Washington Nationals: Looking back at regular season against Cubs
CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 04: Adam Lind #26 of the Washington Nationals congratulates Daniel Murphy #20 after his two run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field on August 4, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images) /
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
Now that the playoffs are here, let's look back at the seven meetings between the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs
The regular season is now over and the Washington Nationals are now in preparation mode for the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs that begins Friday. Before we look ahead to the best-of-five series the rest of the week, we are going to look back at the seven regular season matchups.
In those seven games, the Nats were able to go 4-3. The Cubs were able to split a four game series in D.C. at the end of June. Then, shortly after the trade deadline, the Nats won two out of three games at Wrigley Field.
Out of the seven games that were played, four of them were decided by three runs or less and the Washington Nationals won the three games that were decided by a wider margin. In fact, the Nats outscored the Cubs by a score of 39-28.
Both teams have changed a bit since that August weekend in Chicago, but you know the Nats and Cubs will use those games as part of their scouting reports for the week.
If there's one stat to look at in the matchups, it's hitting with runners in scoring position. Of course, you can't predict the future off of these numbers, but the Nats were 17-for-65 (.291) in RISP situations while the Cubs were 13-for-44 (.295). It is a little surprising that the Nats had that many more AB"s than Chicago in those spots, but that could be why the Nats won the only three "blowouts" in the series.
So, without further ado, let's take a look at three more things that stood out during the seven meetings with the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs, starting with some of the players who had the best offensive days.