PHILADELPHIA — The Washington Nationals may be one of the most perplexing teams in the majors this season.
They have scored 10 runs or more 13 times, the last coming in a 15-0 drubbing of the Mets in New York on Sunday.
But the Nationals have been shut out 14 times this year, tied for the most in the National League. Washington was blanked three times in a row and had not scored in 32 innings before breaking loose on Sunday.
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Washington (65-66) begins a three-game series at the Phillies (70-60) on Monday night. Here are three things to look for:
Last stand for playoffs
As of Monday morning, the Nationals playoff chances were 5.1 percent, according to mlb.com.
But it seems even more daunting than that.
Washington enters Monday 8½ games back of first-place Atlanta (73-57) and is 5½ game behind second-place Philadelphia.
In the wild-card race, there are seven teams ahead of the Nationals who have a record of 10 games or better than .500 through Sunday.
For the Nationals to finish at 86-76, and thus 10 games over .500, they would have to win 21 of their last 31 games.
That seems unlikely for a team that has had a winning record just one month this year and is 12 games under .500 since late May.
How is Strasburg?
Right-hander Stephen Strasburg (6-7, 4.23) will make his second start since coming off the disabled list with neck problems when he takes the mound Monday in Philadelphia.
In his last start, at home against the Phillies on Wednesday, he lasted just four innings, gave up five runs and did not figure in the decision as the Nationals won on a walk-off homer by Ryan Zimmerman.
Zach Eflin (9-4, 3.93) will start for Philadelphia on Monday against Strasburg.
The other probable starters will be Washington’s Max Scherzer (16-6, 2.13) against Aaron Nola (15-3, 2.13) of the Phillies on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. That is a rematch of the 2-0 game won by Nola and the Phillies on Thursday at Nationals Park.
In the finale on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., lefty Gio Gonzalez (7-11, 4.345) will go against Jake Arrieta (9-9, 3.37).
Gonzalez has not won a game on the road since May 28 in Baltimore.
Nationals roster
The rosters can expand to 40 players on Saturday. That means some of the Nationals’ top minor leaguers could be added to the team by the end of the week.
And active players can still be traded by the end of this month. A player must belong to a major league organization by the end of August to be a candidate for the post-season roster.
So if the Nationals feel they have no chance to make the playoffs and want to trade pending free agents that is possible. Two candidates would be pitcher Gio Gonzalez and catcher Matt Wieters.
But trading a durable pitcher such as Gonzalez would mean the Nationals would have to find someone to fill those innings for the last month of the season. That may not be something the team wants to do with younger pitchers already in the system.
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