Washington Nationals Highly Regarded Among Recent World Series Championship Teams
The Washington Nationals reached the top of the baseball mountain top in 2019 when they defeated the Houston Astros in the World Series.
A classic, seven-game affair was not something anyone was predicting from the team earlier in the season. At one point, the Nationals were 12 games under .500 and there were rumors swirling that ace Max Scherzer could be traded.
From that point on, Washington turned into a juggernaut.
They finished the regular season 74-38, earning a spot in the postseason and continuing their demolition there. The Nationals had a record of 12-5 in the postseason, with a run differential of +17.
There were a lot of players who contributed to the team being the last one standing. As a result, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report has them ranked No. 9 among the last 20 World Series winners, including the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers.
“They seemed to have a never-ending supply of clutch hits, though it was notably bookended by Juan Soto in the Wild Card Game and Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick in Game 7 of the World Series.
The 2019 Nationals otherwise got a 2.99 ERA from their starters, though it was mostly The Stephen Strasburg Show. He was sensational in six appearances, going 5-0 with 47 strikeouts, four walks and a 1.98 ERA,” the MLB expert wrote.
That was essentially the former No. 1 pick’s swan song as a professional pitcher. He would sign a much-deserved seven-year, $245 million contract after his stellar 2019 performance.
Strasburg would take the mound only seven more times for Washington before injuries forced him into retirement.
While things didn’t end the way he and the franchise would have hoped, it is hard to imagine either side changing how anything went. He left it all out on the mound and was rewarded with the ultimate prize; a World Series ring.
It is something that will be remembered forever, as it was the first championship in Nationals history. Also, the path to winning was not an easy one, as they were underdogs the entire way.
“Yet even five years later, what still makes this run feel special is the sheer underdog aspect of it all. In taking down the Dodgers in the NLDS and the Astros in the World Series, the Nationals had to get through two teams that combined for 213 regular-season wins,” Rymer added.
With Patrick Corbin hitting free agency this offseason, there isn’t a player remaining from that championship team on the squad. That is, unless Juan Soto shocks the world and opts to return as a free agent this winter.
