We were all fortunate enough last night to watch the Washington Nationals earn their first-ever playoff victory. They did so against the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2, en route to taking an early 1-0 lead in the National League Divisional Series. The club will now play one more game in St. Louis (Monday), before heading back to Washington where they will attempt to finish off the best-of-five series. 

While it was an exciting game, it certainly wasn’t a pretty one. Gio Gonzalez wore his nerves on his sleeve nearly the entire start as he allowed a season-high seven walks in his five-inning performance. His complete lack of control allowed the Cardinals to score two runs in the bottom of the second, despite recording no hits. Gio finished the game giving up two earned, while allowing just one hit overall, and striking out five. 

The Nats lineup struggled mightily against Adam Wainwright’s off-the table 12-6 curveball. In 5.2 innings of work Wainwright allowed just one run, six hits, and struck out 10 Nats batters. 

Washington made their move in the top of the eighth when an error, a single to center, and a sacrifice bunt gave the squad runners on second and third with just one out. After a costly strikeout by Kurt Suzuki, Tyler Moore pinch-hit and with two strikes delivered a clutch hit to right to take the late lead in the game, 3-2. 

My Thoughts:

- Gio Gonzalez looked visibly uncomfortable on the mound today. From the very first pitch you could tell he didn’t have the control that allowed him to make the leap from a very good starter in 2011, to an elite one in 2012. Based on his body language, and the way it seemed he needed his infielders to calm him down multiple times, especially in the second inning, Gio came across as nervous, plain and simple. We all know that the left-hander has pitched with his emotions on his sleeve this season, which is part of what has made him so effective and powerful. Tonight, however, his nerves clearly got in the way of his control. Between seven walks and a wild pitch, the Nats were unbelievably lucky to have allowed just two runs, and one hit.

That being said, I think this was a good stepping stone for Gio. With that first start, and that first win out of the way, I expect the lefty to come out very strong in his second start of the postseason. 

- Ryan Mattheus has gotten the job done all year. That didn’t stop Sunday night. The righty-reliever came on for Craig Stammen with the bases loaded, and no outs. He escaped the the inning by forcing two quick outs, and while allowing none to score. The most impressive part of this outing though has to go to his defense. Ian Desmond handled a hard ground ball, while playing at double play depth, and got the force out at home. The next out came on a difficult 5-4-3 double play. Had Mattheus allowed just one run that inning, the Nats might still be playing. 

- With runners on first and third and no outs, the Nationals called for Danny Espinosa to sacrifice bunt Ian Desmond to second base. The play-call was questioned at the time by the Nats faithful on Twitter, but has since been written off as master strategy by the team because they came out with the run, and the win. I’m not buying it though, and it still bugs me. 

You’re doing a whole lot by sacrificing in that situation. First, you are admitting that your power hitting second baseman can NOT get it done when the game is on the line. While Espinosa had struck out three times in the game, he was the third highest ranked second baseman in the National League according to WAR, meaning someone needs to/should have confidence in his bat. You’ll never break out of a funk by giving up. Further more, in that situation, the runner on third is all that matters, you need to tie the game before you can take the lead. A sacrifice bunt trades an all important out from one of you more powerful hitters so the eighth and ninth batters can take a crack at hitting the run in? Espinosa, no matter how bad he’s struggled, likely had the ability to hit a fly ball or a hard hit grounder. 

- The Nationals made two errors, and walked seven batters, but let’s talk about the fact that they allowed just three hits total on the night. While Gonzalez couldn’t find the zone for a good portion of the night, when he did, it was unhittible. Craig Stammen struggled overall, but Ryan Mattheus, Tyler Clippard, and Drew Storen came in to SLAM the door shut against a veteran St. Louis Cardinals team. 

- The Nationals are now undefeated in postseason play. How great is that to read?

The magical day that all Washington Nationals fans have been waiting for has arrived. The Nats postseason starts today against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Since 2005, it was really hard to imagine this day would ever come through the trials, tribulations, and 100 loss seasons, but it has. The National League Division Series starts today.

The Series

The NLDS is a five-game series, but despite the Nats finishing with the best regular season record in baseball (98-64), they’ll start this series on the road for two games. The new Wild Card game messed with the MLB schedule, and the league didn’t have time to change the schedule enough to accommodate the change. So the Nats will have games one and two in St. Louis and games three through five in Washington, with games four and five, of course, on an “if necessary” basis.

The Differentials

At one point this season, the St. Louis Cardinals had the best run differential in baseball. Run differential tells us how many runs the offense scored compared to how many runs the pitchers gave up, so obviously positive numbers are better. The Nats offense got hot in the last few months and far eclipsed the Red Birds. At the end of the regular season, the Nats had a +137 differential, the best in baseball, while the Cards posted a +117 differential, the second best in the National League.

The Pitching

The Nats pitching staff finished the season with the best ERA in the NL (3.34), while the Cardinals didn’t finish in the top five in the League in ERA, but they still put up an impressive 3.71. Despite the Nats clear advantage, many believe losing Stephen Strasburg for the postseason will put the top seed in some trouble. The first two pitching match ups in the series seem to favor the Nationals by the numbers, but they play the games for a reason.

Probable Starters in St. Louis

Game 1 - Gio Gonzalez vs. Adam Wainwright

-- This a contest of a current Cy Young Award contender against a former Cy Young Award winner. With two potent offenses on the mound, this should be a great matchup if these guys both have their best stuff.

Game 2 - Jordan Zimmermann vs. Jaime Garcia

-- Zimmermann and Garcia are both strong young frontline starters that are crucial pieces to their pitching rotations. Zimmermann had the best year of his career this season, his first full year back from Tommy John surgery. Meanwhile, Garcia’s ERA has ticked up over his last three seasons, but his FIP has gotten better over that time. All that means? Don’t be fooled by Zimmermann’s much better ERA this year. They’re both extremely good pitchers.

We’ll preview the games at Nationals Park, which start on Wednesday, October 10, when that day comes. For now, the Nationals hope to do some damage at the away park before the come back home.

Tonight is going to be… interesting. For the first time in the game’s history the league will hold their two wild card play-in games to determine which teams get to play the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals in their respective leagues. This is Major League Baseball’s attempt to manufacture the unbelievable excitement that was organically created on the last day of the season in 2011, by boiling down a marathon race to a one hundred yard dash.

Yeah, a 26 mile race that comes down to the last 100 yards is incredibly exciting, but only because it is unbelievable that after hours and hours of competing the two opponents are still neck and neck. According to the MLB’s logic here, all teams should just play the ninth inning…since that’s the most exciting part anyway…

Regardless of the logic to it, four quality teams are facing an elimination game today. The Texas Rangers are taking on the Baltimore Orioles, and the St. Louis Cardinals are matching up against the Atlanta Braves. Here’s my take:

Rangers vs. Orioles –

The Texas Rangers have found themselves in an unfamiliar situation. The club charged out of the gates in 2012 and were early favorites to win the American League crown for the third consecutive year. A late collapse, however, dropped the Rangers to the wild card spot by one game after the streaking Oakland Athletics whizzed by in the last week of the season. The Rangers lost five of their last six games, including their last three of the year to Oakland. As a result, the Rangers who were hoping to bounce back from two consecutive World Series losses with a Championship in 2012, will be fighting for the right to just stay alive against the upstart Orioles

Each year, the DC-Internet Baseball Writers Association polls all the DC baseball bloggers and various online media outlets for their thoughts on awards from that Washington Nationals season. Here are the final results of the voting with my answers and some reasoning (if you can call it that) in following each category.

2012 WASHINGTON NATIONALS PLAYER ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Goose Goslin Most Valuable Player 
(Player most valuable to the success of the Washington Nationals):

1st: Adam LaRoche (68 points, 9 first place votes)
2nd: Ian Desmond (47 points, 5 first place votes)
3rd: Gio Gonzalez (32 points, 53 first place votes)

Others receiving votes: Ryan Zimmerman (18), Bryce Harper (9-one first place vote), Stephen Strasburg (4).

--My vote: Adam LaRoche, Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond. Adam LaRoche posted career-best numbers following an extremely disappointing 2011 season due to injury. He easily fit the cleanup role for the Nats in most circumstances, and his defense at first base was greatly underrated all season. Ryan Zimmerman bests Ian Desmond for me because of his numbers from June 23rd (the day of the cortisone shot on. Combined with his insane defense all year, Zimmerman edged Desmond in my ballot, but just barely.

Walter Johnson Starting Pitcher of the Year 
(Excellent performance as a starting pitcher):

1st: Gio Gonzalez (100 points, 205 first place votes)
2nd: Stephen Strasburg (47 points)
3rd: Jordan Zimmermann (16 points)

Others receiving votes: Ross Detwiler (3).

--My vote: Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann. I matched my fellow internet writers on this one, and for me, this was a bit of a no-brainer. Gio is a leading Cy Young candidate, and had to win the category. Period.

Frederick "Firpo" Marberry Relief Pitcher of the Year 
(Excellent performance as a relief pitcher):

1st: Tyler Clippard (94 points, 16 first place votes)
2nd: Craig Stammen (38 points, 3 first place votes)
3rd: Sean Burnett (24 points)

Others receiving votes: Drew Storen (17), Michael Gonzalez (2), Ryan Mattheus (2), Tom Gorzelanny (1), Christian Garcia (1).

--My vote: Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett, Drew Storen. Tyler Clippard, despite his end-of-season struggles, was a major reason for the Nats 98 wins this season. He stepped into a role that no one could fill following Drew Storen's surgery, and he did it extremely well. Sean Burnett went through a brief rough patch with his elbow inflammation, but with a 2.38 ERA and 2.79 FIP, this was an easy call for me. Finally, I struggled with Stammen vs. Storen for the third spot. Ultimately, Storen stepped in to late inning spots and locked it down consistently once he was fully healthy and just barely got the edge.

Sam Rice Hitter of the Year 
(Excellence in all-around hitting, situational hitting and baserunning):

1st: Ian Desmond (51 points, 7 first place votes)
2nd: Adam LaRoche (47 points, 5 first place votes)
3rd: Ryan Zimmerman (33 points, 4 first place votes)

Others receiving votes: Bryce Harper (28-three first place votes), Jayson Werth (18-one first place vote), Danny Espinosa (2).

--My vote: Ian Desmond, Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman. Desmond took the number one spot not only because of his stats, but his drastic improvement from the previous season. He was an all-around hitter all season, and lead the Nats in stolen bases despite having hamstring issues and missing time with his oblique injury. Harper could have won here because he does everything, hits for contact and power and steals bases, exceptionally well. I believe he could win this category next year.

Frank Howard Slugger of the Year 
(Excellence in power hitting):

1st: Adam LaRoche (90 points, 18 first place votes) 
2nd:  Ian Desmond (30 points)
3rd: Ryan Zimmerman (19 points) 

Others receiving votes: Bryce Harper (14), Michael Morse (10-one first place vote), Danny Espinosa (2).

--My vote: Adam LaRoche, Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman. LaRoche led the Nats in homers and RBI. It's not as simple as that, but LaRoche simply had some monster shots and was a force in the cleanup spot all season. Bryce Harper hit 22 homers and missed almost 4 weeks of the season before he was called up. He just started to get into his power stroke, and it's no wonder people expect him to be a 40 HR guy in his career. Zimmerman got his power stroke after his cortisone shot, and he still has power to all fields.

Joe Judge Defensive Player of the Year 
(Excellence in fielding): 

1st: Ryan Zimmerman (53 points, 7 first place votes)  
2nd: Danny Espinosa (38 points, 5 first place votes)
3rd: Ian Desmond (37 points, 4 first place votes) 

Others receiving votes: Adam LaRoche (19--two first place votes), Bryce Harper (20--two first place votes), Roger Bernadina (7), Kurt Suzuki (3).

--My vote: Ryan Zimmerman, Danny Espinosa, Ian Desmond. Really, there aren't enough spots for this category. Adam La Roche, Bryce Harper, and Kurt Suzuki could all easily be on this list. Ultimately, I chose the three I did because I believe all three could win NL Gold Glove Awards at their position this year.

Mickey Vernon Comeback Player of the Year 
(Player who overcame biggest obstacle in the preceding season to contribute on the field): 

1st: Adam LaRoche (75 points, 12 first place votes) 
2nd: Stephen Strasburg (46 points, 4 first place votes) 
3rd: Jayson Werth (29 points, 3 first place votes) 

Others receiving votes: Ian Desmond (6), Ross Detwiler (5--one first place vote), Ryan Zimmerman (3), Chad Tracy (2), Jesus Flores (1), Michael Morse (1), Roger Bernadina (1), John Lannan (1), Sean Burnett (1), Christian Garcia (1).

--My vote: Adam LaRoche, Ian Desmond, Jayson Werth. Here's another category where I'm not sure there were enough spots. LaRoche was an easy pick for me, Ian Desmond came out of nowhere to have an excellent offensive season, and Jayson Werth recovered in a huge way from his inaugural DC season. Stephen Strasburg probably could have replaced any one of these guys, and Christian Garcia certainly deserves honorable mention in returning from two Tommy John surgeries.

Josh Gibson Humanitarian Player of the Year 
(Player who meritoriously gave of himself to the community): 

1st: Ryan Zimmerman (89 points, 16 first place votes) 
2nd: Ian Desmond (12 points, 1 first place vote) 
3rd: Gio Gonzalez (9 points, 1 first place vote) 

Others receiving votes: Drew Storen (9), Wilson Ramos (5--one first place vote), Bryce Harper (5), Stephen Strasburg (3), Tyler Moore (1).

--My vote: Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond. I voted for two in this category because Zimmerman and Desmond are the guys you always see going to community events and doing outreach. There are certainly other guys who are, and I expect this list to grow as people get more interested in having DC baseball players come out to their events.

Minor League Player of the Year 
(Minor league player most destined for big league success): 

1st: Matt Skole (30 points, 3 first place votes) 
2nd: Nathan Karns (24 points, 3 first place vote) 
3rd: Eury Perez (15 points, 1 first place votes) 

Others receiving votes: Brian Goodwin (13--two first place votes), Alex Meyer (12--one first place vote), Danny Rosenbaum (11--two first place votes), Christian Garcia (11--two first place votes), Corey Brown (7--one first place vote), Anthony Rendon (4), Jhonatan Solano (3), John Lannan (2).

--My vote: Nathan Karns, Matt Skole, Alex Meyer. Both Karns and Skole earned Nats minor league system pitcher and player of the year, respectively. Alex Meyer was the Nats representative at the Futures Game this year, helping earn him a spot in the top three, too.

SURVEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

10 years ago my mother and I stood on the side of the road on Washington Blvd. in Arlington, right in front of what is now Rocklands Barbeque. We were armed with clipboards, pamphlets, and a lawn sign that proudly read “Virginians for Baseball.” I was just a freshman in high school who wanted a club to call my own, and my mother, who grew up in a family that loved baseball, wanted her son to have a true hometown team.  

I’ll always remember that afternoon. We collected a lot of signatures from people who were excited about the prospect of having our own team, as well as stadium built in Arlington, right in the heart of Crystal City.  We also came across several people who were not so high on the idea. Some were concerned about raised taxes, and traffic. Others simply said they would never bring baseball back to the D.C. area because it had failed so many times in the past.

One man in particular stormed across the street from the adjacent supermarket’s parking lot. It was clear, he was on a mission. He was in his late 20’s or early 30’s, a typical “Clarendon Bro” that those of us in Arlington know all too well. He approached us and verbally berated my mother, telling her she was irresponsible for proposing such a “selfish” idea and that she was teaching her son to put value in the wrong things.

Eventually a local baseball coach, who showed up late to help us at our post, took the guy aside and talked him down. That moment will always stick with me though. As a 13-year-old kid, I was very wide-eyed and naïve. I thought if I wanted it enough, we would get a baseball team. At that moment, however, I realized there were people ready to fight just as hard to keep a team out of the area…and as much as I wanted to be able to grab a group of friends on a summer day and drive to a ballpark and watch Major League Baseball just down the road…it just wasn’t going to be that easy.

Later that week Virginians for Baseball held a rally at Thomas Jefferson Community Center. It ended up being far more contentious than I imagined. There were as many NIMBY’s (Not in my back yard) there as there were baseball fans, but the minority was loud and they were not going to let Virginia get a team without a fight. What was supposed to be a question and answer panel turned into a slugfest. People took their opportunity with the microphone to call out community board members, to threaten boycotts, and to question what a ballpark in Arlington, Virginia would do to the quality of life rating that the city was so proud of.

At the very end of the night, one man took to the podium. He was in his late 30’s, and lived in the area of Chrystal City that would have allegedly been disrupted by noise and light pollution. He told the panel, and the crowd, that while he lived in the not so nice houses in the area that would, in the eyes of some, lose their value immediately due to the supposed negative effects of a stadium, that he was greatly in support of bringing a team to the area.

“Everyone here likes to talk about ‘quality of life,” the man said. “I live in those houses that everyone here is talking about, and I can tell you that while I don’t own much, while my living situation isn’t that great as it is, the ability to go to a ball game a block from my house would, without question, greatly improve my quality of life. Quality of life isn’t a metric, it’s just the truth.”

This memory has stuck with me for a long time, and it is one I thought about Monday night as I stood in the left field bleachers desperately watching the out of town scoreboard. The Nationals, were losing to the Phillies, but no one in the crowd cared, we were all staring at that one piece of real estate on the right field wall. The Pittsburgh Pirates were up 2-1 with two outs in the top of the 9^th against the Atlanta Braves. We were all captivated, waiting for one more out.

As Danny Espinosa fielded an easy ground ball and threw it to Adam LaRoche, the scoreboard finally updated. The Pirates had defeated the Braves, and regardless of the outcome of the game we were actually at, the Nationals had clinched the National League East Championship. The crowd erupted. The players turned into kids and all cracked huge smiles. I turned to my girlfriend who had surprised me with tickets that night and gave her a big hug. My dad, who was also in the stands, had rushed down to our seats to be there the moment we clinched, and he gave both of us a huge hug. I turned to complete strangers that I had been sitting near, and we all hugged each other too.

It was an unbelievable unifying moment that brought a community together. Fans were celebrating and experiencing everything the sport of baseball had to offer. Players were ecstatic. The Lerner’s were shown celebrating in their owner’s booth. As the game ended, fireworks went off and everyone lost it. The man in front of me, a life-long Washingtonian, likely in his early 60’s grabbed his teenage son and started sobbing, in an unforgettable real moment.

I was there with my dad, my girlfriend, friends of mine from all walks of life that also were in the stands that night and thousands of others who had been waiting, some for decades, for this moment. Washington had a team, and they had become the best club in baseball.

If you ask me, quality of life could not get any higher. 

When this season began, hopes were high for the young Washington Nationals team. This team had great years ahead of it supported by a great pitching staff and a good young lineup. Heck, maybe the Nats could finish over .500 this year for the first time ever. These were the conversations I had with friends, family, and strangers in March and early April.

It turns out, the Nats had different plans, and manager Davey Johnson said as much in a spring training interview. If the Nats didn’t make the postseason, Davey said, “fire me.” People, including me, thought he was crazy. Well, there’s certainly no concern about the Nats manager’s status with the team after they won the National League East, earned the top seed in the National League, and finished with the best record in baseball. Maybe Davey knows exactly what he's talking about.

As the season progressed, it became clear from watching this team that what they were doing wasn’t a fluke. They believed in themselves, they had the talent to succeed, and rookies and veterans alike provided huge boosts in important spots.

When Ian Desmond went down, the teams MVP to that point in the season, rookie Steve Lombardozzi came in, and the team barely missed a beat. When Jayson Werth broke his wrist, Lombardozzi, Tyler Moore, another rookie, and others platooned to help the Nats work through it. Oh, and Bryce Harper was called up in late April, and he’s likely on his way to winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Even with all the injuries to key players, including Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Michael Morse, Wilson Ramos, and others, the Nats starting pitchers never wavered a bit. They simply carried the Nats to the promised land. Stephen Strasburg showed what the Nats can look forward to for many more years, Gio Gonzalez is a leading candidate for the NL Cy Young Award, and the three other starters, Jordan Zimmermann, Edwin Jackson, and Ross Detwiler, all exceeded their expectations. The offense eventually got it together once they were healthy, but without that pitching staff, the Nats couldn’t have been here, on their way to the National League Division Series.

Baseball in DC has come a long way from Junior Spivey, Tony Armas, Jr., Steven Shell, and many, many other former Nats players that have long since left baseball and have long since been forgotten, even by many diehard Nationals fans. For those of us that watched from the beginning, a season like this is sweeter than sweet. The seasons of 100 plus losses, of irrelevance on the national stage, and of unknown players in the starting lineup are over. No one will soon forget the players that made up this 2012 Nationals team.

I’ve been blogging about the Washington Nationals for three years now, though I’ve been a fan from the start, and I joined here at The Nats Blog late last season. Not many independent baseball blogs are credentialed to cover an MLB team, but the Nats allowed us to do just that along with three other great blogs, District Sports Page, Federal Baseball, and We Love DC.

Watching this unfold from high atop Nationals Park in the press box has been unreal, and being granted credentials to cover the team’s home games for the NLDS is an extremely high honor. It’s been a challenging and exhausting season with lots of late nights of writing and early morning posts, but I wouldn’t have changed a single thing about it. This has been one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life, and it’s been wonderful sharing those experiences with you.

Our work isn’t done yet, because it never is. We have postseason baseball to write about, and then we have the offseason to talk about. I hope that doesn’t come until November. No one will forget the first time this team got here, and it will always be special as a Nats fan, but remember, there’s never a guarantee for future success. Savor this feeling and the experiences surrounding it. This is the kind of season you should want to tell your kids and grandkids about. I know I will.

The Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday by a 5-1 margin to end their regular season with the best record in baseball at 98-64. It’s been an incredible and improbable ride for this Nats team, but they’re now headed to the National League Division Series on Sunday. Not to mention, Teddy won the President’s Race, but we'd rather talk about actual baseball.

Edwin Jackson put together a great start to recover from a deplorable game in St. Louis last time out and earned his 10th win of the season. Now all five of the main Nationals starting pitchers this season (Strasburg, Gonzalez, Zimmermann, Jackson, Detwiler) have double-digit victories with Gio Gonzalez leading the group with 21. Jackson went six and two-thirds innings and gave up just one run on six hits. Davey Johnson said Jackson told Steve McCatty he was “tiring” before he went out in the seventh inning, and he was pulled with two outs in that frame. The only run that scored on Jackson was when Carlos Ruiz scored on a Darin “Nats Killer” Ruf sacrifice fly.

For the offense, home runs continued to be the Nats primary way of getting offense, especially in the second half of this season. Four of the Nats five runs were scored on bombs: solo shots by Ryan Zimmerman in the fourth and Tyler Moore in the sixth and a two-run blast by Michael Morse in the eighth. Morse also scored on a Moore double in the fourth inning.

Morse left his 3-for-4 game a little early after he hit his eighth inning home run. He felt “a spasm in his hammy” on his home run, according to Davey. “Hopefully it was just a spasm and not any kind of slight pull,” he said. The Nats and their fans will be hoping, too. Morse has been a huge part of this Nats lineup, and the offense wouldn’t be the same without him.

The Nats bullpen continued its great work holding it together behind Christian Garcia and Sean Burnett in 1 1/3 innings until Morse blew the game open a bit to a four-run lead in the eighth. Michael Gonzalez locked down the Nats ninth. The Nats bullpen went through a bit of collective struggles a couple weeks back, but things seem to be back on line for the most part.

Playoff logistics

The Nats will work out at the Park on Friday before leaving Saturday morning for Sunday’s game. They had originally planned on leaving late Saturday, but they adjusted the schedule because MLB hasn’t set the times for the Wild Card games yet, and they now know they will play on Sunday for their first game, even if they don’t know the location yet.

The Nationals will play games one and two of the NLDS at the away park against whoever wins the Wild Card game between the Braves and Cardinals, and they’ll return to Nationals Park for games three through five between Wednesday through Friday next week. So the Nats technically have “home field advantage,” despite not playing at home for game one. It’s not the way the new system will be forever, but simply a factor of throwing the new system together at the last minute.

It’s been a fun season, and Nats fans aren’t done having fun yet. While we’ll be Nats baseball-free for about three days, the American League postseason push is going to be a blast, and we have some NL teams to scout between the NL Wild Card and the other NLDS that starts on Saturday. Time to get your postseason caps on, folks.

I don't know about you, but today's regular season finale snuck up on me a bit. Between the push to the postseason and the subsequent push for the National League East title, it's hard to believe game 162 has arrived for the Washington Nationals. For the first time in the team's history, I won't have to start writing offseason pieces yet, because there is still baseball to be played. With a Nats win today, they will earn their 98th win of the season and lock in the number one seed on the NL side of the bracket. They would also accomplish that with a Cincinnati Reds loss tonight.

People expected this to be a big series between the Nats and Philadelphia Phillies early on, but because the two teams would be competing in the division. Instead, the Phillies only could try to play spoilers as the Nats won the division title that the Philadelphia ballclub held for the previous five seasons. Nationals Park is far less overrun with Phillies fans these days as people come out to ignite their Natitude.

Here are the lineups for today's season ending game, but don't worry. There are more games to come in NatsTown. On that note, some limited standing room only NL Division Series tickets will  be available starting at 4 pm today at nationals.com/postseason.

Philadelphia Phillies (81-80)

1. Juan Pierre - LF
2. Kevin Frandsen - 3B
3. Chase Utley - 2B
4. Carlos Ruis - C
5. Domonic Brown - RF
6. Darin Ruf - 1B
7. Nate Schierholtz - CF
8. Michael Marinez - SS
9. Cliff Lee - LHP - (6-8, 3.12 ERA)

Washington Nationals (97-64)

1. Jayson Werth - CF
2. Mark DeRosa - RF
3. Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
4. Michael Morse - LF
5. Tyler Moore - 1B
6. Ian Desmond - SS
7. Danny Espinosa - 2B
8. Jesus Flores - C
9. Edwin Jackson - RHP - (9-11, 4.13 ERA)