Last week, the Washington Nationals lost their fourth National League Division Series in the past six years, surrendering their early lead and serving up the Chicago Cubs’ third straight appearance in the National League Championship. As the Nationals choked away their chance for a D.C. team to make a conference final for the first time since 1998, an odd interpretation of an obscure rule helped them steal defeat from the jaws of victory. With two outs in the fifth inning and the Cubs leading by one, Javier Baez, as he is wont to do, swung and missed at an 0-2 slider in the dirt.