The Washington Nationals went 59-102 in 2008, a .366 winning percentage — the worst record in baseball. They scored 641 runs and allowed 825, a run differential of -184. The offence ranked 28th of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 4.70 staff ERA was 25th of 30. Their 87 team wRC+ was 13% below league average — 28th of 30 in MLB. Cristian Guzman led the position players at 3.3 WAR, and Saul Rivera the rotation at a 3.96 ERA.
The 2008 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished 5th in the NL East, 32.5 games back. They spent 5 of 185 days in first place, led by as many as 1 game on April 1 and were as far as 32.5 games back on September 28. Their best month was August at 14-15, their worst July at 5-19. The longest runs were a 7-game winning streak from August 26 to September 1 and a 12-game losing streak from August 8 to August 20. They were 34-46 at home and 25-56 on the road, 20-29 in one-run games and 29-68 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 10-0 against the Astros on July 11; the heaviest defeat, 12-0 against the Mets on August 13.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
11
17
.393
104
134
-30
May
13
16
.448
113
134
-21
June
9
18
.333
88
152
-64
July
5
19
.208
93
104
-11
August
14
15
.483
130
154
-24
Sept/Oct
7
17
.292
113
147
-34
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
34-46
.425
Road
25-56
.309
One-run games
20-29
.408
Extra innings
7-7
.500
Within the division
27-44
.380
Against .500+ clubs
29-68
.299
Decided by 5+ runs
14-36
.280
Last 10
1-9
.100
National League East standings, 2008
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League East, 2008. Games back of the best record in the division.
The players whose season belongs to this club, by position and then by dbWAR. A player traded mid-season is listed with the club he played most of his games for, so a deadline arrival may appear on his other club’s page instead.
Each rectangle is a player, sized by his share of the team's hits; darker means a larger share. Top 30 contributors. Select a different statistic above, or click a player for his page.
Day and night divide the home schedule, and so do weekend and weekday. The road line is a different question.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Low
High
All home
80
29,023
28,786
20,657
39,824
Night
61
28,317
28,030
20,657
39,479
Day
19
31,291
31,090
25,871
39,824
Weekend
40
31,048
30,612
22,737
39,824
Weekday
40
26,998
26,579
20,657
34,039
On the road
80
32,841
34,057
10,888
52,431
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Mar
1
39,434
Apr
13
29,314
May
14
28,360
Jun
16
30,827
Jul
9
30,367
Aug
15
29,093
Sep
12
25,113
By season
Announced gate — tickets distributed, which is the figure every reference publishes and is not the same as people through the turnstile. A game the feed reports no gate for is left out rather than counted as empty. Seasons before attendance was carried into the lake are absent from the trend rather than shown as zero.
Game time
First pitch to final out across 161 completed games, 2008.
Regulation
2:45
147 games
All games
2:50
Extra innings
3:46
14 of them
Longest
5:00
2008-09-19, 14 inn
Shortest
2:04
2008-05-01
By situation
Regulation and extra innings divide the season, and so do home and road. Day and night overlap both.
Split
Games
Avg
Med
Fastest
Longest
All
161
2:50
2:48
1:52
5:00
Regulation
147
2:45
2:46
1:52
3:29
Extra innings
14
3:46
3:37
2:53
5:00
Home
80
2:52
2:49
2:04
5:00
Road
81
2:48
2:47
1:52
4:45
Day
48
2:50
2:47
2:00
4:34
Night
113
2:50
2:48
1:52
5:00
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Mar
1
2:22
Apr
13
2:52
May
14
2:47
Jun
16
2:53
Jul
9
2:46
Aug
15
2:52
Sep
12
3:05
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 165 minutes this season.
Elapsed time from first pitch to final out. The feed does not itemise delays, so a rain delay is inside these numbers with no way to subtract it. Games called early are excluded — five innings in ninety-three minutes is not a short game — but they still count in attendance, because the crowd turned up.
Record versus run differential
Washington Nationals are 59-102, a .366 win rate, while their -184 run differential implies .387. That is about 3 wins behind it, which tends to regress upward.
