The Washington Nationals went 98-64 in 2012, a .605 winning percentage — the best record in baseball. They scored 731 runs and allowed 594, a run differential of +137. The offence ranked 10th of 30 in MLB for runs scored, while their 3.34 staff ERA was the third best. Their 105 team wRC+ was 5% above league average — 8th of 30 in MLB. Ian Desmond led the position players at 4.4 WAR, and Gio Gonzalez the rotation at a 2.89 ERA.
The 2012 season
Month by month, the streaks, and the record in the games that are argued about.
They finished first in the NL East, 4 games clear. They spent 172 of 182 days in first place, led by as many as 8.5 games on September 12 and were as far as 2 games back on April 9. Their best month was August at 19-10, their worst May at 15-13. The longest runs were an 8-game winning streak from August 4 to August 11 and a 5-game losing streak from April 26 to May 1. They were 50-31 at home and 48-33 on the road, 27-21 in one-run games and 48-40 against clubs that finished .500 or better. The most lopsided win was 14-2 at the Giants on August 13; the heaviest defeat, 12-2 at the Cardinals on September 28.
Record by month. March games count toward April, October’s toward September.
Month
W
L
Pct
RS
RA
Diff
March/April
14
8
.636
74
59
+15
May
15
13
.536
118
108
+10
June
15
11
.577
116
97
+19
July
17
9
.654
132
102
+30
August
19
10
.655
137
98
+39
Sept/Oct
18
13
.581
154
130
+24
Splits. Extra innings are blank for a season whose games predate the innings count.
Games
W-L
Pct
Home
50-31
.617
Road
48-33
.593
One-run games
27-21
.563
Extra innings
13-7
.650
Within the division
42-30
.583
Against .500+ clubs
48-40
.545
Decided by 5+ runs
21-11
.656
Last 10
6-4
.600
2012 postseason
In October the Washington Nationals lost the NLDS to the Cardinals 3-2.
NLDS vs Cardinals2-3 L
Game 1, October 7 W 3-2 at Cardinals
Game 2, October 8 L 4-12 at Cardinals
Game 3, October 10 L 0-8 vs Cardinals
Game 4, October 11 W 2-1 vs Cardinals
Game 5, October 12 L 7-9 vs Cardinals
National League East standings, 2012
Final standings. The division page has the rest of its season.
National League East, 2012. 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
79
30,010
29,551
14,520
42,662
Night
50
28,239
28,679
14,520
42,662
Day
29
33,063
33,764
23,215
41,918
Weekend
38
33,645
33,607
24,396
42,662
Weekday
41
26,641
26,342
14,520
40,907
On the road
81
33,117
35,858
10,323
54,242
Through the season
Average home crowd by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
10
24,712
May
13
29,346
Jun
11
33,980
Jul
14
31,944
Aug
14
28,368
Sep
16
26,126
Oct
3
35,336
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 162 completed games, 2012.
Regulation
2:57
142 games
All games
3:03
Extra innings
3:48
20 of them
Longest
4:49
2012-06-16, 14 inn
Shortest
2:12
2012-04-17
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
162
3:03
3:01
2:12
4:49
Regulation
142
2:57
2:58
2:12
3:45
Extra innings
20
3:48
3:43
2:46
4:49
Home
81
3:04
3:00
2:12
4:49
Road
81
3:03
3:02
2:20
4:24
Day
53
3:05
3:00
2:22
4:49
Night
109
3:02
3:01
2:12
4:27
Through the season
Average completed game by month.
Month
Games
Average
Apr
10
2:59
May
13
2:55
Jun
11
3:11
Jul
14
3:08
Aug
14
2:58
Sep
16
3:12
Oct
3
2:54
By season
Regulation games only, in minutes. 177 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 98-64, a .605 win rate, while their +137 run differential implies .594. That is essentially in line — the record reflects the run scoring.
