Nationals Baseball: Monday Quickie - Playoffs!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Monday Quickie - Playoffs!

Hey, I said I'd talk about them again if the Nats reached .500 and what do you know, the Nats reached .500. Even stuck their heads above water for a minute. Any way here were the standings Before the 5 game winning streak.

Nats trail ATL for NL East by 16 games
Nats trail CIN for WC2 by 10.5 games

and now?

Nats trail ATL for NL East by 13 games
Nats trail CIN for WC2 by 8.5 games

Progress! The Nats played well (5-1) and the Braves (2-4) and Reds (3-3) not as well. But again you see the hole that has been dug. If the Nats played at the same pace for the rest of the season, and the Braves and Reds played at the same pace for the rest of the season the Nats would catch both teams on the very last day of the year, give or take a game. Can the Reds go 16-13 or worse? Definitely. Can the Braves go 12-20 or worse? Sure, why not. It happens. Can the Nats go 26-6? Ummmm, ummmm, ummmmm... what can I make you say that will make you feel better?

The Reds will play the Cardinals in 7 of the next 10 games (COL in between). If one team can dominate the other, that's ground the Nats could make up. Then the Reds play the Dodgers before the schedule slackens up.

The Nats play an EASY 19 games. Nothing but NL East teams. Hahahahahaha BUT TRUE! AND SAD! So they should be able to play well. 15-3 well?  Maybe not, but they can't be too far off of that. They can't find themselves going back on the road without making up a couple more games. 

The Nats need a dominant stretch to follow that 5-1 going. Up now is three vs the Marlins, three vs the Mets. 5-1 is the Goal. 4-2 won't cut it, as it likely falls below the catch-up pace that we've already determined is kind of crazy. Nats are allowed one slip up.

Keep your head down, keep winning and go ahead and ignore the D-backs (still ahead of the Nats in the WC race) because if the Nats are somehow going to catch the Reds, they are going to be playing well enough to make the D-backs moot.

11 comments:

Strasburger said...

Yeah, I would've liked the come back win yesterday, but I was happy with the road trip.

Bryce is playing well now but we need him to absolutely start raking and desmond to start consistently hitting again to have a shot.

Harper said...

They need 5 guys hot at all times. Gonna be a tough haul but "Not Technically Eliminated" is still a rallying cry, even if not the one you want.

cass said...

One last mad charge to finish the season. Let's do it. If the Nats are to go down, then go down fighting. Make the Reds win. Add a little drama.

Sweep the Fish!

Dr Trea (formerly #werthquake) said...

Oh boy, Harper giving false hope again! Its okay i honestly don't expect anything, but this at least gives me an interesting storyline to follow.

Donald said...

With 32 remaining games, the Nats probably can't afford to lose more than 9. That would get them to 88 wins which may be enough to snag a wildcard. If that happens, they'd be one of the hottest teams on the planet entering the playoffs. My guess, though is that they go 18-14 and end the year 83-79.

Theo Mackie said...

Reds can go 15-15 and force us to go 24-8. To make it realistically possible, they need to collapse to the tune of 12-18 giving us a doable goal of 21-11.

Booyah Suckah! said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-eavMSBnk

Booyah Suckah! said...

Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?!

On the waiver-trade front, anyone have any thoughts on possibly trading for Mets catcher Buck? They're apparently shopping him. Not a great average, but his career SLG is .401, certainly better than Solano. It would be nice to have a power bat to replace Ramos on the occasional day off and/or blown hammy.

Harper said...

cass - Yes! win!

C&S - tried to fix that today. I don't want false hope as much as I want to enjoy the end of the season

Donald - Yep. I like 84/85 wins personally.

Theo - But remember that also give the D-backs a doable goal of 19-13

BS - sure it's possible. Ramos is slowing down so it might be a good idea to. Call up Rizzo.

Chas R said...

Here we go... sweepthefishsweepthefishsweepthefishsweepthefish...

We're going tonight and tomorrow.

And the Mets no longer have Harvey. I feel bad for the kid, but good timing for the Nats.

Think Rizzo will trade Haren before the end of August deadline?

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