Nationals Complete Comeback, Win World Series

NATIONALS 6 - ASTROS 2
WSH Wins World Series 4-3 

It was a journey that will go down in the annals of baseball history as one of the greatest stories ever to take place on the diamond. The Washington Nationals, a team left for dead so many times throughout this 2019 season, found a way - once again - to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as they slammed the door on the Houston Astros in a stunning Game 7 of the World Series in Houston.

That's right folks, the Montreal Expos are World Champions. Or at least the former Montreal Expos anyway.

The Nationals won the World Series Wednesday night, much the same way they climbed out of a 19-31 hole in May to get the top Wild Card in the National League, with grit, determination and resilience.

Nobody said the road to a world title would be easy, and the Nationals took every circuitous route possible.

At one point this postseason they found themselves down 3-1 to the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild card game, before Juan Soto's three-run single in the eighth inning put Washington in front for good 4-3.

Then in the ALDS against the 106-game winning- LA Dodgers, the Nats found themselves down two games to one, having blown a lead in Game 3, only to win Game 4 by the score 6-1, and stormed back to knock out the Dodgers in Game 5, 7-3 in LA. We should have known then.

After blowing away the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the NLCS while the Astros tousled in a back-and-fourth six-game series against the Yankees, it was easy to just dismiss the Nationals again. Why not? They had a layoff of seven days between series. Typically the team with that much rest before a World Series is doomed -- just ask the 2015 New York Mets.

But not these guys. Never in the history of the World Series that stretches 115 years has a road team won four World Series games. In fact never in the history of the World Series have every single game of the series been won by the team in the visiting dugout. That's how wild and crazy this series was, with highs and lows that drove both Nationals and Astros fanbases batty.

For a while in Game 7 it looked like the Astros were on their way to breaking that streak of road victories. They held a 2-0 lead on Washington, Max Scherzer was out after struggling with his control over five innings of work, while Zach Greinke was having the game of his life.

Heading into the seventh inning, Greinke had allowed only one hit. When Greinke got Adam Eaton to ground out to start the seventh inning, the Astros had an 88 percent chance of winning the World Series.

It was over, right?

Nope.

As much credit as Astros manager A.J. Hinch gets for pressing all the right buttons, seemingly all the time for Houston, he dropped the ball in Game 7.

After Greinke gave up the solo homer to Anthony Rendon and walked Soto, Hinch took him out after 80 pitches for reliever Will Harris. Harris had pitched in four of the seven games of this series, the Nationals had a pretty good read of him at this point.

On top of that Hinch had Gerrit Cole waiting in the wings and didn't put him in when should have. Hinch had the chance to shut the door and blew it. So much for analytics.

On the second pitch that Harris delivered to Howie Kendrick, the veteran slapped the ball to deep right field and watched it ricochet off the foul pole screen for a two-run homer. The Nationals entire dugout erupted as, suddenly, the Nationals were out in front 3-2.

While Houston was stunned silent, the Nationals kept pounding. Dave Martinez was the one pressing all the right buttons, going with his Game 4 starter Patrick Corbin for three innings in relief as he held  Houston to just two hits on 42 pitches. It was brilliant.

Meanwhile the Nationals put the game away in the last stages. A Juan Soto RBI single to right drove in Adam Eaton on a hit and run in the top of the eighth to make it 4-2. Then in the ninth, Eaton broke it open himself with a two-run single to center to make it 6-2.

The bottom of the ninth was no contest as Daniel Hudson mowed down George Springer, Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley in succession before throwing his glove toward the third base dugout and pumped his fists into the air.

After facing tall odds all season, the Nationals had done it, they captured their first ever World Series title.

As unlikely as it may seem to see a story like this repeated ever again, the Nationals of 2019 serve as a blueprint that other teams, who aren't fortunate enough to win 100-plus games during the regular season that anything can be possible. You could be 12-games under .500 in May and still, if the team comes together, win the World Series.