Adam Kilgore pens a very realistic post on the Nationals playoff chances:

Are the Nationals playoff contenders? No, no one is saying that. But it is not very difficult to be, say, seven games behind the wild card leader with, say, two months left in the season. That at least offers hope, at least lets you cling to the chance. The Nationals have not been nearly good enough since the 2006 season to approach clearing even that very low bar. This year, they could be.

They’ve gotten to this point mostly without their best position player, so there’s reason to believe they might be slightly better the rest of the season. Like the Pirates, they just need to keep moving the chance of winning up a little and hope they get good luck.