Washington Nationals Clinch N.L. East (ugh)

The Washington Nationals are playoff bound. Atlanta Braves fans' hearts sunk when Justin Upton grounded a Drew Storen pitch, to newly acquired National Asdrubal Cabrera. That grounder marked the end of the Braves reign atop the N.L. East. And the worst part about it, it happened on Braves soil. You got to give it to those dang Nationals. They didn't play the way people expected them to last year, and the first half of this year. But when it came down to the stretch run. The Nationals simply played better baseball than the Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile the Atlanta Braves looked like an uninspired, unenthusiastic little league club, that had just gotten scolded by their coach. They came into the Nationals series playing OK baseball. They had split a series in Miami, and went into the Nationals series 7 games back. Then things went downhill.

The Nationals simply played better than the Braves, and took two out of three in Nationals Park. Then the Braves went into Arlington to play the Rangers, hoping they would get some momentum. That went horribly wrong. The Braves were swept in horrible fashion, by the worst team in all of baseball. Then the Braves had a chance to redeem themselves a bit. The Nationals came to town, and took the first game 4-2, behind a nasty Stephen Strasburg, who also singled in a run. Then the misery started. The Braves had to take the next two games, or else the Nationals were gonna be celebrating on the grass of Turner Field.  And that is exactly what happened. The Braves were shut out 3-0, and the Nationals had clinched the N.L. East.

So, now the Braves eye a Wild Card spot. Now realistically the Braves are almost out of it. Almost. The only bright side I can see, is that the Braves play the Pittsburgh Pirates (the team that holds the second wild card spot), four more times this year. So Braves fans; there is a very very very dim light at the end of the 162 game tunnel. The odds are not favoring the Braves (and neither is the amount of games left), but hey, this is Baseball. Anything can happen. You never know, maybe the Braves can pull a 8-9 game win streak out of their inconsistent offensive hat. All we can do is sit and hope.