On Wednesday, October 30th, the Washington Nationals made history when they won their franchise’s first World Series Pennant after beating the Houston Astros 6-2. The Nationals, previously known as the Expos, played in Montreal from 1969-2004 and moved to Washington D.C. in 2005, but had never won the World Series in their 35 years of existence.

Stephen Strausburg, a pitcher for the victorious Nationals, won the World Series MVP award after 14.3 combined innings pitched, four total runs, and a fourteen strikeout to three walk ratio posting a 2.51 earned run average. It was Max Scherzer, however, that led the Nationals to a Game 7 victory.

Scherzer was up against another Major League ace in Zack Greinke. The National’s starter reported having neck spasms on Sunday the 27th, three days before he was expected to pitch if the Fall Classic lasted for seven games. He ended up only allowing two runs to be scored in 5.0 innings pitched.

Greinke pitched 6.1 innings and gave up two runs on two hits. It was the Astros bullpen that allowed four runs to be scored throughout the remainder of the game, resulting in a loss for Houston. Greinke also lacked run support from his own team as they stranded ten runners on the bases, with multiple opportunities to score.

Many questioned the National’s ability to be contenders against the Astros due to their lack of postseason experience. Houston had a league-leading 107 wins during the regular season while Washington was 19-31 as of May 23rd. This was the worst record for any World Series champion after their first fifty games.

Most believed the Nationals losses were a result of losing the team’s star from 2012, Bryce Harper. Harper signed with the Philidelphia Phillies in March due to his free agency status, signing the world’s third-largest sports contract totaling $330,000,000. The Phillies also signed and re-signed stars like Andrew McCutchen and Jake Arrieta, leading many to believe they would be a strong playoff contender.

With four of the seven games set to be played in Houston, many had a feeling the 2017 World Series champs would be bringing a second Commissioner’s Trophy back to the city. The Nationals were able to fight the odds and lead many to buy into a concept of “home disadvantage,” as they won the first two games in Houston and the Astros won the first two games in Washington.

Houston was leading 2-0 into the 7th inning at home in the final game of the series. Manager AJ Hinch said, “It’s impossible to call a season in which you reach Game 7 of the World Series and have the lead going into the seventh inning as not good. It feels really bad. This is going to sting for a really long time, and it should.”

Washington was able to bring their first trophy to the nation’s capital, which is a cause for celebration. Not only were experts, commentators, and fans against them, but their own team early on in the season as well. After months of hard work and dedication, they were able to break records. Congratulations to the 2019 World Champion Washington Nationals on earning their first World Series win in franchise history.