The Mets almost came back from a 10-0 deficit against the Phillies Saturday night, but fall short 10-8. Meanwhile, Washington beats Pittsburgh 6-1 behind a long, strong, relief performance by Reynaldo Lopez. Those two events send the Nationals magic number to zero, and they are the NL East champs. They have now won the NL East the last three even years. Each time, their manager was in his first full season with the team.
The Nationals are good on both sides of the ball, ranking fourth in the NL in runs scored per game, and second in the NL in runs allowed per game. They do look a bit weak going into the post-season, as Stephen Strasburg may not be able to pitch. The rotation without Strasburg held it’s own, however.
Daniel Murphy proved to be one of the best signings of the off season, as he was able to make up for Bryce Harper‘s poor year. In 2014, Bryce had a down year due to injuries, but was healthy for the playoffs, and was pretty much the only Nationals batter who contributed. With Daniel Murphy injured, Harper may need to rise to the occasion again. If both Harper and Murphy are hitting, the Nationals have a deeper offense behind them then they did in 2014, so they could have enough to win the NLDS for the first time.
The Nationals can’t quite rest yet. They lead the Dodgers by one game for home field in the NLDS.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2dhbrmJ
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