The Nationals Got Their Hearts Ripped Out Again, This Time Losing On A Walk-Off Home Run To The Cardinals

Okay, so everyone keeps talking about how tight the NL MVP race is this year — and it is — but if the Cardinals make it to the postseason, your NL MVP is Matt Carpenter. Open and shut case, Johnson.

This guy has been nothing short of fucking incredible this year, and just when you think he’s reached his peak, he rips off another eye-popping run. His three-run bomb in the bottom of the 8th inning on Monday night gave the Cardinals a 6-4 lead that Bud Norris would later blow in the ninth. That set the stage for Paul DeJong to lead off the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off blast to keep the good times rolling for the Cards and the bad times rolling for the Nats. It was the Cardinals’ tenth walk-off victory this season.

St. Louis has now hauled off six straight wins to pull within two games of the Milwaukee Brewers for second place in the NL Central AND for that second Wild Card spot in the National League. For Washington, that’s back-to-back nights that they’ve lost on a walk-off homer. I wasn’t ready to pull the plug on the Nationals when they were five out in the division, but now that they’re seven out, coupled with the fashion in which they’ve gotten there, we’re dangerously approaching shutting out the lights in DC.

Coming into play on July 27, the Cardinals were a .500 team at 51-51. Since that day, St. Louis has won 13 of their last 17 games. That’s the best winning percentage in the National League, second to only the Boston Red Sox for the best winning percentage in the majors over that span. The Cardinals are back from the dead, baby.