November 6, 2019

Last week, on Oct. 30, 2019, the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series four games to three. It was the first MLB title in the history of the Nationals, a team that originated in 1969 as the Montreal Expos. The franchise moved from Montreal to Washington, D.C., following the 2004 season. Washington entered the playoffs as a National League (NL) Wild Card team, having finished second in the NL East at 93-69. For the American League (AL) champion Astros, the World Series defeat was something of a surprise. The team was a heavy favorite to win it all after leading MLB with 107 regular season wins.

The Washington Nationals celebrate winning the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, on Oct. 30, 2019. The Nats beat the Astros 6-2 in game seven to win the series four games to three. Credit: © Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

The Nats’ game seven win at Houston’s Minute Maid Park capped a World Series in which the visiting team won every game—a first in MLB history. The Nats won games one and two in Houston, dropped games three through five at home in D.C., and then rebounded in Houston to win games six and seven. Typically, teams playing at home have a slight advantage. For Washington, D.C., it is the city’s first baseball title since the Washington Senators, an AL team, won the World Series in 1924. That Senators’ team became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. A second Senators team floundered in D.C. until becoming the Texas Rangers in 1972. D.C. then went without an MLB team until the Nats arrived in 2005.

The Nats got off to a strong start in the 2019 World Series, defeating the two favorites for the AL Cy Young Award (given to the best pitcher in the league)—Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander—in games one (5-4) and two (12-3). Of course, the Washington starters were pretty good, too: veteran ace Max Scherzer won game one and 18-game winner Stephen Strasburg notched the “W” in game two.

The Astros had their work cut out for them as the series moved to D.C., and the team went to work in style. MLB’s best regular season ball club dominated the Nats on their home field, easily winning games three (4-1), four (8-1), and five (7-1). Momentum seemed to have fully swung in Houston’s direction as the series returned to Texas, but the orange-clad fans at Minute Maid Park were disappointed as the Nats and Strasburg beat Verlander a second time (7-2) in game six.

In the winner-take-all game seven, Astros starter Zack Greinke cruised early, giving up just one hit through six innings. For the Nats, a gassed and ailing Max Scherzer did not have his best stuff. He allowed numerous Astros to reach base, but Houston scraped across just two runs against him in five innings. Nationals lefty Patrick Corbin then took over, crisply throwing three scoreless innings to hold Houston at bay.

The Nats finally got to Greinke in the seventh inning as third baseman Anthony Rendon ripped a home run to left. After a walk to the young Nats slugger Juan Soto, Astros manager A. J. Hinch replaced Greinke with reliever Will Harris. Nats designated hitter Howie Kendrick touched Harris for a two-run homer, giving Washington a 3-2 lead. The Nats then added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth to make it a 6-2 game. Washington manager Dave Martinez brought in closer Daniel Hudson for the bottom of the ninth, and Hudson recorded the final three outs on just 12 pitches. Nats pitcher Stephen Strasburg was named World Series Most Valuable Player, but the award could have gone to a number of other Nats players who played brilliantly in the series.