Walk-off Home Runs leave Washington Behind NL East Leaders

Back-To-Back Walk-off Home Runs Doom Washington

What’s going on with Washington? Less than 24 hours after I wrote this piece on the devastating 4-3 walk-off loss to the Cubs via the Ultimate Slam, the Cardinals whacked Washington again with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Nationals 7-6.

Cubs Win!

Washington’s bullpen meltdown continued as it allowed 4 runs in the eighth inning to lose a 4-2 lead thanks to Matt Carpenter’s 33rd HR this season – a 3-run blast that put St. Louis ahead 6-4. The Nationals tied the game 6-6 in the top of the 9th inning.

Then the walk-off HR, again.

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NL East Standings

Atlanta Braves (66-51)

Philadelphia Phillies (65-52)  1 game behind

Washington Nationals (60-59)  7 games behind

The Nationals are now a league-worst 11-21 in 1-run games.

Phillies news 

The offensive tendency to account for when betting the Phillies.

Citizens Bank Park has increased home runs by 35% this season.

2018 HR increase by ballpark

  • Cincinnati 35.2%
  • Philadelphia 35.1%
  • Texas 31.4%
  • Washington 26.7%
  • Milwaukee 20.0%

Braves News

Braves sweep double header over Marlins, 9-1 and 6-1 as Ronald Acuna leads off both games with a home run. Rookie pitcher Touki Toussaint wins MLB debut tossing 6-innings of 2-hit ball.

Nationals News

The Nationals are 2-time defending NL East champs, but they are in dire need of a turnaround to repeat in 2018. When things are going bad, the negative news and reasons for failure mounts. Now a piece on pitching problems and the Nationals inability to develop pitchers.

The Nationals were in jeopardy of suffering a letdown against the Cardinals following the walk-off grand slam win by the Cubs. Now there is real concern about the mental makeup of the Nationals players as they try to get it together for three more games at St. Louis before returning home to play the Marlins and Phillies.

The Nationals are now 21-units in the red in the betting market, and only the LA Dodgers have lost more money for their betting backers in the National League. The market influence on those two teams remains high as both teams were projected to win at least 92 games prior to the season and repeat as division champions. But Washington has had real team chemistry issues much of the season, proving again that talent only goes so far when cohesion and leadership is lacking. The Nationals season is really sliding away.

Author: FairwayJay is a leading national sports betting analyst, writer, handicapper and sports betting insider providing insight and information you can bet on for nearly two decades from Las Vegas. He chips in additional sports betting coverage and reporting on industry news and events for leading media and sports betting sites and companies. Follow him on X (Twitter): @FairwayJay
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