At 12-12 on the season, the Nationals record ranks seventh among 15 NL teams.They would be three games out of first place in the NL West, two-and-a-half games back in the NL Central. But they play in the NL East, so theyre sitting in first place, a half-game ahead of both the Phillies (14-15) and Mets (11-12). The Braves (12-16) and Marlins (11-16) are within shouting distance still, despite slow starts to the season.Its early, sure, but this is not really what anyone expected. The Braves played at a 94-win pace in the shortened 2020 campaign and came within a win of the World Series. The Mets got a new owner (Steve Cohen) and a new superstar (Francisco Lindor) this offseason, and expectations were as high as theyve been in years. The Nationals still have Max Scherzer and Steven Strasburg atop the rotation, with Juan Soto in a lineup with slugging additions Kyle Schwarber and Josh Bell.MORE: The Phillies completely revamped a bullpen that tanked their playoff hopes in 2020, and retained key offensive pieces in J.T. Realmuto and Didi Gregorius. The Marlins were coming off a surprising playoff berth last year and brought back lots of young rising stars.But here we are, in early May and the entire division is in a collective funk. It seems unlikely, of course, that the division will be won with a .500 record, but the thoughts of the Braves and Mets challenging for 100- Nathan MacKinnon Jersey win totals are probably gone. Before we look too far ahead, though, lets take a look at whats gone wrong so far. The Atlanta offense has been wildly streaky so far this season, and when the bats Calle Rosen Men Jersey go cold, they go very, very cold. The Braves scored a total of three runs in their first three games of the season, against the Phillies. They managed just one hit and zero runs in a double-header against the Diamondbacks on April 25. Ronald AcuaJr. is hitting like an MVP candidate and Austin Riley has been very good of late, but most everyone else is off to a slow start. Batting averages arent everything, of course like Wikipedia, a good place to start looking as long as you dig a bit more but Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Marcel Ozuna, Travis dArnaud (whos now on the IL) and Cristian Pache are all batting .229 or worse.In the rotation, Ian Anderson (3.27 ERA) and Huascar Ynoa (2.96) have been good, but the rest of the rotation? Woof. Here are the runs allowed by Braves pitchers in a recent eight-game stretch:5, 7, 7, 0, 0, 9, 13, 6. Gue s which two were started by Anderson and Ynoa. Yep. The starting pitchings been an i sue.Will it last?The Atlanta hitters are too good for this to continue. Freeman, for example, had a .462 on-base percentage last year (when he won the NL MVP), and hes at .344 this season. Marcel Ozuna had a 172 OPS+ in 2020, when he led the NL in homers and RBIs; he has a 58 OPS+ this year.Eventually, the Braves hope to have Mike Soroka and Max Fried back in the rotation, but the team can't bank on health or sustained succe s for either. More immediately, the Braves need veterans Charlie Morton (5.08 ERA) and Drew Smyly (8.05 ERA) to be better. The club signed both to one-year deals in the offseason a practice that had been beneficial in recent years but both have been disappointments so far. Well, we know why the Mets bra s thinks the club has been struggling around .500. The powers-that-be fired hitting coaches Chili Davis and Tom Slater after a lo s to the Cardinals on Monday night. The timing felt a little strange, considering that the Mets A.J. Greer Jersey had scored 17 runs in the previous three games (and won two of those three), but offensive production certainly had been an i sue. In 12 of the first 23 games, the Mets failed to score more than three runs. Theyve lost three games started by ace Jacob deGrom when deGrom lasted at least six innings and gave up one or zero runs.The Mets have played 23 games.Their top three starters Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman & Taijuan Walker have started 15 of those 23 games and have a combined 1.68 ERA in 91 innings.The Mets are 11-12. Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) Heres a so far this season.Will it last?The offense will get better. Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto have already heated up after slow starts. Jeff McNeil, who owned a .319 career average in 248 games heading into this Nicolas Meloche Women Jersey season, isnt going to hit .235 all year. And Francisco Lindor? Hes a legitimate superstar in his Age 27 season facing the pre sure of a new team, a new fan base and a new contract. Hes allowed a first-month hiccup. Hell be just fine. Mostly, the Nationals have had trouble staying healthy. At the moment, both Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg two pretty key players are on the IL. Jon Lester just finally came off the IL and threw five shutout innings in his debut with the team. Among position players, only four guys have played more than 17 of the clubs 24 games.And some of the healthy guys have struggled. The team acquired Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber to add punch to the lineup the two combined for 75 homers in 2019 but theyve hit only four, with OPS+ numbers of 42 and 71, respectively. In the rotation, Patrick Corbin has had two good starts and three disastrous starts, adding up to an 8.10 ERA, and Eric Fedde (4.43 ERA) and Joe Ro s (4.64) have been OK at best.Will it last?At some point, the Nationals will get healthy. At least, thats the hope. And if the regulars get back to their regular production, theres no reason this team cant contend. Max Scherzer has been his normal brilliant self and Brad Hand hasnt allowed an earned run as the closer. Trea Turner has been outstanding (146 OPS+, with six homers and seven stolen bases), and veterans Ryan Zimmerman (.319 average) and Josh Harrison (.361) have been great. The Phillies might not have a ma sively glaring Rob Ramage Kids Jersey i sue their offense is OK though far from great, their pitching is OK but far from awful, etc. but the .500ish record is what you get when a team with a small margin for error fails to do the little things right. On a lot of nights, those mistakes are made by the defense. Look at the Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) stat. The Phillies are 27th of 30 MLB teams, at minus-11. The Nationals, on the other hand, are plus-21. Thats a huge difference.Here's an example: In the April 29 game against St. Louis, the Phillies had a 1-0 lead in the fifth and Aaron Nola was cruising. Odubel Herrera dove for a ball he wasn't going to catch and allowed the runner, Andrew Knizner, to hustle to second base. That extra base led to an intentional walk (a questionable decision by Joe Girardi), and that led to this ...Will it last?Lets put it this way: If 96 or 97 wins is what it takes to win the NL East, the Phillies probably arent going to compete for the division title. But if the goal is 90ish? T