National League Playoff Chances with Accuscore

Over at Federal Baseball they have a great collection of stories which look into just exactly how good the Nationals are.

It's a useful debate, especially considering the fact that many outlets predicted the Nationals to finish, at best, fourth in the National League East. Starting this week, we will be looking at the shape of the National League playoff race every Monday with the help of Accuscore.

As you can see below, the Nationals 4-3 record last week helped them improve their playoff chances from 7.8 percent to 13.9 percent. Accuscore also projects that they have a 9.3 percent chance of becoming the National League East division champions. As Oh points out, the Nationals are just 2-4 against the Phillies (who have a 69 percent chance of winning the division) but 8-5 against everyone else they have played.

ACCUSCORE'S PLAYOFF PREVIEW

NATIONAL LEAGUE (By Stephen Oh)

The Chicago Cubs were 4-3, but saw a major +20 percentage point improvement.  While 4-3 is a solid record the reason why the Cubs improved this much was their sweep of Division rival, Milwaukee, on the road.  The Cubs also benefited by the 2-4