How the Washington Nationals Got to the Top of the World (Part I)

Note: I originally had this as one article about what the Nationals' World Series win meant to me, but in order to fully capture that, I need to go in detail into the history of the Nationals. That was way too long for one article, so I'm writing this as a "part one," just focusing on the history. You can read part two here.

In 2005, the Montreal Expos up and moved to Washington with a cast of misfits led by Jose Vidro, Nick Johnson, Brian Schneider, Chad Cordero, and of course, Opening Day starter Livan Hernandez. It didn't matter that the Nationals were playing in dilapidated RFK Stadium, or that the Expos had gone 67-95 the year before, the city was just excited to have baseball again. The team actually started out hot; through the first true half of the season, they were 50-31 and held the second best record in the National League. Unfortunately, the regression hit the team with a hammer and they went 31-50 the rest of the way, finishing 81-81. That would begin a quick road to the basement of the National League that would take years to dig out of.

Even though they went 71-91, 2006 still had its storylines for the brand new team, as Ryan Zimmerman chased the NL Rookie of the Year Award and Alfonso Soriano put up a 40-40 season. However, by 2007, the new had worn off, and the most notable moment of the season was when Mike Bacsik allowed home run number 756 to Barry Bonds. This was the beginning of the "dark days," an absolutely brutal period of time where the Nationals finished with the worst record in baseball twice in a row. The Nationals finally moved out of RFK into a beautiful, brand new Nationals Park in 2008. Ryan Zimmerman, already a fan favorite at 23 years old, hit a walk-off home run to christen the new stadium on Opening Day. However, that high was short lived, as they stumbled to a 58-102 record the rest of the way. My most vivid memory from this time period was from a game against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, where the Nationals were being beaten badly, the players looked completely dejected, and the team just felt like it was at an all time low. There were some bright spots, including Ryan Zimmerman's All Star level play, Adam Dunn's booming home runs, and Nyjer Morgan's electric play, but this period set the stage for an unforgettable decade of the 2010's.

2010 was the transition year. By this time, we the fans of DC, Maryland, and Virginia were starved for something to cheer about on the diamond. On June 7th, the Nationals drafted superstar 17 year old Bryce Harper, but it would actually be June 8th that changed the team forever. 21 year old Stephen Strasburg started at Nationals Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates and struck out 14 over seven innings of two-run ball, keeping the sellout crowd on their feet all game long. This singular moment, when Strasburg walked off the field to a standing ovation after he struck out the side in the seventh, was the turning point of the franchise. The fans had absolutely nothing to cheer about since Ryan Zimmerman's walk-off home run on Opening Day in 2008, and before that, really since the first half of the 2005 season. From 6/8/2010 on, there was something to build off, and build off it the Nationals did.

The Nationals improved to 80-81 in 2011 as the team built off the momentum from Stephen Strasburg's electric debut and the first big free agent signing in team history, Jayson Werth. There was energy around the team even with Strasburg going down with Tommy John surgery. Then in 2012, everything took off. The team went 98-64, giving them the best record in baseball just three years after they were the worst, and took on the 88-74 Cardinals in the NLDS. After the Werthquake sent Nationals fans home ecstatic in Game Four, the Nationals prepared to host the most pivotal game in franchise history, the famous Game Five. I was 15 years old and in the stands with my precious standing room only ticket, and the Nationals jumped out to a 6-0 lead on home runs by Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman. The Cardinals chipped away gradually, and by the ninth inning, the Nationals were clinging to a 7-5 lead. Drew Storen actually got to two outs with a runner on third, but after a pair of walks, Daniel Descalso tied the game with a single. Then, in perhaps the most painful plate appearance in Nationals history, Pete Kozma (Pete Kozma!) finished off the job with a two run single, finishing off the Nationals for a 9-7 loss.

I was stunned. Going home, the metro packed to the brim, but dead silent. We couldn't believe it. Might it have been different if we hadn't shut down Stephen Strasburg at 180 innings? Maybe, but it was too painful to think about. Every team has playoff heartbreak, but this was a brutal right hook in our first rodeo. In 2014, I was in attendance for Game 2 against the Giants, when Jordan Zimmermann spun an absolute gem only to see Drew Storen allow the tying run in the ninth. Nine innings later, Brandon Belt's 18th inning home run made it a 2-1 Giants win. In Game 4, Aaron Barrett's two wild pitches, one on an intentional walk, ultimately allowed the Giants to win the series. The Nationals got back to the NLDS in 2016, then won Game 2 and Game 3 only to lose Game 4 and Game 5 and be eliminated by Clayton Kershaw. In 2017, they got the Cubs and battled all the way to Game 5 again, then took a 4-1 lead in the second only to see everything unravel in the fifth, with a few hits and a costly throwing error allowing the Cubs to take a 7-4 lead. They clawed back to make it 9-8 in the eighth, but ultimately dropped this heartbreaker as well. From 2012-2017, the Nationals had four chances to advance to the NLCS with a win and they led in three of them, but they couldn't punch the ticket. A disappointing 2018 then set the stage for storybook 2019.

19-31
You've heard it millions of times now. It was May, Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner had missed time, Max Scherzer and Juan Soto were underperforming, the bullpen was completely and utterly useless, Trevor Rosenthal could not throw a strike to save his life, and Bryce Harper was a Phillie. The team was deflated, lacked energy, and couldn't catch a break. Except, the wheels were turning. Gerardo Parra had been a National for two weeks, and he started coming up with ideas. Baby Shark became his walk-up song and the team began dancing after every home run, and suddenly, there was energy. Scherzer reached another level and was untouchable for months, including striking out ten Phillies over seven shutout innings just hours after he broke his nose in batting practice. Soto started hitting. Rendon and Turner got healthy. Strasburg kept pitching at an elite level. And most importantly, the team started having fun. They literally were enjoying themselves, and it translated directly to wins. They embraced Davey Martinez's mantra of "stay in the fight" and focused on going "1-0" every day.

Perhaps no single game was more memorable than September 3rd against the Mets, when a five run ninth inning put the Nationals down 10-4 with three outs to go. Four singles and two doubles made it 10-8, and Kurt Suzuki stepped up to the plate with the chance to win it. Working an eight pitch at bat against fireballing Edwin Diaz, in which the slowest pitch was a 91.0 mile per hour slider in the dirt, Suzuki lifted a 99.9 MPH fastball into the left field seats to give the Nationals an 11-10 win. From there on, the Washington faithful knew it was real. The Nats stumbled a bit in early September but ultimately won their final eight regular season games to host the Wild Card Game, and the stage was set for a postseason run as wild as it gets.

With four excruciating NLDS losses behind them, the Nationals and us as fans went into the Wild Card game with mixed expectations. When we went down 3-0 in the second inning, it looked like more of the same, but there was still some hope as fans jokingly and nervously exclaimed "there's nothing safer than an early lead at a Nationals Park playoff game." A Trea Turner home run made it 3-1 in the third, but the real story was the bottom of the eighth inning. The Nationals loaded the bases against Brewers star closer Josh Hader, and Juan Soto – who wasn't even born yet when the Nationals were 19-31 in May – ripped a 1-1 fastball into right field to score at least one and set up a play at the plate to potentially tie the game. But then, for what feels like the first time in Nationals postseason history, they caught a break, as the ball took a left turn when it hit the ground and skipped by rookie right fielder Trent Grisham, scoring two more to give the Nats the lead and sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy. As Ken Rosenthal remarked on Twitter after the game, "That wasn't a win. That was an exorcism." And he was right.

The Nationals moved on to Los Angeles to take on the heavily, heavily favored Dodgers, and the first three games went about as expected as the team found itself down two games to one. At this point, though, we were beginning to learn that the Nationals played their best baseball with their backs against the wall. Despite allowing a first inning home run to Justin Turner, the Nationals took Game 4 and set up a critical Game 5 and a chance to win their first ever playoff series on their fifth try. Washington went down 3-0 early and it stayed that way until a Juan Soto RBI single made it 3-1 in the sixth, and in the eighth inning against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, the next chapter in the book was written. Anthony Rendon took Kershaw deep to center field, and on the very next pitch, Soto tied the game with a bomb into the left field seats. In the top of the tenth, Howie Kendrick finished the job with a grand slam to give the Nationals a 7-3 win and their first every series victory. Within a week, the Nationals had swept the Cardinals by a combined score of 20-6, and it was on to the World Series to take on arguably the best team in recent memory, the 107 win Houston Astros.

If the Dodgers were heavily favored in the NLDS, then the Astros were enormous favorites for the World Series. But then the Nationals combined for nine runs against the top two finishers in the AL Cy Young race, Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander, then added eight more against the Astros bullpen to stun them at home with a quick jab and hook. The Nats returned to DC with all the momentum in the world and as excited of a fanbase as you'll ever see, and all that followed was a combined 19-3 drubbing that was as uncompetitive as the score indicated. Now, the Nationals were tasked with heading back to Houston needing to win two in a row against Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke. Their backs were against the wall, but as we all know, this was absolutely nothing new to the team that always played its peak baseball when they were counted out. A wild Game 6 was much more exciting than the 7-2 final score would indicate, with Davey Martinez being ejected for arguing an extremely controversial and potentially series-changing interference call. In Game 7, Zack Greinke had the Nats' number through the first six innings with a 2-0 lead, but three batters told the story that day; Anthony Rendon homered in the seventh to make it 2-1, Juan Soto walked, and Howie Kendrick flipped a perfectly located, down and away cutter from Will Harris off the right field foul pole for a two run, go-ahead home run. The Nationals never looked back, and a couple innings later, they were World Champions.

Part II