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Washington Nationals Mathematically Eliminated From Postseason Contention

Despite a surprise resurgence in the second half of the year, the Washington Nationals fell far short of a postseason bid in 2023.
Sam Connon|
Washington Nationals Mathematically Eliminated From Postseason Contention
Washington Nationals Mathematically Eliminated From Postseason Contention

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Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals secured a feel-good win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, but it wasn't enough to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Washington avoided a sweep with a 2-1 victory in extra innings, only for results across the rest of the league to officially do them in. The Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks – all of whom are NL Wild Card contenders – all picked up wins.

At 66-84, the Nationals are 12.0 games back of the third and final NL Wild Card spot with 12 games left on the schedule. However, they are on the wrong end of tiebreakers with most of the teams still vying for a bid, and the head-to-head matchups from here on out have determined that they will be unable to leapfrog enough of them before October rolls around.

Washington was on pace to be one of the very first teams to fall out of playoff contention entirely, but a 27-15 mark from July 8 to Aug. 26 kept them afloat longer than expected. They were tied for the fourth-best record in baseball during that span, despite entering that stretch with the fourth-worst record in the league.

A few weeks later, the Nationals became the sixth team to get eliminated from postseason contention.

The Oakland Athletics became the first on Aug. 25, followed closely by the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 29. The Colorado Rockies were the first NL team to get place on the chopping block, officially falling out of the playoff picture on Sept. 9, then the Chicago White Sox got eliminated on Sept. 10.

The Los Angeles Angels saw their postseason chances drop to zero on Saturday.

Either the Detroit Tigers or St. Louis Cardinals are on pace to get eliminated next.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.

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