The Washington Nationals’ Unlikely Pathway to World Series Victory
Residing in La Verne, California, Timothy Kovacs serves as Baldwin Park Unified School District's assistant director of early childhood education. Among Timothy Kovacs’ longstanding interests is baseball.
The pathway to the championship was anything but straightforward, with the last such season in Washington occurring 95 years, and three teams, ago. With the Montreal Expos moving to DC in 2005 and being rebranded as the Nationals, the team had struggled for years to gain traction. Until the 2019 season, the Nationals had a total of only four first-round postseason exits to their credit.
The Nationals appeared ready to repeat this pattern on several occasions in 2019 as they faced five elimination games throughout the postseason. Despite losing three home games against the Astros leading up to the decisive Game Seven, they found a way to prevail.
As they entered the seventh inning scoreless, the victory was a far from a foregone conclusion, as the Nationals had garnered only one hit against starter Zack Greinke and the Astros, who led 2-0. Anthony Rendon sparked a rally was through a one-out home, followed by a walk that took pitcher Greinke out of the game. What followed was a home run off the right-field foul pole that placed the Nationals in the lead for good and secured their place in World Series history.
The pathway to the championship was anything but straightforward, with the last such season in Washington occurring 95 years, and three teams, ago. With the Montreal Expos moving to DC in 2005 and being rebranded as the Nationals, the team had struggled for years to gain traction. Until the 2019 season, the Nationals had a total of only four first-round postseason exits to their credit.
The Nationals appeared ready to repeat this pattern on several occasions in 2019 as they faced five elimination games throughout the postseason. Despite losing three home games against the Astros leading up to the decisive Game Seven, they found a way to prevail.
As they entered the seventh inning scoreless, the victory was a far from a foregone conclusion, as the Nationals had garnered only one hit against starter Zack Greinke and the Astros, who led 2-0. Anthony Rendon sparked a rally was through a one-out home, followed by a walk that took pitcher Greinke out of the game. What followed was a home run off the right-field foul pole that placed the Nationals in the lead for good and secured their place in World Series history.
