Bryce Harper: Nats should be ‘excited’ about where they are in standings

The Washington Nationals need to start stringing together wins quickly if they want to have any shot at reaching the postseason, and Bryce Harper is confident they can do just that. In fact, he thinks his team should be pleased to be one game below .500 in mid-August.

After the Nationals lost two out of three against the Miami Marlins over the weekend, Harper said he and his teammates should be “excited” about where they’re at in the standings.

Harper: “I felt like we always been ahead at this time, super far. I think for me and everybody in this clubhouse I think we should be excited where we are at because if we rattle off and do what we need to do and gets us hot to go right into the postseason."

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) August 19, 2018

As of Monday, the Nationals were seven games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East and 6.5 games out of a wild card spot. A late-season win streak would certainly give them a shot, but they have put together very few of those this year.

Washington decided to stand pat at the trade deadline despite having a mediocre season, and you may or may not agree with their ownership’s reason for taking that approach. At this point, there isn’t much else Harper can say. The Nationals are far from eliminated, but they haven’t shown enough to give their fans a lot of hope about the playoffs.