After 60 games in 2019, Series champ Nats were in trouble

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maybe this gives fans a sense of what it will mean to have a Major League Baseball season shrunk down to just 60 games this year during the pandemic: Where were the Washington Nationals that far into 2019?

Last year, the Nationals played their 60th of 162 games on June 4 -- and came back to beat the visiting Chicago White Sox 9-5 in an interleague matchup to “improve” their record to 27-33.

Doesn’t look much like the mark of a soon-to-be World Series champion.

At that point in the year, Washington’s .450 winning percentage left it much, much closer to the bottom of the standings than the top: fourth in the five-team NL East and 13th in the 15-club National League, not nearly good enough to get into the postseason, even one as expanded as the 16 total participants proposed (but not yet agreed-to) for 2020.

In a sport that prides itself on weeding out pretenders and confirming contenders over the long haul, they were hardly the only ones whose season would have looked a lot different if this year's setup were used last year. This is what emerged Tuesday in an attempt to play amid the coronavirus pandemic: 60 games starting July 23 or 24 in empty ballparks with rules changes such as using the DH everywhere and starting extra innings with a runner on second base.

“In a shortened season," Tigers general manager Al Avila said Wednesday, "anything can happen."

For better or for worse.

After 60 games in 2019, the Chicago Cubs were 34-26, leading the NL Central and second overall in the league; the Philadelphia Phillies were 33-27, atop the NL East and fourth in the league. Both sank to the middle of the pack and missed the playoffs.

Over in the AL, the Texas Rangers started 32-28, good enough to be in position for a wild-card berth. But they...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/After-60-games-in-2019-Series-champ-Nats-were-in-15363863.php