The Nats needed to make a great showing to not leave their fate in the hands of the Brewers or Cardinals to secure Home Field Advantage. With this win that was a laugher at one point, the Nationals have reached 92-games which was the top of what Fangraphs projected at the beginning of February, and before the Phillies made their big acquisition on March 2nd and before all of the final moves so the Nats had already exceeded Fangraphs’ Opening Day projections that had the Nats at 90 wins.
Fangraphs from March 2019, How good were the projections?
With this win, the Nationals can go into the season finale with little to play for except to get some of the role players some more playing time leading into the Wild Card game. The Nationals still do not know who they are playing in the Wild Card game because the Cardinals and Brewers are only separated by one game.
In the second inning, the Nats scored 9 runs off of the Indians that included a grand slam by Gerardo Parra then the Indians whittled away off of starter Patrick Corbin who gave up 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings on 92 pitches.
A good sign from Juan Soto who smoked a double and took one to the wall in the 8th. Ryan Zimmerman, the birthday boy, had two hits, and Anthony Rendon had a big double. All Nats starters had hits except for Yan Gomes.
The Nats bullpen took over to finish this game that had the feel of a Spring Training game at times. A win is a win and the Nats got it 10-7 and clinched Home Field Advantage. The Nats take their 7 game winning streak to the last game of the season tomorrow.
