Steve Mears: Was Monday night's win the defining game of 2016 for the Nats?

We never know which game to circle on the calendar as a key game or 'the' key game during the
marathon 162-game schedule, but clearly last night's game was 'a' key game for both the Washington
Nationals and the New York Mets. Time will tell whether or not last night was 'the' key game.

The key game in the 2012 season was the doubleheader game where the Nats came back to beat their
division rival after losing a heartbreaking game the night before and the first game of the doubleheader.
The National League East lead shrunk to 1 ½ games, with a possibility that the lead could drop to ½ game, if the Nats couldn't mount a comeback in the second game of the doubleheader from a two-run deficit in the first inning. The Nats were able to come back and never looked back, scoring five unanswered runs for John Lannan on their way to a 5-2 win. It was 'the' key game in the 2012 season.

Last night, the Mets had an early four-run lead with their ace Noah Syndergaard on the mound. The Nats' 23-year-old Joe Ross was struggling in the third inning with Mets runners on first and third with one out and the Mets looking to add on more runs. A hush was felt among the 33,109 fans in attendance. If the Mets were to win, the lead in the NL East would shrink to two games and many were putting a fork in the Nationals.

But, there is a reason they play an entire game before they change the standings, as Ross bent but did
not break in the third inning. Ross entered the third inning with a 2-0 deficit, and gave up four straight hits,
scoring two more runs to make the deficit 4-0. With runners on first and third with one out, the Mets put on the 'safety squeeze' play with Syndergaard, who bunted it back to Ross, who flipped the ball to Wilson
Ramos who tagged out Wilmer Flores at home. That was the key play in the game, keeping the game at 4-0, and allowing the Nationals the chance to mount the comeback.

In 2014, June 21st was 'the' key win in that season as the Nats went from ½ game back to ½ game ahead
in the standings against the division rival Braves with a win. The Nats would eventually pull away
and never look back on their way to winning the NL East.

Some key games, however, are losses. In the 2015 season, the key game was July 31st. The Nats were in New York and the Mets won in a walk-off, 12-inning win. The Nats entered that game in the exact same situation as last night, a three-game lead in the NL East. The Nats were swept in the series and left New York in a tie in the standings. The Nats would never sniff first place again that season.

Maybe last night was payback for July 31st. We won't know for a while if we can circle last night as 'the'
key game of the 2016 season as there are 85 games left to play this season. You can only take it one game at a time, and tonight is the debut of Lucas Giolito, which could be the start of a new era. More baseball to follow, and we will revisit this at some point in the future. Instead of a two-game lead in the NL East today, the Nats' lead is now four games, which was a two-game swing in reality.

Steve Mears blogs about the Nationals for Talk Nats. Follow the blog on Twitter: @TalkNats2. His thoughts on the Nationals will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.