The Washington Nationals would be in first place if...if the games were only three or four innings long. The Nationals have played 69 games and have lost 49 of them. The Fan follows the games every night and it always seems like the Nationals are in the lead. In fact, tonight, the Fan saw the Nationals leading the Red Sox and said to himself: "Hey, the Nationals are ahead." The very next thought was, "Don't they always have a lead?" The thought prompted yet one more trip to www.baseball-reference.com.
After going through every game the Nationals have played thus far, the thought was correct. The Nationals have had a lead in 47 of their 69 contests. Translated, that means that the Nationals have had at least one lead in 68% of their contests. Since they won twenty of those contests, that means that they have had the lead in 27 of their 49 losses, or 55%. If they had held onto the lead in at least half of those games, they would be a .500 ball club. If they had won 20 of those 27 games in which they had the lead, their current record would be 40-29 and ahead of the Phillies.
But as usual, if wishing was reality, we wouldn't be buying any oil from the Middle East. It has to be disheartening to think you have a chance nearly every night only to see the leads evaporate into the night.
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