Yesterday the Nationals lost their 82nd game of the season. Mathematically, that means the Nationals have no chance at finishing at .500 this season. They are the first team this season to guaranteed a losing season and, by a surprise, they do not have lowest Elimination number in the majors. The Mariners right now hold that honor with a number of 8, the Nationals are sitting pretty with 12. So a combination of 12 National losses or 12 Mets wins, will knock this team out of the playoff race. Here are the elimination numbers for the last place team in each division:
AL East: Baltimore 21
AL Central: Kansas City 21
AL West: Seattle 8
NL East: Washington 12
NL Central: Cincinnati 15
NL West: Padres 21
In case you were wondering, the Mariners have 79 losses on the season, meaning that they are next in line to be guaranteed a losing season. On the topic of losing woes, the Nationals have loss 11 straight games. Today is also the anniversary of the Phillies breaking their 23 game losing streak in 1961, which is the modern day record. Also on thi same day, the Royals stopped their club-record 13 game loss streak. So the Nationals hope that they can strike on history today. As much as I would love to the Nationals loss streak keep going, as any Mets fan would hope, that the Nats break the streak today and knock the Phillies down a bit.
