i know when...

the nationals were unofficially, but for all intents and purposes officially out of the race for the nl east and for the wildcard.

on the morning of july 26, the nats were tied with the braves for the nl east lead and were headed to atlanta for a three game series. they lost all three by one run apiece, were 3 games behind atlanta in a matter of days, and - for all intents and purposes - were effectively eliminated from the nl east race.

on three consecutive games beginning on sept. 17, the nats had the lead with two outs in the 9th and only needed one out to secure a win in each game. they lost all three heartbreaking games and are now 5 games behind houston with only 11 left to play. combine those three games with the same only-need-one-more-out loss to atlanta on 9/11 (eek!) and we would be hanging right with houston.

so, we have 77 wins, with 11 games left. my online nationals aquaintances were pointing to 87 wins last week as the number we'd need to get to for a shot at the wildcard. now, 81 wins would give us a 0.500 season, but i'm shooting for 83 wins - the same number we've had 2 out of the last 3 seasons. we've had sooo many close calls this year and it really shows that if we had that little something extra along the whole way we could've had who knows how many more wins. we went 50-31 in the first half. if we do that again in the second half, we have 100 wins. if we just break even in the second half, we have 91 wins.

after watching (or listening on the radio sometimes back in dc) a baseball team everyday for 6 straight months, this offseason is going to be very odd for me. the baseball postseason will provide a way to detox and football will hold my interest somewhat, but i've never had more fun being interested in sports (and that's saying something for me) than this past baseball season. it's really sad that it's coming to an end.

so i think pitchers and catchers report to spring training a couple weeks after the super bowl.