
Last season the World Champion Phillies won the NL East by three games over The NY Mets. The Phillies finished 2008 with a 92-70 record.
My wife Jonna helped me do this, so if my math is wrong, blame her, she has the Masters in teaching. The Nats can finish 92-70 if they set small goals the rest of the season.
First, the Nationals have to put April in a box, put it on a shelf, and never open it.
The 5-16 start....Not good. However, a 4-2 record in May is good. Not counting Saturday's game and taking into consideration one make-up game will be played in the second half, the Nats have 60 games to go before the All-Star break.
The Nats have to go 35-25 until July 12. Break that down even smaller, there are nine weeks until the break.
If the Nats win 4 out of every 7 games over that 9 week period, they would finish up 44-43 on July 12th. One game over .500 would be awesome considering the 5-16 start but, I know the Nationals can win 58% of their games from now to the All-Star break.
If they win four games a week the rest of the season The Nationals will finish 92-70
Now based on the first 87-game formula the Nats are 44-43. How do they finish with 92 wins. If the Nats go 48-27 in the final 75 games, they get to 92 wins. It's still 4 wins out of 7 and that would be winning 64% of the remaining 75 games. Don't go crazy with % points, they could win 5 out of 7 here and get to 93 wins etc.
Small goals to get to Big Finishes!