A look back at the importance of 95 wins in 2016

The Nationals won the National League East for the third time in the past five seasons and now prepare for a matchup with the Dodgers on Friday.

Their 95 wins tied the Rangers for second-best in the major leagues behind the Cubs' 103 victories.

In 2012, the Nationals won 98 games. In 2014, they tallied 96 victories.

It is the fifth time in 21 years manager Dusty Baker's illustrious career that one of his teams reached at least 95 wins. Baker said all season that his monthly goal was 15 wins a month. The Nationals ended up winning 16 or more in every month but July (13) and September (15). In October, they were 2-0.

"I plan to win 90 almost every year," Baker said. "The only month that we didn't win 15 was probably July. We had a couple off-days and then the All-Star break in there. We were still pretty close.

"It means that you played consistent baseball. When the year started, I wanted to win 97. I really wanted to win 100 because I haven't won 100 since my rookie year in San Francisco. I didn't want to win 100 at the expense of an injury or because I was running guys into the ground. You don't want to do it at any cost. I think Mike Rizzo said 95 and Murphy had 95 in his head in spring training. It shows you the power of positive thought."

Think about how injuries or cold streaks can derail a season and it is amazing to think the Nationals were able to win 95 games. They never really had an extended winning streak. They also didn't have too many losing strings. The longest winning streak and longest losing streak were each seven games. They were in first place for 179 days of the season.

"The thing I'm proud of is how they play together, how we win with different facets of the game," Baker said. "Sometimes it's pitching, sometimes it's defense, sometimes it's home runs, sometimes it's offense.

"When Trea (Turner) got here, sometimes it's stolen bases or all of the above. We haven't been hot, hot all year long. This is what I'm proud of, that we won that many games without guys having career years. Most of the time when you win that many games, you've got a couple guys that are having career years - other than (Daniel) Murphy and (Wilson) Ramos, probably - some other guys here have had kind of down years for them.

"For us to have won that many games with some key guys injured, or not having their typical years. is a tribute to our team and our team unity."

Right-hander Max Scherzer recorded 20 of those 95 wins. He said one big reason why the Nats were able to accomplish this first goal was by playing the same way every game.

"We came out here to be consistent, and this was the goal: to win the division," Scherzer said. "We did it. At least we got home field advantage against the Dodgers. We accomplished that. Now the fun begins. Look, you've got to come out here and play your best baseball now. I know everybody's got aches and pains and injuries and this and this, but you've got to rise above it and find a way to get it done. I think it's a great team."

Murphy said the bottom line was 95 wins put the Nationals in a position to play the first two games of the postseason at home.

"It's a lot of wins," Murphy said. "Even as important as that is, is what it allowed us to do. It allowed us to win the division and allowed us to get home field advantage in the first round."

And then there are the two wins to finish the season. They help, especially with the loss of Ramos (torn ACL) early last week. Danny Espinosa had a two-run shot that helped the Nats win Sunday over the Marlins 10-7.

"It's good. You don't want to go in cold to the playoffs and be on a bad run," Espinosa said. "To go out there and win this final game and see Max gets his 20th. That's a very hard feat. So it's exciting."

Don't think 95 wins is that big a deal? Just think about the 83 wins the club had last season. Or even better (or worse,) the 59 wins they had in 2008 and 2009.