Yeah, they are already in far better shape than they were before the last road trip, and 8-8 since that bad start sounds even better than that! They are going to continue to struggle with the tough stretch of games coming up and I sure hope they don't drop two to Colorado. But the bullpen has stabilized and I do believe the runs will come more consistently given their overall production. RISP will even out, balls will start leaving the yard, and just Harper's presence in the line-up will change and lengthen it. And Hall would also be better than nothing.
But the starting pitching, well.. that just might be the reality of being a World Series team. If Wheeler and Nola are themselves there's a lot of baseball left and if they aren't (whether struggling or hurt or both) the rest might be moot, even with Walker and Strahm stepping up potentially (I would group Suarez with the other two guys for obvious reasons).
Truth is few expected them to win the division. Per Fangraphs the slow start has merely downgraded them from an 84.9 win team with a 50% chance of making the playoffs to an 82.7 win team with a 34.6% chance. One decent winning streak and that will flip back.
