Both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles clinched their division titles (NL East and AL East, respectively) on Tuesday night. It’s the second in three years for the Nats, and the first in seventeen for Baltimore.
Washington won their title on a dominating performance by starter Tanner Roark, who held the free-falling Braves to five singles over seven shutout innings. Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen (a seven-pitch save) took care of the rest, and Ian Desmond did the heavy lifting on offense with a towering two-run shot off Aaron Harang, then scored on a David Carpenter wild pitch later in the game. The Nats’ fourth win in a row brings them back to the mountaintop that they missed last year, when much of the roster was hurt or under-performing. This year’s Washington squad looks like a fine-tuned machine of hitting and pitching. They currently own the best record in the National League, and if they continue to hold that position they will hold home-field advantage in the playoffs until the World Series.
The Orioles, meanwhile, clinched their division on a 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. The three runs came on a Steve Pearce homer in the first inning, his 18th of the season. Pearce, who has enjoyed quite the breakout this year, had 17 career homers coming into this season. The Orioles were hardly the favorites to win the division in April, but surprising performances from players such as Pearce and Nelson Cruz have driven them to an impressive 91-60 record that stands as the second best in the AL behind the seemingly unstoppable Angels 94-56. It’s also worth noting that almost the entirety of the rest of the AL East has had a disappointing season in one way or another. The Red Sox have followed up their World Series title with a last place finish, and the Rays inexplicably started the season on a terrible note.
Both teams are the first to clinch divisional titles. The Angels have technically clinched a postseason berth, but the division is still mathematically up for grabs. However, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which the Angels, who hold first place by a whopping 10.5 games as of this writing, surrender their lead.
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