Last season, the Washington Nationals had success in the first month of the season. Can they repeat that in 2017?
While the Washington Nationals still have over a month to go before spring training opens in West Palm Beach, Florida, it is never too early to look ahead to the 2017 regular season. Today, we are going to take a closer look at the first month in particular. While you can’t win a division in April, you can lose it.
Back in 2016, the Washington Nationals had a lot of success in the first month of the season. By May 1, the team was 16-7, yet they only had a half game lead in the NL East over the New York Mets because New York won eight games in a row at the time.
If you reflect back to the first month of the season, the Washington Nationals ended up not facing one playoff team. That didn’t happen until May 5 when the Nats began a four game road series against the eventual World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs.
So, what does April have in store for the Nats this coming season? Out of the 25 games that are scheduled to take place in April, only six of them are against playoffs teams from 2016 (two series against the New York Mets). With that being said, you never know what can happen.
With that being said, here are some of the things that stand out about the first month of the season from a schedule perspective: