By Noah Kinnisten, Staff Writer
If you had told me the morning of May 24 that the Washington Nationals, when they had a record of just 19-31, were going to win the World Series, I would have thought you were absolutely insane.
Yet here we are.
The Nationals have been my favorite team in baseball since I was very young. They have always been an upper-tier team that would make it to the playoffs and then disappoint their fans by not winning any series.
Before the season even started, many were already counting out the Nats since they lost their star player, Bryce Harper. To me, Harper was always overrated and a particularly hit-or-miss player, literally and figuratively. He had good numbers on paper but got into too many big slumps and if he was up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, I would just turn the TV off because I just knew he would strike out.
Still, the Nats seemed to be missing him when they got off to an extremely rough start. After 50 games, I had no motivation to watch the rest of what felt like such a useless team going through a lost season.
I would get made fun of by my friends for wearing my Nationals shirts to school because they were such an embarrassment, but at least I still showed support.
But then, something sparked in Washington’s dugout. Whether it was Gerardo Parra changing his walk-up song to “Baby Shark” – and from there on out that being the hype song in the stadium – or something else, there was a definite change within the franchise.
The bats of Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto (my personal favorite player and one of the most exciting players in the league), Howie Kendrick, Adam Eaton, Trea Turner, Victor Robles and others all started rolling. And pitchers Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez, Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson all decided to step up their game as well.
They ended up going 74-38 for the rest of the way. Yep, that’s right: They were 93-69 at the end of the season, which got them to the Wild Card game.
It was a rocky road to the World Series, however. The Nationals only escaped the Wild Card game against the Brewers by storming back in the eighth inning, scoring three runs and winning 4-3.
Then in the five-game division series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Nats just squeaked by, winning two elimination games and taking the series 3-2.
Then, in the seven-game National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Washington absolutely blew them out of the water. They won the series 4-0 and were on an absolute tear heading into the World Series.
Matched up against the Houston Astros, the winners of the American League and the team with the most wins in the regular season – and even though we were rolling into this series, I was terrified.
These two teams were great matchups with five Cy Young Awards (the best pitcher from each league gets the Cy Young every season) between the two and also some of the great hitters in the game.
The series got to 3-3. Then we had Game 7 of the World Series. Every athlete’s dream.
The Astros took an early 2-0 lead. Zack Greinke, the pitcher for the Astros, was having the night of a lifetime only giving up one hit… until the seventh inning, when he gave up a monster home run to Anthony Rendon. Juan Soto then walked and then Howie Kendrick stepped up to the plate and hit one of the most clutch home runs ever off of the right-field foul pole.
I went absolutely berserk. I took a lap around my house when that happened and I really do not enjoy doing running.
We tacked on three more runs and closed the game at 6-2. To be honest, after that, I was nearly in tears because winning was such a good feeling that I have never felt before because all the Nationals have ever done is underperform despite high expectations.
But this year they completely exceeded everyone’s expectations to be the very best. Their run is truly a beautiful story of perseverance and never giving up because that is what this team accomplished. After this great season, that will be very difficult to ever forget.
Sophomore Noah Kinnisten can be reached at 22kinnistenno93@daretolearn.org.
