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Cubs, Nats shouldn’t take hot starts for granted
- Updated: April 20, 2016
The Cubs and Nationals have lived up to the offseason expectations in the opening days of the 2016 campaign.
Chicago is 11-4 after dropping Wednesday’s contest against St. Louis, and Washington was 10-3 going into its matchup with Miami. They were the only National League teams with double-digit victory totals.
After they weren’t able to advance to the postseason a year ago, the Nationals not only signed free-agent second baseman Daniel Murphy, but they also dismissed manager Matt Williams and replaced him with veteran skipper Dusty Baker.
The Cubs, meanwhile, responded to being swept in the NL Championship Series by the Mets last October by signing free-agent second baseman Ben Zobrist, outfielder Jason Heyward and starting pitcher John Lackey, as well as re-signing free-agent outfielder Dexter Fowler.
But be careful.
Fast starts are exciting for fans. And it is true games won in April count just as much as games won in September. However, they don’t carry any postseason guarantees.
In the 21 seasons since the advent of the Wild Card in 1995, 11 of the 21 NL teams that had the best record in the opening month of the season — and three of the 21 in the …
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