Chicago Cubs could have their hands full in matchup against Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals most likely playoff opponent

As things currently stand, the Cubs’ most-likely first round opponent will be the Washington Nationals in the NLDS. Both clubs are atop their divisional standings, though the Nationals will clinch the NL East fairly soon.

Entering Tuesday, the Nationals were 83-54, leading the second place Miami Marlins by 16.0 games. Their magic number to clinch the East is just six; a magic number is how many wins a first place club needs to clinch combined with potential losses by a second place club.

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Each Nationals win (or Marlins loss) erases one off of their magic number total. For the sake of comparison, the Cubs magic number to win the NL Central is 22. Basically, the Cubs have plenty of work left to do. On the other hand, clinching the division is a matter of when, not if, for the Nationals.

This season, the Cubs went 3-4 against the Nationals, splitting a four-game series in Washington, D.C. at the end of June and losing two-out-of three in Chicago in early August. The Nationals outscored the Cubs 39-28 combined between the seven matchups.

There is no sugarcoating the fact that the Nationals would be a tough first-round opponent for the Cubs. Not only did the they win the season-series over the Cubs, but their offense did so in dominant fashion. In three of their four wins over the Cubs, they won by five, four and five runs, respectively.