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Washington Nationals’ Season Hangs In The Balance After Bryce Harper’s Injury

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Washington Nationals' Season Hangs In The Balance After Bryce Harper's Injury

Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Nationals got a scare last night when superstar right fielder Bryce Harper attempted to make a throw towards home plate and ended up on the ground in a heap of pain, holding his knee. The entire organization and fanbase were holding their collective breath expecting the worst. According to manager Matt Williams, the doctors diagnosed Harper with a mild hamstring strain and he will be re-evaluated today.

Harper was the one player the Nationals can’t afford to lose. The team is currently 34-33, sitting one-and-a-half games behind the New York Mets in the NL East. If not for Harper’s MVP performance in the first half, the Nationals would already be out of the playoff picture. He’s hitting .344 with a ridiculous .476 OBP, 22 home runs and 53 RBIs, which puts him on pace to hit 53 home runs and drive in 128 RBIs. The next highest home run total on the team is Danny Espinosa with eight, and the player with the second-most RBIs is Ryan Zimmerman with 34.

Besides Harper and third baseman Yunel Escobar, there has been no consistent offense from the Nationals, and it’s a big reason why the team is hovering around the .500 mark. If Harper ends up landing on the disabled list, the Nationals will likely fall too far out of contention to fight their way back, which would be a disappointing reality after they were the World Series favorites entering the 2015 MLB season.

The Nationals, and Harper, have a lot riding on today’s evaluation. Hopefully things don’t look worse than originally expected and Harper can return to the team after a couple of days of rest. In the meantime, the rest of the club is going to have to step up. The starting pitching, beginning with Joe Ross tonight, is going to have to bear down and take their game to the next level. The only way the Nationals will win without Harper is to win low-scoring, 2-1 or 3-2 ballgames, and that means great pitching and solid defense. Considering how bad the Nationals have been defensively, the team can’t sustain that formula for too long, hence the team hoping Harper returns quickly.

Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.

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