On Tuesday, the Washington Nationals owned up to a fact that they’ve been avoiding for weeks—while more than half of the NL’s teams have serious shots at a playoff spot, Washington isn’t among them. The team made this implicit admission by way of two waiver deals. First baseman Matt Adams is headed to his his former club, the Cardinals, and second baseman Daniel Murphy is Cubs-bound in exchange for a minor league infielder, Andruw Monasterio, plus a player to be named later or cash.
Though Washington’s 62–63 record still leaves it only 7 1/2 games behind the green Braves (and 6 1/2 south of the greener Phillies) with 37 games to play—giving it a not-entirely-unrealistic 1 in 13 shot at the division crown, per Fangraphs—general manager Mike Rizzo decided to look past 2018 when the Nats went 4–9 in their last 13, including series losses to the Cardinals and Cubs (on the road) and the Marlins (at home).