With the baseball season drawing to a close, the Nationals, for the first time in decades, are in the chase for the National League Pennant and a shot at the World Series.

Currently the Nationals sit alone atop the National League East and are poised to take the number one seed in the National League. This would give them a huge advantage in the playoffs as they attempt to win the National League Pennant, the award given to the winner of the National league playoffs, something that the team has never done in its 43-year history.

Part of their success can be attributed to their plethora of young talent to include pitching aces Stephen Strasburg, and Gio Gonzalez, as well as rookie sensation Bryce Harper, only to name a few. Credit can also go to General Manager Mike Rizzo and Manager Davey Johnson.

Johnson managed the team throughout the season and has done an impressive job thus far, leading the franchise to its best record in Washington. The Nationals are going to need him in the upcoming weeks more than ever as October and the playoffs begin. His experience managing the Mets to a World Series in 1986 will be invaluable in managing the Nats to what could become their first World Series winning season.

Rizzo, the team’s general manager, is the architect of the Nationals roster. He has set up the team for success through player trades and the draft. Left-hander Gio Gonzalez, a current Cy Young Award candidate who’s leading the Majors in wins, was acquired by Rizzo in a trade with the Oakland Athletics. Rizzo also drafted standout pitcher Stephen Strasburg and 19-year-old superstar Bryce Harper, who in his first year in the majors was selected for the National League All Star team.

Regardless of how the Nationals finish this year they are going to be a force to reckon with for years to come. GM Rizzo has done an amazing job assembling a young team that will only get better with age, practice, and experience. The team’s decision to bench Strasburg, who underwent surgery on his throwing arm during the past off-season, in order to rest his arm for future seasons shows that they plan to be an elite team for years to come. With one of the youngest rosters in the Major League, and already an excellent showing, the Nationals have the potential to win multiple World Series Championships in the not-so-far off future.