For the first time in 95 years, a Major League Baseball team based in Washington won the World Series. With their win in Game 7 of the World Series, the Nationals have achieved their first franchise championship in their 51 seasons of existence. After a 4 game sweep in the National League Championship Series, the odds for the Nationals weren’t in their favor, but the Nationals were able to persevere and take Houston to a full World Series.

Games 1 & 2 were in Houston, and the Nationals won easily with Left Fielder Juan Soto and 1st Baseman Ryan Zimmerman both hitting home runs in the 1st game leading to five runs. The Astros did manage to make it a close game with four runs leading to one run margin of victory. Their next night at Minute Maid Park wouldn’t be so close. With the now MVP Stephen Strasburg being the starting pitcher, the Nationals had an easy defense with Strasburg only allowing two runs and giving seven strikeouts in five innings pitched. On the batting lineup, the following batters scored two runs in their batting order: Trea Turner, Adam Eaton, Juan Soto, Victor Robles. In total, the Nationals were able to score 12 runs in the second game of the series to the Astros two. But after the height of a 10 run margin win, the return to Washington wasn’t sunny for the Nats.

Games 3, 4, & 5 were played at Nats park with Anibal Sanchez, Patrick Corbin, and Joe Ross being the starting pitchers for those games respectively. With not stellar pitching, the cracks in the Nationals defense started to show and was easily exploited by the Astros manager A.J. Hinch in the setting up of his batting orders. The excellence of the Astros management along with the great pitching by starting pitchers Zack Greinke, Jose Urquidi, and Gerrit Cole for a total of two runs allowed between them over those three games. With the series now flipped on its head from when it left Houston, it was coming back to Houston for Game 6 with potential yet likely Houston Astros Home World Series win and championship.

Once back in Houston, Stephen Strasburg was the starting pitcher, leading to a repeat of the Game 2 victory four days prior. Strasburg pitched for a full eight innings before being pulled in the ninth inning. He allowed two runs in his eight and a half innings pitched. On the Astros pitching roster, only Ryan Pressly who pitched only for the full eighth inning, didn’t allow any runs compared to the full eight innings allowing seven runs. The real star of the show for Game 6 wasn’t Stephen Strasburg but the Manager for the Nationals, Dave Martinez, who when Trea Turner was called out for runner interference, and the call went to the instant replay center in New York City. Once the news came back as the ground call staying, Martinez waited for the top of the sixth inning to end, to protest the call which he couldn’t due to the instant replay rules for the MLB being that you can not protest an instant replay decision. He was then ejected while being held back by his assistant managers who were trying to stop him from hitting the umpire. He was back for Game 7.

During the World Series Finale and the last game of the 2019 season Max Scherzer was the starting pitcher for the Nationals with Zack Greinke being the starting pitcher for the Astros. Both starting pitchers had great runs with only two runs allowed each, but the Astros management made a fatal mistake pulling Greinke in the seventh inning replacing him with Will Harris who immediately allowed two hits and a run. The only pitcher after the pulling of Greinke who didn’t allow any runs was Ryan Pressly who only pitched a portion of the eighth inning. Once this fatal mistake occurred by the Astros, Washington winning the series was all but assured, with four runs earned by the Nationals since the seventh inning. After the game Stephen Strasburg was given the award for Most Valuable Player to an almost empty Houston stadium.

With the win, it is the first Washington major league championship in 3 weeks with the Mystics winning the WNBA Championship series on the 10th of October. Washington’s success in sports has been revitalized over the past few years with the championships in the NHL, WNBA, and now the MLB. For those interested the Championship Parade will be on Saturday at 2 pm starting on Constitution Avenue at 15th Street and ending on Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 3rd Street.