Written by: Ben Fabello
Edited by: Jovan Popovic
The 2019 Major League Baseball season ended on November 30th after the Washington Nationals were crowned as the world champions after a thrilling 7 game series against the Houston Astros. This was big news around the baseball world, as the Nationals were heavy underdogs, going up against one of the league’s powerhouse teams in the Houston Astros; the 2017 champions. Although there were some hitches along the way, the Nationals managed to pull together a historic postseason run filled with iconic moments, and outstanding resilience. Through all the fire and smoke, there were many players on the Nationals that came up big throughout the series, but in totality there were some that played just too well to ignore.
Stephen Strasburg (Starting Pitcher)
With perhaps one of the most dominant pitching stretches in recent history, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg was hard to miss during the Nats historic run. Strasburg posted a 5-0 record in all his starts, with an incredible 1.98 ERA per MLB.com. In most of the games he started, he held the opposition between 1-3 runs, allowing the National’s offence a chance to always stay in the game. Perhaps the most important thing about Strasburg’s run in the 2019 postseason was just how consistent he was. One could imagine that the Nats were running onto the field with high confidence levels knowing Strasburg was on the mound. When it was all said and done, Strasburg was awarded with the World Series MVP award for his outstanding performance.
Max Scherzer (Starting Pitcher)
Every team needs a veteran on their squad to keep morals high, and for the Washington Nationals this man was the crazed right-hander Max Scherzer. Scherzer; also known as Mad Max, is most often noted for the intensity in which he plays at, as well as having two different coloured eyes. In any case, Scherzer also had a postseason to remember posting a 3-0 record with a 2.40 ERA, per MLB.com. The one thing that the Nats could always count on when he was on the mound was a drive to win. Even when Scherzer gave up some early runs in his starts, he was completely locked in, making professional hitters look like they were just plain silly. Mad Max capped off his postseason run starting game 7 of the World Series, in which the Nats went on to win it all.
Howie Kendrick
Although he’s not a household name for Nationals fans like the two above, the postseason would have been substantially different without Howie Kendrick. While Kendrick was flying under the radar for most of the Wild Card and the division series, the world would soon know his name. Towards the back half of the NLDS vs the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kendrick started to rack up hits in almost every one of his at at bats. His big moment came during game 5 of the NLDS (5 game series), where he hit a massive go-ahead grand slam in the top of the 10th. The clutch hit propelled the Nationals past the Dodgers, and on to the NLCS vs the St. Louis Cardinals. During this series, Kendrick once again dipped under the radar, getting the odd hit here and there. Once the Nats pushed past the Cardinals in the NLCS, they went to the World Series vs Houston, and in game 7 Kendrick once again proved that he was a force to be reckoned with. In the top of the 7th of game 7 with the Nats down 2-1, Kendrick hit a go-ahead 2-run homerun, which along with other run support allowed the Nationals to be crowned the champions of the world. When it was all said and done, the Nationals likely would not have won the World Series without the man named Howie Kendrick.
In the end, these three players shined the brightest throughout the postseason in the Nationals first trip to the World Series ever, a feat that wasn’t even achieved back when they were known as the Montreal Expos. Although Strasburg, Scherzer and Kendrick were the largest contributors, there were other individual performances that deserve honourable mentions. In game 1 of the NLCS vs the St. Louis Cardinals, Anibal Sanchez (starting pitcher) took a no-hitter into the 8th inning before finally giving up a hit, never-the-less to one of the best offensive teams in the league. Another player worth noting is the Nats longest standing veteran, Ryan Zimmerman. He recorded the franchise’s first ever World Series homerun in a very fitting manner, considering he was the team’s first ever draft pick back in 2005 (first pick after the move to Washington). All in all, it was a picture-perfect postseason as several Nationals came together and played a substantial role in the historic win. Looking towards the future, one can only hope that there is another World Series as competitive and excitement filled as 2019, as it was truly one for the history books.
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