Perhaps the NL East is not the friendliest neighborhood for the Washington Nationals.
For all of their success this year, the Nats are 11-30 against division opponents. They were swept by Miami this past weekend after dropping all three games to the New York Mets the previous weekend.
The skid has seen Washington lose nine of its last 11 games and drift dangerously close to the division cellar. The Nationals lead the suddenly surging Mets by just a game and a half.
While the Nats may have slumped in the second half of the season, two players have surged: Andres Chaparro is hitting .304 with seven homers and 25 RBIs in 27 games since the midsummer classic. For those doing the math, that’s a 42-homer, 150-RBI pace over 162 games. Meanwhile, Cade Cavalli is 6-1 with a 1.84 ERA over the same stretch.
