A weekend of ineptitude for the Nationals, along with the Pirates beating the Dodgers in heroic fashion, has left the Nationals with a Tragic number of 1 game, with 7 left to play. For those unfamiliar with the “Tragic Number” this means that with the next Washington loss (or Pittsburgh victory), the Nationals wrap up the #1 pick in the 2010 draft and presumably the drafting rights for phenom Bryce Harper.
| team | W | L | pct | ga | tragic | left | last10 | streak |
| Washington | 52 | 103 | 0.335 | - | - | 7 | 2-8 | L-4 |
| Pittsburgh | 58 | 96 | 0.377 | 5.5 | 1 | 8 | 3-7 | W-1 |
| Baltimore | 60 | 95 | 0.387 | elim | 0 | 7 | 0-10 | L-10 |
| Cleveland | 64 | 91 | 0.413 | elim | 0 | 7 | 3-7 | W-3 |
| Kansas City | 64 | 92 | 0.41 | elim | 0 | 6 | 5-5 | W-1 |
The National’s recent play now means they’re on pace to finish 54-108. This wouldn’t be the worst record in recent memory (NY Mets going 40-120 in 1962 and the Tigers amazingly bad 43-119 record in 2003 being the pace setters) but its still pretty bad and represents a step back from last year’s 59-102.
Hopefully, we’ll only need one more of these Tragic Update posts to close the books on the season.
#1 by Pilchard - September 28th, 2009 at 10:29
How often has a team had the #1 pick in the MLB draft in consecutive years?
#2 by Todd - September 28th, 2009 at 10:41
It has only happened once before, since the draft was implemented in 1965. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_overall_Major_League_Baseball_draft_picks is a link to the list of #1 overall picks, and per this list the only other team to have had two #1 picks in a row was your Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays in 2007 and 2008.
#3 by Ronny/Daggerrrrrr - September 28th, 2009 at 13:24
That’s funny. The Rays had it 07 and 08 and we have it 09 and 10. So I guess we will be making a turnaround like the Ray did next year.
#4 by VladiHondo - September 28th, 2009 at 15:52
It’s OVER!
P-burgh wins today, Nats clinch 2nd consecutive Number 1 PICK!!!
Boy we suck.