What happens if the Nats can't play seven games this week?

PHILADELPHIA - The Nationals mostly were able to laugh off Monday night's bizarre postponement at Citizens Bank Park due to an infield that was unplayable, the first Major League Baseball game that couldn't be played because of "wet grounds" since Sept. 21, 1987 at Milwaukee's County Stadium.

But they won't be laughing at the end of this week if they aren't able to play the seven games on their schedule that all could be threatened by bad weather, creating the potential for some tricky rescheduling during the final three weeks of the season.

If the forecast was all clear the rest of the week, the Nationals wouldn't be in any trouble. But Monday night actually offered up the lowest threat of precipitation during this series against the Phillies (only a 30 percent chance of rain). There's an 80 percent chance of rain today, which is going to make it difficult for the teams to play both ends of the straight doubleheader that's supposed to begin at 3:05 p.m. (That's of course assuming the infield is playable at long last.)

And there's a 50 percent chance of rain Wednesday, which will feature at least one game to wrap up the series, possibly two if today is a washout.

And it's not like the Nats can stick around Philly beyond Wednesday night, not with a 4:05 p.m. makeup game against the Cubs scheduled for Thursday in Washington. There's a 40 percent chance of rain in the District during the day, increasing to 80 percent in the evening.

After all that, the Nationals have to somehow make their way to Atlanta for a three-game weekend series. The forecast down there looks OK at the moment (basically, a 20 percent chance for rain all three days) but that's subject to the whims of Hurricane Florence. And even if Flo doesn't directly impact Atlanta, travel from the mid-Atlantic come Thursday night could be a problem.

Major League Baseball has little choice but to give all of this a shot, though, because there simply aren't many (if any) remaining options for makeup dates at this late stage of the season. The Nationals had only three remaining off-days on the schedule, and the first of those is now needed for the Cubs makeup game.

The other off-days (Sept. 19 and 27) don't help matters. The Phillies, Cubs and Braves all play each of those days, so there are no more remaining dates to schedule a makeup game.

Which means there's a not-insignificant chance the Nationals' 2018 season could end not on Sept. 30 in Colorado as scheduled all along, but rather on Oct. 1 in Washington, Philadelphia or Atlanta against one of those teams.

And MLB is perfectly willing to make teams play the day after the regular season ends, even if it has no bearing on the final standings. The league already announced Sunday that the Marlins will have to make a special trip to Pittsburgh for an Oct. 1 makeup that will have zero playoff implications.

The Nationals have already endured three postponements in the last four days. Suffice it to say, they really hope they don't have any more this season.