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A World Series Championship is the greatest accomplishment for a Major League Baseball player, no matter what team he plays for.

But for the institution of Major League Baseball itself, the team that wins its ultimate prize carries heavy implications.

Like it or not, a small-market Cinderella team bringing home the trophy bears little impact compared to one of baseball’s legendary franchises. Teams like the Oakland A’s or the Pittsburgh Pirates are difficult to market for baseball, leaving the more casual fanbase apathetic to the story of the season as a whole.

By the same token, any sport is happy to tap into a potentially expansive market would gladly put exciting fresh blood at the forefront of advertising the sport.

For these reasons, the Washington Nationals are the perfect team to capture the World Series this year.

The Nationals moved to Washington D.C. before the 2005 season after baseball failed to catch on in Montreal. Since the move, the Nats have never finished above .500 or made the playoffs. Despite the large market of the District of Columbia and surrounding states like Virginia and Maryland, the Nats could not put up significant attendance figures due to the futility of the franchise.

Nonetheless, the area has the potential to be a big baseball market. Population is not an issue, the way it might be for teams like the Royals or the Brewers.

Other D.C. teams like the Wizards (NBA) and Capitals (NHL) have not completely monopolized the fanbase, largely because neither team has won a championship in more than thirty years.

A parade in the capital could turn the attention of millions to the Nats.

Additionally, youngsters Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper have already proven to be two of the most marketable future stars in baseball. Strasburg, of course, is shut down for the remainder of the season, but his bright future would correspond nicely to marketing a Nats‘ championship defense.

Harper is one of the most-followed baseball figures in years, and he does not shy away from the spotlight.

Strasburg, Harper and their supporting cast, including Jayson Werth, Gio Gonzalez and Ryan Zimmerman fit nicely in baseball’s strategy of promoting key players on successful teams.

Cole Hamels, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard became household names across the league as a result of Philadelphia‘s 2008 World Series victory. Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey were catapulted to stardom in 2010.

Thanks to their big-stage success, these names are as recognizable as Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Josh Hamilton.

More so than any other surprisingly successful team in baseball during 2012, the Nationals present baseball with the opportunity to add a new squad of players to its nationwide identity.

The team has compelling stars that the league can market and the potential to create a brand new rabid fanbase in the nation’s capital.

Like it or not, baseball wants to see the Nats in the World Series.

Dan Kelley has been a Bleacher Report Featured Columnist since 2011. Follow him on Twitter: @dxkelley

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Perhaps you heard that the Washington Nationals shut Stephen Strasburg down for the season after his start on Friday (Sept. 7). It’s been kind of a big deal. 

Virtually all of the attention surrounding the Nationals over the past few days—or has it really been the past couple of months—concerned the Strasburg September shutdown. 

One of the reasons given for shutting Strasburg down—one appearance before what was believed to be his final outing on Sept. 12—is that manager Davey Johnson believed that all of the scrutiny over Strasburg‘s innings limit had become a major distraction for the 23-year-old phenom and the rest of the team.

It’s delusional for the Nationals to think that the players won’t continue to be asked about Strasburg‘s shutdown through the rest of the regular season and into the postseason, especially if the starting pitching falters in any way.

But here’s the thing: The pitching won’t falter and neither will the rest of the team. The Nats are still one of the best teams in the National League—with perhaps the most complete roster in terms of batting and pitching right now—and should make a run for the World Series even without their star right-hander. 

Plenty of Starting Pitching Remains

Obviously, the Nationals are a better team with Strasburg on the active roster. But this is a starting rotation that has a collective 3.33 ERA as of Sept. 11, the best mark in MLB. Strasburg played a big part in that, of course, but such a number isn’t compiled with just one pitcher throwing well. 

Gio Gonzalez has been one of the best pitchers in the NL all season, giving the Nats a strong No. 2 pitcher behind Strasburg.

But on plenty of other teams, he would be the No. 1 guy. Gonzalez is among the NL’s top five starting pitchers with a 2.93 ERA, and his 1.13 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)  is the sixth-best in the league. Plus no starter in the majors has a lower opponents’ batting average than Gonzalez’s .206. 

The rest of the Nats‘ rotation continues to look impressive. Jordan Zimmermann’s 2.99 ERA and 1.15 WHIP rank him among the top 10 starters in the NL. Edwin Jackson has a 3.85 ERA and his strikeout rate of 8.0 Ks per nine innings is the second-highest of his 10-year major league career. Ross Detwiler has been excellent as the fifth (now fourth) starter with a 3.23 ERA this season. 

John Lannan will take Strasburg‘s turn in the Nats‘ rotation, meaning he’ll probably pitch four times through the rest of the regular season. Lannan had a 4.30 ERA at Triple-A Syracuse, but that might be attributable to the disappointment of losing a spot in the rotation at the end of spring training. If he wants to pitch meaningful major league innings, he’ll have a chance to do so now. 

The Bullpen is Excellent

Last year’s postseason demonstrated how important it is for a team to have a deep bullpen in a playoff series. Both the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals needed their relief corps to take the ball when the starting pitching couldn’t pitch into the later innings. 

The Nationals are well equipped to do the same if their starter is chased after four or five innings. 

With the return of injured closer Drew Storen (3.10 ERA in 25 appearances), Washington can go at least five relievers deep into the bullpen in any given game. Craig Stammen, Ryan Mattheus and Sean Burnett each have ERAs under 3.00 in middle relief. Tyler Clippard took over as closer while Storen was out and has saved 30 games while striking out 76 batters in 64 innings. 

The Nats also have two pitchers capable of pitching in long relief if needed. Tom Gorzelanny and Chien-Ming Wang are accustomed to pitching many innings and could be a crucial bridge between the starter and late-inning relief. 

Offense: Full Strength

The Nationals took the lead in the NL East in early April despite an offense that was missing several key bats.

Michael Morse, the team’s leading home run and RBI man last season, injured a lat muscle in spring training and wasn’t available until June.

Ryan Zimmerman was sidelined with a shoulder injury for 13 games through April and May. The shoulder plagued him until he took a cortisone shot for it in late June. 

Additionally, Jayson Werth was knocked out of the lineup in early May with a broken wrist and didn’t return until August. Wilson Ramos soon joined him on the disabled list with a torn ACL. 

Being shorthanded on offense is what compelled the Nats to call up Bryce Harper from the minors at the end of April. Harper was an NL Rookie of the Year candidate through most of the season before slumping in July and August. However, he seems to have turned himself around in September. 

First baseman Adam LaRoche has regained his 30-homer, 100-RBI form after a shoulder injury last year, giving Washington a strong middle of the order to go with Zimmerman, Morse and shortstop Ian Desmond. 

Going into the final weeks on the schedule and into the postseason, the Nats have the lineup they envisioned at the start of the season. After a slow start, Washington has scored the fourth-most runs in the NL. 

Draw the Wild Card

As the team with the best record in the NL, the Nationals would play their divisional playoff series against the winner of the one-game wild-card tiebreaker. 

Right now, that would put Washington up against the Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. Fortunately for the Nats, that would give them a favorable matchup. 

The Nationals currently have a 10-5 record against their intra-divisional rivals this season. It’s one reason the Nats have been able to build a strong first-place lead in the NL East. 

The sample size is much smaller versus the Cardinals, though the two teams will also face each other three more times before the end of the season. The Nationals have taken three of four games from the Cards thus far. 

Strangely, the tougher matchup for the Nats might be the Pittsburgh Pirates (2-3 against the Bucs) or the Los Angeles Dodgers (0-3). 

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The Washington Nationals are the biggest surprise of the 2012 MLB season.

And Stephen Strasburg‘s starting pitching is a big reason for that success.  So how does this team expect to advance in their first playoff appearance in franchise history without their ace?

If the playoffs started today, the Nats would face either the Atlanta Braves or the St. Louis Cardinals in the division series.  The Braves are a division rival and the Cards are the defending champs.

Strasburg was shut down effective immediately after going 15-6 this season with a 3.16 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 159.1 IP.  Those are Cy Young-worthy statistics for the young right-hander who rebounded from Tommy John surgery in August 2010. 

So can anyone explain why—at 86-53 and atop the NL East—the Nationals wouldn’t just rest Strasburg for the rest of September? 

They pretty much have a playoff berth wrapped up at this point, so I can understand giving him a few weeks off.  He could rest up and take some time to prepare himself physically and mentally for Game 1 of the NLDS.

Instead, the Nats’ brass has stuck to their original game plan by ending his season prematurely…and completely.  In their eyes, the risk of Strasburg re-injuring himself is greater than the reward of a possible World Series title.  This logic defies the idea that you “play to win the game.” 

The last time I checked Strasburg was 24, not 10.  Stop treating the guy like he’s made of glass.

The Nats have way more to gain by stashing him until October than shutting him down for the entirety of the season.  What if Washington made it to the NLCS? Even if they lost, wouldn’t the playoff experience gained by Strasburg be invaluable to his overall development?

The answer is most emphatically yes.  You can’t “baby” a player of his talent, especially in the prime of his career.

Let’s understand one thing here.  The Nationals are more than just Stephen Strasburg.  They have the second-best team ERA in the majors at 3.29.  Their lineup is solid if not spectacular.

However, the buzz and momentum Washington has built up over the season will deflate as October nears.  Instead of talking about what a great year they’re having, all people will talk about is this decision.

It’s a shame that such a promising squad is destined for a first-round exit in the division series, no matter whom they play. 

At least he’ll be healthy come April, right?

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Apparently, even the Washington Nationals were so sick of all the Stephen Strasburg shutdown talk that the team decided to finally put an end to it. 

OK, maybe that’s not exactly why the Nationals announced on Saturday (Sept. 8) that Strasburg’s 2012 season is suddenly finished, as reported by multiple outlets, including The Washington Post. Strasburg was expected to make one more start this year, Wednesday (Sept. 12) versus the New York Mets.

Is it a big deal that the Nationals are cutting Strasburg’s season short by one start? When it’s phrased like that, maybe not. But the reason given for prematurely sidelining him is at least a bit curious.

Manager Davey Johnson told reporters, including the Washington Times‘ Amanda Comak, that the  media attention over Strasburg’s impending shutdown had worn down the 24-year-old star. 

The media hype on this thing has been unbelievable. I feel it’s as hard for him as it would be anybody to get mentally, totally committed in the ballgame. And he’s reached his innings limit. So we can get past this and talk about other things for a change.

With all due respect, Mr. Johnson, I think we’re going to be talking about this for a while, at least through the next week. 

Strasburg certainly didn’t present a strong case for his season continuing after his latest start. Facing the Miami Marlins, he lasted only three innings before being pulled from the game. Strasburg allowed five runs and six hits (two of them home runs). He walked three batters and struck out only two, his lowest total of the season. 

It was the second time in his past three starts that Strasburg had allowed five runs.

That strengthened the perception that his reconstructed right elbow was wearing down under the grind of his first full season since recovering from Tommy John surgery. As I wrote in early August, this was becoming increasingly apparent to beat writers covering the Nationals. 

During the second half of the season, Strasburg’s ERA went from 2.82 to 3.73. His strikeout-to-walk ratio decreased from 4.57 to 3.45. He allowed seven home runs in 60.1 innings after giving up eight in 99 innings before the All-Star break. Everything with Strasburg was trending in the wrong direction. 

So shutting Strasburg down now, even with only one start remaining in his season, makes sense from a physical standpoint and from a baseball standpoint. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said as much in his remarks to the press, including the Washington Times‘ Tom Schad.

After yesterday’s start, we just figured that mentally and physically, Stephen looked like he was fatigued. We said let’s pull the plug today and move on with the season and try and finish the season off positive.

Rizzo went on to explain that it was a relatively easy decision among Johnson, Rizzo and pitching coach Steve McCatty.

With 159.1 innings pitched after Friday’s start, Strasburg’s workload fell within the 160-inning limit that had been originally projected for him by many analysts and observers. Would one more start and another six innings really matter, especially when Strasburg appeared to be struggling?

All right, fair enough. But that’s not what Johnson said when explaining Strasburg’s shutdown.

The Nats manager made it sound as if his young pitcher couldn’t handle all the attention and scrutiny that the media was giving him. In doing so, he made Strasburg sound mentally weak. When asked to clarify, Johnson didn’t walk back from this either, telling reporters, including Tom Schad of the Washington Times:.

I know he’s been struggling with it for weeks. I know he doesn’t sleep good thinking about it. Shoot, I’ve heard so much advice from every ex-pitcher, every guru on the matter.

If you’re not there 100 percent mentally—I mean, he’s a gifted athlete. His velocity could still be there. I don’t see the crispness. I don’t see the ball jumping out of his hand. It’s more, I’m a firm believer this game is 90-95 percent mental. He’s only human. I don’t know how anybody can be totally concentrating on the job at hand and media hype to this thing. I think we would be risking more sending him back out.

I’m not going to pretend I know what it’s like to push through the rigors of a full major league season with a surgically repaired elbow. Heck, I’ve never once thrown anything as hard in my life as Strasburg throws a baseball more than 100 times a game.

I also don’t know what it’s like to have to face repeated questions from local and national baseball reporters about how my arm feels and how I feel about my team wanting to shut me down for the season. I’m sure it absolutely is a grind. 

But rightly or wrongly, Johnson’s remarks call into question whether Strasburg can handle the burden that comes with being a team leader and staff ace.

Isn’t this level of attention and scrutiny what comes with life as a major league starting pitcher? Do the Nats think Strasburg won’t face this kind of questioning next season, especially as he approaches 160-180 innings again?

Or will the presumption just be that he’s ready to pitch 200 innings because he got through this season and should be stronger?

If that’s the case, the Nats were probably right to shut down Strasburg before the playoffs. Apparently, he would have become a blubbering mental mess—going “Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu…!“—when facing the harsh national spotlight that comes with postseason baseball.

Johnson did Strasburg no favors by portraying him as wilting under the mental grind of media hype. (And if he’s trying to blame the media for this, that is dubious at best, garbage at worst.)

If I was Strasburg, I’d be upset that my manager threw that perception out there. Of course, Strasburg can dispel this notion by talking to the press about this later on.

That is, if Johnson thinks he can handle it. 

Please allow me to clarify: I don’t think the Nationals made the wrong decision here. As crazy as it sounded all along to shut Strasburg down when the Nats have a chance to contend for a World Series championship, I think the physical evidence was increasingly supporting the team’s position.

(However, considering how closely I’ve followed the Nationals this season and how often I’ve written about Strasburg, maybe I’m suffering from a form of Stockholm syndrome.)

Strasburg is the Nationals’ top pitcher. He is a No. 1 starter and a deserving candidate for the NL Cy Young Award. But the team needs to begin treating him more like an ace or give him the opportunity to be one. Perhaps that will happen next year.

For now, however, the Nats’ decision to end his season prematurely and blame it on the mental grind of constant interrogation over his status, rather than the physical toll of throwing more innings than he ever has, makes Strasburg look as if he’s not ready for the responsibility.

If that is actually the truth, the Nationals have a major concern going into next season. 

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Last night, Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg was pulled after three innings in a 9-7 loss to the Miami Marlins. It was his second subpar start in as many games. And today, according to NBC 4 in Washington, the team has decided the circus is over.

There would be no more monitoring his pitches or worrying about his arm. The Washington Nationals, the team with the best record in baseball, will not pitch Stephen Strasburg for the rest of the season and postseason.

Nbcwashington.com quotes Nationals manager Davey Johnson saying Strasburg “wasn’t focused as much on the game as he was on the impending shut down.”

This goes back to something I wrote in a Bleacher Report article last month. The Strasburg innings limit should never have been made public. And the handling of Strasburg could have been adjusted when the Nationals made their surprising run at the National League East.

He could have been shut down in the middle of the season, or used once a week, or had his innings reduced at the beginning of the year.

Instead, the Nationals will go into the postseason weaker than otherwise possible. Washington will see its first postseason since 1933 a man short.

Then again, maybe by shutting him down now after a few bad starts, the Nationals could spin the situation by not pitching well.

Maybe that was part of the plan. Wait for his next bad start and then shut him down and be able to say to fans “Hey! He was wearing down.”

Either way, the Nationals still have a solid pitching staff as they go into the playoffs. But they are no longer the prohibitive favorite.

Circumstances that align for a legitimate run at a pennant do not come every year. They landed on the Nationals lap this year and they can still win it all in 2012. However, they made it just a little bit harder for themselves by taking Strasburg out of the equation.

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BREAKING NEWS: Stephen Strasburg has an innings limit.

Okay, so it’s not really breaking news at this point. Strasburg’s innings limit and inevitable shutdown have been the baseball equivalent in media coverage to Tim Tebow and the New York Jets.

During all the hubbub, the Washington Nationals have enjoyed a record-breaking season. They’ve won a franchise-record 82 games entering play on Tuesday, and that’s a number that will almost assuredly increase over the final 28 games of the regular season.

They’re pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot at this point—barring a Boston or Atlanta-like collapse—so the now finalized shutdown of Strasburg has generated a lot of controversy amongst fans of the team and fans of the sport in general.

While many argue that Strasburg should remain active for the postseason because of his impact on the rotation, there are an equal number of those who oppose such an opinion.

Even though Strasburg is likely the most dominant pitcher on the team, those opposers recognize the fact that both Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler are silently having very nice seasons.

Jackson, although he sports a pedestrian 8-9 record, has an impressive 3.53 ERA and has given the Nationals a strong 158 innings.

Detwiler has been equally as impressive. His 9-6 record is slightly more impressive than Jackson’s, as is his 3.15 ERA. He has provided a quality 140 innings, as evidenced by his 1.157 WHIP.

While each pitcher is far from the dominant Strasburg, they will both be able to provide quality innings in the postseason. With the Nationals offense now becoming somewhat of a strength, Jackson and Detwiler will be more than capable of handling the load in October.

Detwiler has been a nice surprise this season, but Jackson was brought in for this sort of thing. He was a nice piece on the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals World Series team, and the Nationals will be looking for him to provide some postseason leadership.

Even with Strasburg shutdown for this upcoming postseason, the Nationals need not worry. There’s no denying the fact that they are a better team with him in the rotation, but it’s unfair to overlook the exploits of Detwiler and Jackson, two very dependable pitchers in their own right. 

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Stephen Strasburg, whose arm is being treated by the Washington Nationals as if it is a Fabrege Egg, did not have his best stuff tonight.

He let up a pair of runs in the first and three in the third. With his innings at a premium, why would the Nationals send him out for the fourth inning against the Miami Marlins?

For some unknown reason, manager Davey Johnson had him pitch the fourth where he let up a run. Then he batted in the fifth and came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning where he let up a double to Giancarlo Stanton and another run.

He finished his game with five innings pitched, nine hits, five earned runs and three strikeouts. If they are limiting his innings, there was no reason to have him pitch more than three. There are two innings they could have banked.

The coddling of Stephen Strasburg has bordered on insanity this season. On Bleacher Report, I suggested that they find ways in the bullpen to stretch his appearances into the playoffs without exceeding their innings limits.

Instead, they seem hell bent to have him use up his innings before the postseason, and the perfect combination that would make the Nationals the favorites in October would be compromised. The strange logic the Nationals seem to have is “All of the elements are coming together for 2012, but let’s concentrate on 2013 and 2014.”

Seasons where the competition falls and a team comes together can be so fleeting in baseball. Ask the Angels and the Marlins and the White Sox, whose recent World Series titles were clinched when a series of positive events all clicked at once.

Now imagine one of those teams deciding to not use one of their best pitchers in the postseason. How many of those events would have unclicked?

If the Nationals are hell bent on limiting Strasburg’s innings, then that is their decision. But is it wise to burn those innings when they do not have to?

Shouldn’t they try to save a few for September, or better yet October?

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Frustrations seem to be mounting in Washington.

But one day after Davey Johnson’s alleged tirade against general manager Mike Rizzo, veteran outfielder Jayson Werth and Johnson himself decided to take shots at former Nationals manager, Jim Riggleman.

Riggleman stepped down as manager of the Nationals after 75 games last season, even though the team had a respectable 38-37 record. The reason for his departure was over a contractual dispute with Rizzo.

John McLaren was the interim manager for just three games. Johnson was named to the position after McLaren, and he lead the team to an 80-81 record. It would have been the first winning record for the franchise since the team moved from Montreal prior to the 2005 season.

Johnson, who has clearly taken the team to new heights this season, has the complete support of Werth. Werth had this to say about the differences between Riggleman and his current manager:

“Between last year and this year, it’s night and day. Just the whole atmosphere in the clubhouse. You have an iconic manager that really knows how to handle this team. If we still had a guy like Riggleman as the manager, I don’t think the team is where it’s at.”

He elaborated even further:

“You have a guy [in Johnson] that is confident in himself and in his players. That alone can go a long way. … Being a big league player for so long, being a big league manager for so long, Davey has a real good feel [for the game].”

Riggleman’s offensive decisions were always questioned, but opinions were mixed on his decision to leave the team. This season, however, the Nationals offensive production has increased greatly.

Much of that can be pinned to breakout seasons from Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa, but the philosophy of Johnson can not go overlooked.

Regarding Riggleman’s offensive strategy, Johnson took a subtle swing (pun intended):

“To a man, we got a little too much concerned about hitting the ball the other way,” Johnson said. “I think the regime before liked everybody to go the other way. We really couldn’t handle fastballs (inside). We didn’t hit the ball where it was pitched. We have the talent to hit the ball where it was pitched, but we were a little defensive. … We had the book on us — ‘Pound them in with hard stuff’ — and we weren’t able to do much.”

It’s great to know that the players are supporting Johnson, but taking swings at Riggleman seems a little uncalled for. There were no actions to spark such comments, but there will almost surely be repercussions on the part of Riggleman.

We’ll just wait and see how this situation plays out.

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The Washington Nationals have been struggling all season through injuries and having players step up when key pieces go down in their lineup. Michael Morse, who began the season on the DL, is now facing another injury after getting plunked in the hand on Friday night.

Morse, who is hitting .286 with 12 home runs and 45 RBI, appeared to be in serious pain after taking the pitch to his right hand. According to Mark Zuckerman of CSNwashington.com, X-rays after the game revealed that there was no break in his hand.

Manager Davey Johnson told reporters (h/t Patrick Reddington, federalbaseball.com), “He’s got a bad bruise, but hopefully he’ll be alright in a few short days.” Although Davey is optimistic, a loss of Morse for even a few games still has to be concerning.

The Nationals lead the Atlanta Braves by 6.5 games but have never been tested down the stretch, let alone missing an intricate part of their offense. Morse has been their power threat for two seasons, and a loss of Morse at this point of the season could certainly cost the Nationals.

With the lead at 6.5 games, even losing Morse for a few games could be devastating. Should Morse miss three or four games and the Nationals lose the majority of those games, then the Braves would be in a position to make a surge for first place in the NL East. 

The Nationals are in a position to either let the Braves hang around or deliver the finishing blow over the next few days. The task will not become easier without Morse in the lineup, and the next few days could very well prove whether or not Washington is up to the task of running away with the East or wavering when times get tough.

From what we have seen from the Nationals this season, it should not be surprising if they continue to find ways to persevere; after all, they do boast the best record in MLB.

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After defeating the Atlanta Braves 4-1 on Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals own a 77-46 record, which is currently the best record in MLB.

But just how good could that record be by season’s end?

Right now, the Nationals could reach the 100-win mark. With 39 games left to play, the team would have to win just 23 more games to reach the impressive milestone. A 23-13 record is certainly possibly, and the team could even exceed the targeted 23-13 record.

To determine whether or not the Nationals can reach 100 wins, here’s a look at their schedule for the rest of the regular season:

Aug 22: vs. Atlanta Braves

Aug 24-26: at Philadelphia Phillies

Aug 28-29: at Miami Marlins

Aug 30-Sept 2: vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Sep 3-6: vs. Chicago Cubs

Sept 7-9: vs. Miami Marlins 

Sept 10-12: at New York Mets

Sept 14-16: at Atlanta Braves 

Sept 18-20: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Sept 21-24: vs. Milwaukee Brewers

Sept 25-27: at Philadelphia Phillies

Sept 28-30: at St. Louis Cardinals

Oct 1-3: vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Seem pretty easy? Well, that’s because it is. Of the 12 remaining series for the Nationals, eight of them are against teams that currently have losing records. To have about two-thirds of the remaining games against teams below .500 seems like a pretty simple task for Washington. 

It also helps the Nationals that nine of their final 39 games are against the Philadelphia Phillies, who currently stand at 57-66.

The road to 100 wins is a fairly easy one for the Nationals, and there’s no reason to believe that the team can’t reach that goal.

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