The Washington Nationals received a compliment from Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, right before he took a bit of a swipe at the NL East champions, according to CSNPhilly.com.
After the final game of the regular season, Rollins expressed his opinion of the Nationals and how things could have been different.
"They had a good year," Rollins said, after the Nationals beat the Phillies. "They’re a talented team. It’s all come together for them and that’s great for them."
Rollins continued:
"With us healthy, they’re a second-place team," Rollins said. "But we weren’t."
The aging shortstop feels the Phillies will be back in the playoffs in 2013, provided the main cogs can stay off the disabled list.
"I think that’s a fact," he said. "We were 14 games under .500 and we got our lineup back for the most part and we played 14 games over .500 after that. That’s a positive sign. We just got so far back that 14 over only got us to .500."
Washington starts the playoffs against the winner of the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals wild-card game.