2019 WORLD SERIES

The Nationals won the National League wild card then defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card Game. However, their next opponent was the Los Angeles Dodgers, winner of the previous two National League pennants. The teams went the distance, but after the dust settled, the only 100-win team in the NL lost the Division Series. Riding some serious momentum, the Nationals swept the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series, securing their first pennant in franchise history!

The Astros entered the playoffs with a Major League leading 107 wins, easily winning the American League West Division. They played the Tampa Bay Rays, who won the American League Wild Card Game, in the American League Division Series, and defeated them in five games. In the American League Championship Series, the Astros defeated the Yankees, winners of 103 games during the regular season, after a hard fought six game series.

Game 1 matched-up a pitcher who hadn't lost a game since May 22, 2019, and entered with a league leading 2.50 ERA versus another who was a virtual lock for the Hall of Fame - Gerrit Cole versus Max Scherzer. A moment of silence for the late 21-year Major League Umpire Eric Cooper was observed prior to the first pitch being thrown and the umpire crew, throughout the 2019 World series, wore a uniform patch in Cooper’s memory.

The dueling aces weren't perfect, but both of them were also pitching to the "other" best team in baseball. Houston got to Scherzer early, putting up two runs in the first, but Washington countered, scoring a run in the third, tying it in the fifth, then taking a lead they would not lose in the fifth, scoring three more runs against Cole. Houston made it interesting, scoring a run versus the bullpen in the seventh and eighth frame, but Sean Doolittle sealed the save earning the Nationals their first World Series win in franchise history.

Game 2, more dueling aces, but more of the same shocking results! Houston sent up their future hall of famer, Justin Verlander, and Washington sent up Stephen Strasburg in what should have been yet another pitcher's duel. Both aces, however, surrendered two in the first frame, but were then able to settle in - for a while. The Nats erupted in the seventh, scoring six runs, forcing the Astros to reach back into the bullpen, but the runs kept coming, in that same frame, then three more in the eighth, then another in the ninth.

With their backs up against the wall, Houston traveled to Washington down 0-2, to play in the first World Series game held in the Nation's capital since 1933. Josh Reddick drove in Carlos Correa in the second inning, scoring the first run of the game, and the Astros never trailed -- putting up aces in the third, fifth, and sixth, the latter coming off the only homer of the game, by Robinson Chirinos.

The momentum gained a day earlier continued during Game 4, as the Astros lept forward in the first inning, 2-0, on four consecutive singles, added another Chirinos homer in the fourth, followed by a Alex Bregman grand slam in the seventh, leaving the Nationals stunned, two days in a row.

The Nationals had Max Scherzer on the mound for Game 5, so things were going to change, until he was scratched from the lineup three hours before game started, due to neck spasms. President Donald Trump was in attendance and he saw a carbon copy of the previous two games, regular scoring by the potent Astros lineup, and an anemic single run being scored by the Nationals, who lost every game played in Nationals Park!

With the momentum fully in Houston's favor, there would be no way the home team was going to lose yet again, that was thought entering Game 6, especially with Verlander back on the bump. The Nats matched their ace with Stephen Strasburg, who simply outpitched his competition, surrendering two runs in the first, but settling in for a near complete game, surrendering no more runs after the first, and allowing only three more hits. Teammates Adam Eaton, Juan Soto, and Anthony Rendon ensure he had the run support he needed, each supplying a homer in the latter innings.

Yet another truly historic Game 7. There is no way David could defeat Goliath. There is no way the visiting team could win every single game. There is no way those pesky Nats could rally late in the game, after being down 0-2, with Houston just nine outs away from another ring; however, Rendon and Kendrick did not get the memo, and both went deep in the seventh, the latter with a runner on, giving them a 1-run lead, which was enough. Patrick Corbin had relieved Scherzer in the sixth, surrendered only two hits, no runs, and the bullpen prevented any runs from being scored.

Vegas said it wasn't going to happen, but they were wrong, David defeated Goliath, winning all four games in Minute Maid Park, and securing their first World Series championship in franchise history. Research by Baseball Almanac.