October 31, 2019
The Washington Nationals were only the sixth wild-card team
to win the World Series. It doesn’t get better than a seven game series packed
with drama and heroics. The Astros had the home field advantage although that
didn’t matter because for the first time in history neither team won a home
game.
The Nationals being champs shouldn’t be a big surprise. After
starting out 19-31, the Nationals were one of the hottest teams in baseball
going 74-38 the rest of the way. They were playing extremely well heading into
the playoffs. How they got through to the World Series is worth taking a look
at.
In the wild-card game against the Milwaukee Brewers they were
trailing 3-1 heading to the eighth inning. The Brewers brought in their premier closer Josh Hader. Hader was having trouble and loaded the bases. In what would be the first of many 2 out runs,
Juan Soto singles home two runs. When the Brewers right fielder overruns the
ball, the Nationals get the go-ahead run and win 4-3.,
The Dodgers were the overwhelming favorites to represent the
National League in the World Series. Both teams have great starting pitching. The
Nationals staved off elimination in game 4 behind Max Scherzer. In the decisive
game five, the Nationals were down 3-1 in the eighth. Back to back home runs
from Anthony Rendon and Soto tied the game. The Nationals won the game on Howie
Kendrick’s grand slam in the 10th inning.
The Astros Gerrit Cole hadn’t lost a game since May. Things
were looking bright when Astros scored two runs in the first inning. Scherzer
would grind through five scoreless innings while the Nationals went to work on Cole.
He gave a solo homer to Ryan Zimmerman and
Soto took over. He would hit tying home run and a three run double. The Astros
would score two runs but would fall short, losing 5-4 in the opener.
In game two, the Astros Justin Verlander gave up two runs in
the first inning. The Astros responded with a 2-run homer from Alex Bregman. Stephen Strasburg
would go on to pitch 5 more innings of no-run ball. Things turned bad for
Verlander in the seventh inning. Kurt Suzuki
led off with a homer giving the Nationals a 3-2 lead. Verlander walked the next
batter and was taken out. The floodgates opened with key hits and sloppy defense.
Nationals win 12-3. Verlander would later lose game 6, making him 0-6 in World
Series starts.
The Astros went to D.C. for the next three games. In game
three, Zack Greinke pitches into the fifth inning allowing one run in an Astros
4-1 victory. With all the all-star pitchers, Astros game four starter, rookie Jose
Urquidy. was the best pitcher in the series up to this point. With only seven previous starts, he pitched
five scoreless innings. Bregman had a grand slam as the Astros won 8-1. In game
five, Gerrit Cole pitches like his old self, keeping the National hitters at bay
in a 7-1 Astros victory. They go back to Houston with the Astros up 3 games to 2.
In game six, Strasburg dominates going 8.2 innings allowing
only 2 runs. Series standouts Soto and Rendon homer as the Nationals win 7-2
forcing a game seven. In game seven the pitching matchup is Scherzer for the
Nationals and Greinke for the Astros. In one of his best performance of the
year, Greinke takes a one-hitter into the seventh inning. Meanwhile, the Astros
have only two runs leaving multiple runners on base. Once again the Nationals
come back from a 2 run deficit. Rendon continued his hot hitting and led off
the 7th with a homer. When Greinke walks Soto he is lifted from the
game. The next batter Howie Kendrick, hits one off the right foul pole for a
3-2 Nationals lead. Scherzer is relieved in the 6th by Patrick Corbin
who got pounded in game 3. He was near perfect in 3 innings. Due to timely
hitting by Adam Eaton and Soto the Nationals extended their lead to 6-2. That
is the way it ended.
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