Yeah, pretty much this. Though I can't decide if I'd rather have them lose every single game from here out or build up a solid lead on the wild card only to blow it in the last week of the season. Both would be delicious.
No, I am saying that losing 40 percent of your division lead in four games is meaningful. To give a good idea on what it would mean if we got swept by the Cards... Right now, we have an 11.5 game lead on the cards and Fangraphs has our playoff odds at 100.0% and our division odds at 99.5%. Washington has a 7 game lead on Miami (and 9 on the mets) and their playoff odds are at 99.7% and their division odds are at 97.1%. It wouldn't feel good to get swept. But it wouldn't change our postseason odds very much at all.
SP O. De La Cruz 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 HBP, 1-2 GO-FO, 69-45 pitches-strikes So, less than 14 pitches per inning, but almost 2K per inning. That's actually pretty efficient.