Beltway clinchers: Nationals, Orioles win divisions on same night

WASHINGTON — Twenty-two minutes.

In what can sometimes seem like an interminably long regular season, twenty-two minutes is all that separated the final outs that clinched division titles and playoff berths and for both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night.

First, in Atlanta, the Nationals earned a jubilee they arguably needed and wanted more than a home celebration. Two years ago, despite the best record in baseball, Washington stumbled its way to its first-ever division crown at home. The Nationals backed their way in after getting shut out by the Phillies on Oct. 1, their third-to-last game, but watched the Braves lose on the out-of-town scoreboard to hand them their first NL East title.

There would be no backing in this year.

It may seem hard to believe, but as recently as July 5, the Nationals trailed the Braves by 1.5 games in the division. Since then, Washington is 40-24 — including a 10-game winning streak — while the Braves have slipped into an extended tailspin, going just 26-38 over the same span. In fact, the Braves are so bad this year, that if the Nats had the same record they did through Sept. 17 last year (81-70), they would still have a six-game lead over Atlanta.

Of course, last season’s disappointments no longer matter.

Tuesday’s clinching game was started by Tanner Roark, anything but a lock to even make the rotation this year, his first full season as a big leaguer at age 27. The last inning was pitched by Drew Storen, who was more recently demoted to AAA than he was the established closer. And the final ground ball skidded across the right side of the Turner Field infield and into the glove of Asdrubal Cabrera, who spent more than 900 games as primarily a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians and has only worn a Curly W on the right side of the Nationals’ infield for just 39 games.

More expected, franchise shortstop Ian Desmond led the offense, annihilating a hanging 2-2 curveball from Braves starter Aaron Harang more than halfway up the massive lower bowl in the Turner Field bleachers to open the scoring. And while Desmond and his teammates put the finishing touches on the game and the division crown, the absence of the longest-tenured National quietly reminded anyone paying attention just how many questions there are yet to be answered.

Ryan Zimmerman watched to clinch from an apartment in Viera, Florida, home of the Nats’ Spring Training complex, where he played in a simulated game Tuesday as he works his way back from a hamstring injury. It remains to be seen how he will fit into the mix on a team that has gone 31-20 during his most recent absence.

“Hopefully I’m helping us get to the point where we have a few more celebrations like that,” he told the Washington Post by phone after the game.

Meanwhile, the Orioles rebounded after allowing a run in the top of the first thanks to a two-out, three-run shot by Steve Pearce in the bottom of the frame that gave them a lead they would never relinquish. They rode the arm of Ubaldo Jimenez — their least consistent starter — and handed it over to the bullpen to finish out an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, surprisingly the closest competitor in a rare down year in the American League East.

In 2012, the Orioles had to await the result of a game across the country before knowing when they would clinch. There was no such wait Tuesday night, as the O’s streamed onto the field in front of their raucous home crowd. The parade was led by Adam Jones, double-fisting beers in one hand while carrying an AL East Champions flag in the other, celebrating the team’s first division crown since 1997.

At just 77 wins, the Blue Jays are five games worse than the second-place team in the AL Central and six behind the second-place squad in the AL West. Much like the Nationals were aided by weak divisional competition, the Orioles’ early clinch has been helped by an underperforming year by the defending champion Boston Red Sox and disappointing Tampa Bay Rays.

The Orioles have an uphill battle to try to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs, still trailing the Los Angeles Angels by three games with 11 remaining. But they are well-positioned to host the first round, and with the American League’s All-Star win, potentially the World Series.

While questions persist about Baltimore’s postseason viability as a pitching staff, the Orioles will now be able to rest players and set up their rotation as best they can for the postseason. Perhaps most importantly, it will give them a chance to rest key members of their bullpen, five members of which have appeared in at least 56 games this season with Andrew Miller (69) and Zach Britton (67) among the most heavily used in the American League.

“You know, it’s not over yet, it’s just another chapter,” said Pearce in the postgame celebration, although when asked if his home run was the biggest of his career, he was happy to oblige. “Definitely. You know, we’re going to the playoffs. What more could you ask for?”

Both teams learned in 2012 that there is a long journey between a postseason berth and a World Series. But both took a big first step toward getting there Tuesday night.

Get postseason ticket pricing and information on the Nationals’ website and the Orioles’ website.

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