Can one win turn around a 162-game season? The Nationals are about to find out, after a stirring comeback victory on Monday night against the Mets in New York.
But perhaps some historical perspective is in order.
It was April 28, 2015, that the Nationals trailed by eight before coming back to win 13-12 in Atlanta against the Braves. Much was made of the game’s significance, as the Nationals had lost six straight to fall to 7-13 overall on the young season. Washington eventually improved to 46-36 and led the National League East by 4.5 games in July, before ending up 83-79 and seven games behind the division-winning Mets.
Nearly three years to the day of that record-setting win in Atlanta, the Nationals staged another epic comeback on the road Monday night against a division foe. Washington trailed 6-1 before scoring six runs in the eighth inning and another in the ninth to beat the first-place Mets 8-6.
The Nationals had just finished a homestand by winning only three of 10 games while the Mets had swept a three-game series in Washington earlier this month. A loss on Monday would have dropped the Nationals seven games behind the Mets in the National League East race.
The comeback win will lose its luster if the Nationals can’t at least win or sweep the series in New York.
“That was big, super big,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “Each and every one of those guys played with unbelievable heart.”
Martinez took criticism from some fans during the recent homestand who are quick to point out the Nationals were rarely more than a few games out of first place in the two division-winning seasons under former manager Dusty Baker.
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