The Washington Nationals went 59-103 in 2009, a .364 winning percentage — the worst record in baseball. They scored 710 runs and allowed 874, a run differential of -164. The offence ranked 21st of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 5.01 staff ERA was the second worst. Their 100 team wRC+ was 0% above league average — 13th of 30 in MLB. Ryan Zimmerman led the position players at 5.0 WAR, and Jordan Zimmermann the rotation at a 4.63 ERA.
The 2009 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished 5th in the NL East, 34 games back. They were as far as 38 games back on September 27. Their best month was August at 14-15, their worst March/April at 5-16. The longest runs were an 8-game winning streak from August 2 to August 9 and an 8-game losing streak from August 28 to September 5. They were 33-48 at home and 26-55 on the road, 22-24 in one-run games and 27-67 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 13-1 against the Padres on July 25; the heaviest defeat, 14-2 against the Dodgers on September 22.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
5
16
.238
94
124
-30
May
9
20
.310
147
184
-37
June
9
17
.346
89
123
-34
July
9
18
.333
124
132
-8
August
14
15
.483
144
152
-8
Sept/Oct
13
17
.433
112
159
-47
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
33-48
.407
Road
26-55
.321
One-run games
22-24
.478
Extra innings
6-9
.400
Within the division
25-47
.347
Against .500+ clubs
27-67
.287
Decided by 5+ runs
14-29
.326
Last 10
7-3
.700
National League East standings, 2009
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League East, 2009. 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
22,715
20,603
12,464
41,985
Night
58
21,961
19,690
12,464
41,985
Day
22
24,703
23,184
16,974
40,386
Weekend
39
24,430
22,677
16,364
36,014
Weekday
41
21,084
18,600
12,464
41,985
On the road
81
31,345
33,085
10,623
48,327
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
9
19,801
May
15
21,666
Jun
15
24,544
Jul
14
25,936
Aug
13
20,489
Sep
15
21,093
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 158 completed games, 2009.
Regulation
2:52
143 games
All games
2:56
Extra innings
3:35
15 of them
Longest
4:31
2009-05-15, 12 inn
Shortest
2:00
2009-06-06
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
158
2:56
2:55
2:00
4:31
Regulation
143
2:52
2:53
2:00
3:52
Extra innings
15
3:35
3:37
2:48
4:31
Home
78
2:58
2:56
2:00
4:31
Road
80
2:55
2:55
2:07
4:18
Day
47
2:57
2:55
2:07
4:18
Night
111
2:56
2:55
2:00
4:31
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
9
3:02
May
14
3:02
Jun
14
3:05
Jul
13
2:44
Aug
13
2:54
Sep
15
2:59
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 172 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 59-103, a .364 win rate, while their -164 run differential implies .406. That is about 7 wins behind it, which tends to regress upward.
