The one thing that is not talked about enough I think is how consistent the Nats have been all year. They've had 1 losing "streak" of 5 games. Unlike the Reds and the Braves that needed long winning streaks to stay in the hunt, the Nats have been consistently winning series all year long. They don't need an insane hot stretch to stay in contention and they've done a good job so far of avoiding prolonged slumps.
I think that kind of consistency over 2/3 of the season so far is the best indicator for sustainability.
I totally agree with this and it's one of the most under-rated things about this team. There's been three or four times where my inherent pessimism has had me believing the wheels were about to come off, and every single time they've managed to right the ship, scratch out a win and get back on track. The ability to avoid a 10- or 15-game funk has been huge. Their worst stretch, I think was probably the Yankees series and immediately after - something like 3-7 over that 10 game stretch. Even that, while bad is hardly crippling - I especially apprecaite that because it keeps me from
- rather have a team that consistently wins 2 out of 3, 3 out of 5 and 5 out of 7 than one that follows an 11 game winning streak with a 7 game losing streak.
