the 23-year-old has kept his on-base percentage as high as the sky, but this is a double-edged sword, as that OBP wouldn’t exist without the Barry Bonds treatment.

A Google search will reveal how many have already noticed pitchers are refusing to pitch to Harper like they once refused to pitch to Bonds. The numbers don’t throw water on the idea either. Harper’s rate of pitches in the strike zone has fallen like so:

• First 18 games: 46.4 percent
• Last 33 games: 35.3 percent

Relative to the rest of his career, Harper has never seen anything like this. Few hitters have, in fact. A zone rate that small is Pablo Sandoval and Josh Hamilton territory.

It’s to Harper’s credit that he hasn’t given in by swinging as wildly as those two do (or used to do, anyway). His overall swing percentage has dropped from 48.7 to 38.7, and his chase percentage has dropped from 28.4 to 26.9. As a direct result, his walk rate has gone from 13.5 percent to 27.5 percent.

But though patience is a good thing to have, it takes a lot more to make a hitter. Just ask Dusty Baker.

“I really admire Bryce for the patience and stuff that he’s shown,” the Nationals skipper recently told Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports. “But a hitter wants to hit, know what I mean? And he’s gotten a few pitches to hit. Not as many as he had in the past. But he’s had a few pitches to hit, where he’s pulled them foul, or fouled them back.”

Hitters do indeed want to hit. And though he may be getting the same treatment as Bonds, Harper is failing where the former San Francisco Giants super-duper-star succeeded.

By comparing how they’ve swung and made contact with pitches in the strike zone, we can see Harper has been hitting what he’s been given as well as neither Bonds in his heyday nor even his own old self:

Note: Plate-discipline data for Bonds’ 2001 season is not available.

Bonds didn’t jump at everything he saw in the zone, but he wasn’t passive and was good at making contact when he pounced. Harper, on the other hand, is suddenly way more passive in the zone and hasn’t been as good at making contact when he has attacked.

It doesn’t help that, as FanGraphs‘ Jeff Sullivan pointed out in early May, pitchers have taken to exclusively and precisely working Harper on the low-and-outside corner of the zone. But good pitches to hit have been there for him, and even the man himself can admit he’s failed to take advantage.

“You have to understand you may only get one or two [good] pitches a game,” Harper told Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post in late May. “If you don’t hit them, it’s your fault.”

Because Harper knows what his malfunction is, it’s easy to ask why he can’t overcome it. The easy answer might also be the best answer: He’s letting his frustration get to him.

During his slump, we’ve seen Harper curse out an umpire, break a bat in anger and throw a dugout temper tantrum. He may not be himself behind the scenes either, as Boswell wrote Harper “sometimes has lacked his customary energy and seems less enthusiastic.”

This could be what convinced Baker to give Harper what he called a “mental day off” on May 25, when his only responsibility was to “just concentrate and watch the game.” A few days later, it is fair to wonder if that’s made a difference.

Harper has slammed a couple of home runs in his last five games, after all. One was this titanic blast off St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Mike Leake:

And the other was this clout to dead center off Adam Wainwright:

Watch closely, and you’ll see Harper destroy a hanging curve that was supposed to be in the dirt in the first video. In the second, he crushed a fastball that was supposed to be off the outside corner but drifted over the plate. Those were two hittable mistakes, and he made them look like hittable mistakes.

That’s good news! And there’s more. Though Harper’s zone rate since his mental health day has stayed low at 35.4 percent, his swing rate has increased to 47.7 percent. His rate of contact within the zone, meanwhile, is sitting at 100 percent.

This sample size is way, way, way too small to conclude that Harper has officially broken out of his slump. It’s also imperfect. Those homers are two of only four hits, and Harper’s increased aggressiveness also comes with less discipline and more whiffs. And though his knee injury supposedly isn’t serious, knee injuries of any kind are not to be trusted.

But if Harper’s recent heroics aren’t a breakout, they’re at least a hint of one. Rather than a question of talent, him snapping out of his pitcher-induced haze has always been a question of taking initiative. That appears to be what he’s doing.

If so, Bryce Harper may soon be Bryce Harper again.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper left Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies after getting hit in the right knee by a Jeremy Hellickson pitch in the seventh inning. It is currently unclear when he’ll return to the field. 

Continue for updates.

Harper Out vs. Phillies

Wednesday, June 1

Mark Zuckerman of MASN reported Harper will not be in the lineup Wednesday against Philadelphia.

Harper Comments on Injury

Tuesday, May 31

“It hurts,” Harper said, via Zuckerman. “Whenever you get squared up like that, [it was] definitely something that didn’t feel good. I think we’ll evaluate tomorrow and see how it feels.”

Harper’s Timeline to Return Revealed 

Monday, May 30

Harper is considered day-to-day with a right-knee contusion, according to Jamal Collier of MLB.com. 

Nationals Can’t Afford to Lose Harper for Extended Period of Time

The slugger was replaced by Chris Heisey when the Nationals took the field in the bottom of the inning. Harper was 0-for-2 before exiting. Heading into Monday’s contest, he was hitting .245 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI while sporting a .416 OBP.

Harper is coming off his first MVP Award and is also a year removed from his healthiest professional season. He played 153 games in 2015 and set career highs with a .330/.460/.649 slash line, 42 home runs and 99 RBI. His individual success did not translate to team wins, though, as Washington finished a disappointing 83-79 despite having one of baseball’s highest payrolls.  

“Last year’s behind us. I mean, all of last year’s behind us,” Harper told reporters. “We were a losing team. I know we were above in the win column and loss column, but we still lost.”

The Nationals are undoubtedly hoping Harper will be back in the lineup soon. He’s their best player, and the only thing that’s affected his superstar trajectory has been injuries.

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A strong start to the 2016 season has bought Mike Rizzo extra job security, as the Washington Nationals exercised their general manager’s contract option Saturday, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com.

Per Ladson, Rizzo’s option, which will keep him with the Nationals through 2018, had to be picked up by June 15.

Nationals managing principal owner Ted Lerner expressed his enthusiasm for Rizzo’s work during his tenure with the franchise, per Ladson: “He and the baseball operations team have worked tirelessly to help build this organization into one of Major League Baseball’s elite clubs. We are fortunate to have him.”

Rizzo expressed his gratitude for the chance to continue working for the franchise he’s been with since 2006. 

“I am honored by the Lerner family’s continued faith and confidence in me and am thrilled to be remaining with the Washington Nationals organization,” he said. “While I am proud of the work we have accomplished, we still must achieve the ultimate goal of bringing a World Series championship back to Washington.”

The Nationals hired Rizzo as their general manager in 2009 after he had served as an assistant general manager under Jim Bowden for two seasons.

Under Rizzo’s leadership, the Nationals have become one of the premier franchises in Major League Baseball. They have won two National League East titles since 2012 and haven’t finished under .500 since 2011. 

Some of the key deals in the Rizzo era include acquiring Gio Gonzalez from the Oakland Athletics, signing Max Scherzer as a free agent and getting Stephen Strasburg—a Scott Boras client—to sign a long-term extension before hitting free agency. 

Not all of Rizzo’s moves have paid off—Jayson Werth is still under contract through 2017—but he’s put the franchise in position to compete for a playoff spot each year. He’s led the turnaround in Washington and has earned the right to see it through to what everyone with the team hopes will be a World Series title.

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Take a bow, Max Scherzer.

One season after twirling a pair of no-hitters, the Washington Nationals right-hander struck out 20 Detroit Tigers on Wednesday in a 3-2 victory, tying the all-time record for a nine-inning game and carving his place in baseball history.

Scherzer wasn’t perfect. Facing his former team for the first time since signing a megadeal with the Nationals in January 2015, he surrendered six hits and a pair of solo home runs, to Jose Iglesias in the third inning and J.D. Martinez in the ninth.

In fact, the Tigers put the tying run on base in the ninth in between Scherzer fanning Miguel Cabrera and Justin Upton to tie the record.

He had a chance to stand alone at the summit of Mount K by fanning James McCann. Instead, McCann grounded out to third to end the game and seal the win.

With his masterpiece, Scherzer joins Kerry Wood and Roger Clemens (who did it twice) as the only big league pitchers to tally 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game. Randy Johnson also accomplished the feat, though the game went beyond nine innings, and Tom Cheney racked up 21 in 16 innings for the Washington Senators in 1962.

Perhaps most impressively, just 23 of Scherzer’s 119 pitches were balls, fewer than any of the other pitchers in the 20-whiff club, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Pounding the strike zone and making opposing hitters look foolish is nothing new for Scherzer, who won a Cy Young Award with Detroit in 2013 and has struck out 1,045 batters since the start of the 2012 season, second only to Clayton Kershaw in MLB.

Still, seeing the 31-year-old in otherworldly form had to be nice for the Nationals.

Washington is off to an excellent start, but Scherzer has been up and down. He entered Wednesday’s start with a 4.60 ERA and was tagged for seven earned runs in his last outing against the potent Chicago Cubs.

What a difference five days makes. No, the Tigers aren’t the Cubbies, but they aren’t pushovers, either. No one strikes out Cabrera three times without bringing his A-game.

When Scherzer fanned Cabrera for the third time in the ninth, he was still dishing high-90s heat, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post noted:

Scherzer’s rotation-mate, Stephen Strasburg, has grabbed headlines after getting off to a strong start and signing a seven-year, $175 million extension.

Strasburg, who’s still just 27 years old and oozing with talent, may prove to be the better pitcher going forward. 

But Scherzer just served notice he’s not ready to relinquish the No. 1 mantle quite yet. And the Nats, no doubt, will be all too happy to sit back and watch their co-aces duke it out.

Tigers fans may be bitter that their old ace outshone their new ace, former National Jordan Zimmermann, who took the hill for Detroit. And they may be tempted to place some blame at the feet of a lineup that hasn’t been as good as advertised.

As ESPN.com’s Katie Strang said, however, this one belongs to Scherzer all the way.

“The Tigers battled to the very end,” Strang correctly opined, “but were ultimately outclassed by a historic performance by one of the game’s elite pitchers.”

Just ask the man himself, who made no effort to disguise his carnal pleasure.

“Strikeouts are sexy,” Scherzer said, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. “To punch out 20 is sexy.”

Chicks dig the swing and miss.

So where does Scherzer’s performance rank in the pantheon of dominant pitching performances?

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus put it ahead of Clemens’ 20-strikeout games but behind Wood’s, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck.

You could argue Wednesday’s gem wasn’t even the most dominant game of Scherzer’s career. In last season’s no-hitter against the Mets, Scherzer struck out 17. His 104 game score, a metric created by famed statistician Bill James, was the second-highest of all time, per Janes. 

The highest? Wood’s 20-strikeout effort, which earned a 105.

Scherzer’s game score Wednesday took a hit because of the two homers he allowed, and came in at 87, per Sporting News’ Jesse Spector.

That says as much about the stat’s shortcomings as it does about the various performances. The point is, Scherzer is making a habit out of huge moments. He’s clearly a man who wants to be remembered by history—and history is going to oblige.

Take a bow, Max Scherzer. And feel free to give us an encore while you’re at it.

All statistics current as of May 11 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Washington Nationals lost five of their last six games coming into Wednesday’s contest, but Max Scherzer wasn’t about to let them lose another. All the dominant right-hander did was tie a major league record with 20 strikeouts in one game as he led Washington to the 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Here is a look at Scherzer’s final stat line:

Scherzer joined Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Randy Johnson as the only pitchers in baseball history to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning start, as MLB highlighted:

Clemens did it twice for the Boston Red Sox (1986 and 1996), Wood did it in 1998 for the Chicago Cubs and Johnson did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001, per Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated. Scherzer was particularly efficient during his outing Wednesday, as ESPN Stats & Info and Jayson Stark of ESPN.com pointed out:  

One of those record holders gave a shoutout to the newest member of the 20-strikeout club:

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet noted making history is business as usual for the Nationals pitcher:

Will Brinson of CBS Sports said Scherzer’s latest feat is even more extraordinary than a no-no:

Scherzer was already making history through eight innings, as Mitch Goldich of Sports Illustrated realized, citing numbers from Baseball-Reference.com:

The Nationals were struggling to keep up with the math: 

Former U.S. Rep. John Dingell located the few guys in the stadium Scherzer didn’t retire on strikes:

While he was incredible against his former team at Nationals Park on Wednesday, Scherzer had struggled some in 2016 coming into the start. He was sporting a 4.60 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 46 strikeouts in 43 innings before the 20-strikeout effort, and there was perhaps some concern about how the 31-year-old was responding after he threw a career-high 228.2 innings last season.

He was also coming off an abysmal performance against the Chicago Cubs on Friday, when he allowed seven earned runs and four home runs in five innings. However, on Wednesday he appeared to find his old stuff that had resulted in an ERA of 2.90, 3.15 and 2.79 in the last three years, respectively.

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports implied the turnaround was bound to happen eventually:

Scherzer has been a dominant strikeout pitcher for most of his career, and he’s tallied more than 200 in each of the last four campaigns:

He received some help Wednesday from Danny Espinosa, who drilled a solo home run in the seventh inning. It proved to be the difference, as the Tigers scored in the top of the ninth to trim the deficit to a single run.

Despite their recent struggles, the Nationals were 20-13 coming into play Wednesday and only one game behind the New York Mets in the loss column in the National League East. If Scherzer continues to pitch like he did Wednesday, he could lead Washington back to the postseason after it missed out in 2015.

Postgame Reaction

While Wood offered his congratulations on Twitter, Clemens responded after the game, per Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Haven’t seen it, but fantastic.”

Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com noted “Scherzer took particular pride in doing this [versus the] Tigers” and shared the pitcher’s takeaway: “Those are tremendous hitters. This is for real.”

Nationals manager Dusty Baker echoed that, per Chris Iott of MLive.com:“That was the best performance I’ve seen in person. … He wanted it. You could tell he was psyched before the game against his former teammates.”

Tigers slugger J.D. Martinez was asked what it is like being behind in the count against Scherzer, per Jason Beck of MLB.com: “It’s like a horror film. He’s got three pitches that can put you away.”

Scherzer summarized his outing, per Katie Strang of ESPN: “Strikeouts are sexy. To strike out 20, that’s sexy.”

It’s hard to argue with that.

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When asked about Joe Ross’ dominance this season, Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker elected to offer a simple explanation.

“He’s good,” he said of the Washington starting pitcher. “It’s simple as that. He works the strike zone. Has a good sinker, good slider and this guy is going to be good for a long time.”

That bodes well for the future of Washington’s entire rotation, which has been surprisingly dominant this season. The Nationals’ ERA in innings one through six is 2.67, second-best in baseball as of Tuesday night.

Ross, who turns 23 later this month, is the burgeoning star in the group. His emergence among a collection of proven pitchers solidifies its standing as one of baseball’s best rotations. And it’s refreshing for Nationals fans to hear the overwhelming confidence Baker has in Ross. After his start on Tuesday in which he allowed a season-high five earned runs against the Detroit Tigers, Washington’s right-hander had a 2.29 ERA.

Prior to Tuesday, Ross had allowed four earned runs in five starts.

He was the X-factor in the team’s rotation heading into the season after Washington allowed Jordan Zimmermann to leave in free agency. Zimmermann has a 1.10 ERA through six starts for the Tigers this season.

Command of a third pitch is a factor in Ross’ coming of age. It’s a reason to believe his dominance will continue. Bettering his repertoire of pitches can only net positive results.

He isn’t coasting through a period in which he has electrifying stuff, though.

There have been times this season where Ross has had to battle, using location to overcome starts in which he didn’t have as much movement on his pitches.

“I feel like I’ve been able to throw all three of my pitches for strikes, which I think has been my biggest key to the start of this season, because last year I was fastball-slider for the most part,” Ross said. “So being able to throw my changeup for a strike, being able to throw it behind in the count, I think has been really good for me so far.”

Of course, one starter doesn’t make a rotation that also includes ace Max Scherzer, Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark, the only player in the rotation who wasn’t a first-round pick. Roark was drafted in the 25th round of the 2008 draft out of the University of Illinois.

Scherzer is the only player of the five who has struggled. He appears to have caught baseball’s “ace bug.” Scherzer has lugged a head-scratching 4.60 ERA through seven starts this season. His 4.79 FIP (fielding independent pitching) suggests he has pitched even worse than his ERA might indicate.

FIP is a stat that calculates a pitcher’s run prevention independent of the quality of the defense behind him. It’s kind of like judging Beyonce as a solo artist after Destiny’s Child went on hiatus.

Scherzer’s struggles can be taken one of two ways: Either something is seriously wrong, or the trajectory of his season can only go up.

Given that if Scherzer finishes 2016 with that gargantuan ERA it would be the worst of his career, history tells us he will improve—making the latter of the two scenarios more likely.

Last season, Scherzer had an ERA of 2.79 and an FIP of 2.77. In 2014, his numbers were 3.15 and 2.85, respectively, and 2.90 and 2.74 in 2013.

But these numbers are all a product of struggling command.

His location issues haven’t shown up in his walk totals. Through seven starts Scherzer has issued 15 walks. By comparison Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta has 16 in as many starts. But Scherzer is simply catching too much of the plate on his pitches, which has resulted in an a unsightly nine homers off Washington’s so-called ace this season.

“It is improper location,” Baker said of what ailed his ace in Scherzer’s most recent start against the Chicago Cubs. “That’s the main thing. I don’t care who you are. If you’re not locating the ball—especially the fastball—you know you’re going to get hit.”

That’s correctable, which means this rotation could be even better. The biggest shock of the season for Washington’s starters has been their dominance despite Scherzer’s struggles.

Washington’s dominance on the bump isn’t just the real deal. It could be an even bigger deal.

But the task of continuing the group’s stellar performance also rests on the arms of the three aforementioned starters—Gonzalez, Roark and Strasburg.

Gonzalez (2.19), Strasburg (2.76) and Roark (2.03) are all on pace to have career years in ERA, but their numbers aren’t far off from how they’ve performed in previous seasons.

In 2012, his first season with the Nationals, Gonzalez finished with an ERA of 2.89. The last two campaigns, his ERA hasn’t been as good—3.79 in 2015 and 3.57 in 2014—but his FIP indicates he pitched better. Those numbers were 3.05 in 2015 and 3.02 in 2014. In Roark’s only other season as a full-time starter—he split time in the rotation and bullpen last season—he posted a 2.85 ERA.

Strasburg has been a player whose ERA has always hovered around 3.00, except last season when it was 3.46. But his FIP in 2015 was 2.81. This could be the third straight year he finishes with an FIP under 3.00.

And, more importantly, he is throwing ace-like stuff and was rewarded with a seven-year, $175 million contract on Monday. Strasburg has proved this season he is capable of filling the current void left by Scherzer at the top of the rotation.

That was the plan, at least, when Washington made him the first overall pick in 2009.

But injuries, including Tommy John surgery in 2010, have hurt his ascension through baseball’s pitching ranks. As recently as last season, he struggled with inflammation in his elbow. If he can stay healthy, Strasburg can challenge for that top spot, even if Scherzer turns his season around.

The Nationals also have an insurance policy in Lucas Giolito, who is expected to be promoted to the majors this season, according to MLB.com. The site also says Giolito “has the highest ceiling” among minor league pitchers.  

So, should any of Washington’s starters falter, they have Giolito awaiting his opportunity.

It’s difficult to predict the future, but past performance is our best indicator. Each of these players has done it before. Now, they’re doing it collectively.

So there’s little question as to whether this group can keep its current pace. All that’s left to answer: How much better can it get?

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. All quotes were obtained firsthand.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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