One of the major reasons for the Mets run in 2015 was the Nationals bullpen. That bullpen had the third most blown saves in the National League. 

It was a bullpen those Mets beat up on to win some key games. In the push to win the division, the Mets swept the Nationals twice. The Nationals bullpen blew four of those six games, and the Mets got the win against the Nationals bullpen in five of those six games. 

The 2017 Nationals bullpen might even be worse than that bullpen. 

After failing to obtain a closer in free agency or to acquire on in a trade, the Nationals went in-house for their closer. This has led to Dusty Baker playing Rusdian Roulette with Koda Glover, Blake Treinen, and Shawn Kelley. The end result has been the Nationals blowing the second most saves in the National League. 

But it’s not just the rotating ineffective closers who are poor. It’s the entire Nationals bullpen:

• Koda Glover 5.12 ERA 
• Blake Treinen 6.33 ERA
• Shawn Kelley 7.47 ERA
• Enny Romero 4.13 ERA
• Oliver Perez 4.97 ERA
• Jacob Turner 4.30 ERA
• Joe Blanton 8.78 ERA

About the only competent bullpen arm the Nationals have is Matt Albers, who is having an extreme outlier season partially fueled by an unsustainable .220 BABIP. In fact, he just blew a save against the Braves last night. 

This bullpen is horrendous, and they’re killing the Nationals. Their 11 blown saves are the second most in the National League, and their 5.11 bullpen ERA is the worst in the National League. 

The bullpen has played a major role in the Nationals losing four straight and five of six. In that timeframe, the Nationals lead over the Mets has shrunk from 12.5 games to 8.5 games in less than o r week. 

Despite all that has happened to the Mets this year, they’re still in the National League East race thanks in large part to the Nationals bullpen.  Who knows?  Maybe a few months from now, we may be saying the Mets won the division because of that Nationals bullpen.