Phillies division rival waves white flag in playoff race
By John Town
The Phillies no longer need to worry about the Nationals as they have given up trying to catch up in the National League East.
All season long, we have been saying the Phillies will need to watch out for the eventual resurgence of the Washington Nationals. However, the Nationals appear to have given up trying to win the division.
The Nationals began selling off their pieces Tuesday afternoon, placing pending free agents Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy, and Matt Adams on waivers. The Dodgers claimed Harper, but the Nationals decided to pull him off waivers, figuring they’re better off waiting for the compensatory draft pick.
Murphy was traded to the Chicago Cubs along with some cash for minor-leaguer Andruw Montaserio, who doesn’t appear among either team’s MLB.com Top 30 prospects, and a player to be named later or cash. The Nationals didn’t even get anything for Adams: the Cardinals claimed him off waivers and only have to pay the rest of his salary, which is under a million dollars.
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General manager Mike Rizzo told reporters that he still believes the team will “play competitive games” this season, but it became increasingly obvious that the Nationals were out of the hunt. They are 62-63 entering this week’s series with Philadelphia, 7.5 games behind the division lead and 6.5 games behind the wild-card with six teams ahead of them. They are just 15-15 in their last 30 games with a 3-7 record in the last 10 games.
As much as Rizzo won’t admit it, the Nationals have given up trying to catch up in the National League.
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The Nationals came into the season expected to run away with the division. The Phils and Braves were both supposed to be a year or two away, the Mets were stuck in purgatory, and the Marlins just finished a massive fire sale. This year was the boom or bust season with Harper and plenty others becoming free agents after the season. Clearly, they busted.
Washington has dealt with numerous injuries all season long, especially to their pitching staff. Coupled with Harper’s struggles the first half of this season, it’s easy to see why they struggled. Cy Young favorite Max Scherzer has been their lone bright spot this season.
Coming into Tuesday, Washington’s playoff odds were slim at just 12.2% according to Fangraphs. It will likely drop even more once these moves are factored in.
Moving forward, the NL East is now a two-team race between the Phillies and Braves. The Braves have a one-game lead in the division, but they will play seven times to finish off the season. Barring a significant gap emerging over the next month, those seven games will determine who wins the division.
Next. Phillies are in need of a line up switch up. dark
The Phils have the chance to take advantage of a stripped-down and likely demotivated Nationals team in a three-game series starting Tuesday. They failed to take advantage of the Braves getting swept over the weekend, so turning things around against Washington is ideal.