...finally won a final elimination postseason game. what a beautiful masterpiece, in a game that seemed like it would be so typically Nats.

the HBP instant replay that had always went against Washington in October. the broken bat flyball that drops, from all people, the former franchise player. and then *the hit*, misplayed for once by the other team.

oh, and Strasburg made it all possible. hope Bryce enjoyed from his couch.

Now off the win against a 106 win team without home field advantage and the Nationals 1-2 pitchers cashed for some or all of the first two games...

I get wanting Strasburg for a series to start and close out, but I don't trust Max in a must win spot, seeing how he peed the bed last time in the playoffs. An error by a rookie got him off the hook.

Bring on LA

Davey Martinez doing what he wants out there (intentionally walking the tying run), but hey...win 2 out of 3 now

like, kind of impossible

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I mean, why not?

it may end up in the same spot, but this postseason has been much more memorable (in a good way)

Dave Martinez manages for his job after the first quarter of his second season, scraps for the wild card, just to end up where the team was always fated to be: The 5th Game of the NLDS.

Stras on full rest gives me hope though. I don't think it comes down to him though

Wild Card game in particular, and specifically the Soto hit, was the loudest I've ever heard a DC stadium/arena ever

I just want this day to end. Not this work day, I mean this DAY, so I can at least know if we win this thing or not.

I'm beside myself right now. Need the same god-level Stras we've had lately. Ideally, like 7 innings worth of that Stras so we don't need to see anyone else but maybe Corbin (Sanchez? Doo?) for an inning and Hudson.

My god, I woke up the whole house with the grand slam

happy for the Nats

It's our turn.
LFG.

They're going to the WS. They've been able to stay out of their bullpen for the most part. They have one of the best 1 - 6 in MLB and those dudes have been proving it.


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https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CheapTallIvorygull-size_restricted.gif

at least they're a very likable team. Max is the hometown homey and I've always been a really big fan of Stras. What an absolute throttling. Cards have given up. I called Cards/Yankees World Series...WRONG, WRONG! (c)Charlie Murphy

Are the cards throwing this game?

And Martinez is very apathetic as a outfielder and as a hitter. A must win
Game and dude shows no hustle.

Error after error. Strikeout after strikeout.

Fowler can't hit a beach ball right now, and Corbin walks him with two on...

There is nothing like baseball.

Each aspect requires a high skill, from Catching to throwing to pitching to hitting, just so
many Nuances and intricacies.

In football and basketball you can get away with athleticism with lack of technique and skill. See it all the time. Can’t do that shit in baseball. You got to really start from the ground up and master each aspect to even be an average player.

You bring ion carpenter to pinch hit with the bases loaded?

Dude hasn’t done anything all season long!

Fockers! Messed up my fantasy

But Bryce somewhere crying in his blanket!

World Series appearance.

______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

avenge the Expos

The offensively shot their load in the 1st inning and managed to hold on to the lead. WS is going to be tougher than anything, but you can't bet against the starting pitching.

Shark claps all around. Sorry Bryce

>Sorry Bryce

He can enjoy his extra 10% on top of an amount of money he'll never be able spend anyway.

Hope it's worth it for him.

i had tix to Gm5 of the NLCS, they weren't necessary but gave me access to buy presale WS tix today. that turned out to be an exercise in futility.

no Gm3 tix were available; Gm4 tix sold out before i could even get them, like literally in minutes; same thing with Gm5 tix. i was on the National/MLB presale site for damn near an hour this morning and couldn't even sniff tix.

hopefully somebody fared better than i did...

anybody?

yes, yes he did

He's one of the reasons the Nats weren't afraid to let Harper walk.

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Nationals really know how to sit on pitchers. They take what you give them and then open you up. They can hit or pull the ball. Something that the Yankees have a hard time doing . They can hit HR and pull the ball, but are always looking to do that.

Also Cole , even though he is basically unhittable, doesn’t pitch effectively after giving up runs or if you are able to touch him. Sale is the same way . You get some runs on him, it affects their pitching.

One thing that made Mark Burhle such a workhorse was that he could give up 3 runs, but still go the distance and prevent any further runs. He didn’t continue to leak runs. Verlander is similar. He can give up some runs , but then settle down and control the rest of the game

I think Verlander will get Astros back in it. But if they lose tonight. It’s over.

(and I think we're going to)

Shit. What the hell happens now?

Keep up the good work.

Is this the greatest hitting performance by a team in the postseason?

They know how sit and hit on all pitchers .. shit is crazy.

Verlander settled down after the first and got Into a groove, but
Nationals sat and sat, then the 7th came and then pow!

Both teams scored in the 1st...And after that both pitchers settled.
But the stros bats went dead.

However, Greinke has been solid and he knows the nationals. If the stros get that
Game they have a chance.

They gotta do it for the city.

And I personally don't think a sweep is out of the question. (though unlikely).
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

Thank god they slept i their own bed.

The Nats did better than anyone expected and took both on the road against the best pitchers in the league. I want to say Nats in 5 (no chance Astros go down in a sweep) but not sure who pitches Saturday and worried the bats could go quiet.

Still, they have pitched and batted one hell of a series so far. If they beat the Dodgers, why not beat the Astros? If Sanchez has a good night and gets the win Friday, you could see any and all hands on deck Saturday if the Nats go up. If not, Max (likely) or Stras (short rest, but I like him over Max) Sunday? Who knows. However it shakes out, it should be a wild weekend in DC

If the Astros are pressing and starting Cole on short rest, make Scherzer available for 1 if they are carrying 1-2 run lead. Otherwise, just play the game and come back with the horses in 5 and 6. Astros don't have a 4th starter in the playoffs. If this goes deep, they're going to be throwing the kitchen sink by the end of Game 6.

Davey has done a really good job pushing the right buttons with the pen and managing match-ups/rest.Bunts, IBBs, and other stuff aside.

fucking

go

average starts by Sanchez and Corbin, meaning Houston got to the actual bad parts of Washington's pen -- not the starters pitching in relief. with a lack of clutch hitting on the Nats' side.

Washington has their aces up, but so does Houston now. game 5 is humongous; can't let Houston get a sweep in DC and just need to split at home.

Last night, while I wasn't sleeping after that game, I went back and looked at it. Based on Fangraphs ZiPS and WE%:

-They had a 13% chance of beating the Brewers in the bottom of the 8th with 2 outs

-Then they had a 26.3% of winning the series against the Dodgers after losing Game 3 of the NLDS. Then during Game 5, the Nationals had a win expectancy of 11% in the middle of the 7th.

-So now, down 3-2, they sit with a 21.2% after losing Game 5 to the Astros. I think for ZiPS projections they were penciling in Scherzer as the Game 7 starter, so it's probably much less than that.

It's been a pretty wild run to get down in the 10% range twice in an elimination game and advance from that. This was after their playoff odds dropped to 22.2% at their low point during the season. Not sure how much gas is left in the tank at this point though but it's been damn memorable.

I'm still keeping hope alive, but you can't do that in the World Series, man. You just can't.
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

is a copyright owned by the Caps longer than Disney & Mickey Mouse.

The Nats are gonna owe serious royalties.

Fine time for the bat sto go cold, but if Stephen can keep the score down and work 7 innings (that's going to be a tough call) he'll be a legend, win or lose.

I don’t doubt he’s up for this. He’s evolved in such a huge way in the last two years.

My concern is whether he can Lee the pitch count low. He needs two quick innings. The Astros are monsters at dragging out ABs. Stras needs to get in and out in a hurry early on.

If we give him a lead early, and he gets a quick inning or two, we are very much in this game.

they want to be the show so bad.

.

ever

My biggest problem with all of the explanations is that nobody seems to address that Turner was ahead of the throw. He beat it by a step and it hits him in the back of the leg after he's gone through the bag.

Torre's rambling explanation necessitates the throw capable of beating him. But it wasn't. If the fielder lunges at the runner as the ball trails him, he is not protected by the rule.

Fuck you umps

.

"this World Series is all about YOU!"

.

Shook off a bad start, figured out how not to tip his pitches, and went into the 9th with no more runs. The Nats better not screw up restructuring his deal and keeping him here.

All hands on deck tomorrow. Max had better come through

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______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

that's not what life is about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSsgZIauJU

pretty much every homer was stargazed

it was beautiful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZhDJi9yZVg&t=40s

So happy we didn’t.

This game 7 is gonna be wild and fuck the umpires.

Scherzer looks and sound terrible....He is definitely forcing his stuff.

Scherzer looks and sound terrible....He is definitely forcing his stuff.

over 2/3rds of their runs in the series came in the 7-9th innings

Eaton is eating!

Clearly MVP of the series!

Man these cats got me At the top of one of the fandual games.

My flex lineup:

Eaton
Rendon
Soto
Hendricks
Correa ( houston)


They should have never pulled Greinke just because he gave up one HR. Nationals couldn’t hit him. .other than Cole and Verlander, there bullpen is shit.

World Series title.

>

After all the years when they shoulda coulda woulda, they did it! And from the wild card spot at that!

What a crazy World Series.

GO NATS!!!!

the purest playoff "team" you could imagine: stars, journeymen, unlikely heroes, and a squad that got better when more pressure was on.

and the fact 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 happened made it that much sweeter.

legends.

Congratulations to the Nats and Washington DC.

>...finally won a final elimination postseason game. what a
>beautiful masterpiece, in a game that seemed like it would be
>so typically Nats.
>
>the HBP instant replay that had always went against Washington
>in October. the broken bat flyball that drops, from all
>people, the former franchise player. and then *the hit*,
>misplayed for once by the other team.
>
>oh, and Strasburg made it all possible. hope Bryce enjoyed
>from his couch.

Amazing series. Amazing win. Amazing team. Fight is finished

Wow

Really?

Eaton was a beast in the series. I thought he clearly had it. Strasburg was huge, but
Not an every game player.

5-0 in the post season and helped Max out twice (pitching in relief and going into the 9th in Game 6) After the 1st inning jitters it was hard to beat him.

He set the tone from the jump. Cole came into the series HOT and Soto taking him deep let the nation know the Nats weren't scared.

He also had the big hit in game 6 that swung the momentum. Also, I'm not a fan of a pitcher getting the award unless it's a sweep or 5 games because they only impact 2 of the 7 games.


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Soto would have been my vote

______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

>He set the tone from the jump. Cole came into the series HOT
>and Soto taking him deep let the nation know the Nats weren't
>scared.
>
>He also had the big hit in game 6 that swung the momentum.
>Also, I'm not a fan of a pitcher getting the award unless it's
>a sweep or 5 games because they only impact 2 of the 7 games.
>

That's pretty damn worthy. Though I could have seen Rendon or Soto getting it as well. If the series never makes it back to Houston (meaning the bats did shit) then for sure.

(for half the teams)

Don't forget the Mystics!

Or perhaps that would still be half if you count DC United. Have they won the MLS before?

DCU won a couple about 22 years ago.

Snot crying on the floor.

Thinking about my grandfather in the 30s walking up to Griffith Stadium, picking up newspapers in the gutter along the way, because they would let paper boys in the park for free.


I wore a Washington Senators hat in the 90s. I can't contextualize this. Fucking A

What an incredible run. The way they did it, round after round. Very likable team who came together to win.

I LOOOOVE that nigga Howie Kendrick doing the stick shift

Fantastic run!
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

I'm still just in disbelief at how this all played out.

I'll see ya'll boys Saturday at the parade. I'll be the drunk one in red.

unbelievable.

every elimination game had a late inning rally that led to a curly "W".

EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.OF.THEM.

Wild Card; NLDS; WS.

this team just would not give up. they "stayed in the fight" until the very last out.

it's a privilege to witness the transformation from '05 'til now. this moment is the culmination of it all:

moving from Montreal;
playing in an unfinished RFK stadium;
being 50-32 that 1st season, but finishing 81-81;
Frank Robinson (RIP);
the 100-loss seasons of Manny Acta & Jim Riggleman;
wearing Natinals jerseys;
the clusterf*ck of Jim Bowden and Carlos (Esmailyn "Smiley" Gonzalez) Alvarez;
the inability of Drew Storen to get ONE.FUCKING.STRIKE in the bottom of the 9th against St. Louis in 2012;
Matt Williams;
and finally...letting Bryce Harper walk.

it all led to this...

the 2019 World Series Champions, the Washington Nationals.

WOW!!!

>the 100-loss seasons of Manny Acta & Jim Riggleman;
Forgot about these names. Shudders in remembrance now.


>the inability of Drew Storen to get ONE.FUCKING.STRIKE in the
>bottom of the 9th against St. Louis in 2012;
Still hurts

>and finally...letting Bryce Harper walk.
>
>it all led to this...
>
>the 2019 World Series Champions, the Washington Nationals.
>
>WOW!!!

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2019/11/01/the-washington-nationals-tried-to-drink-out-of-the-commissioners-trophy-after-winning-the-world-series/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/11/04/kurt-suzuki-nationals-maga-hat-white-house-trump/4156375002/

But it's a no-win in the current climate. Most of these guys are not that politically engaged and baseball skews whiter than the NBA and NFL so you get a lot more Aubrey Huff/Curt Schilling/Tony LaRussa types in the League, so they very likely have been normalized to it to a certain degree. Sean Doolittle is very much an aberration.

I think most guys just want to stay out of the politics, but you can't really do that in 2019. There's really no neutral out there, maybe there never was but the perception of it has vanished. Steve Kerr talking about immigration but not China becomes a thing. I am not old enough to remember if John Thompson took shit for being on the SI cover with Reagan at the time, but I never heard about it since.

Regardless, I'm sure Kurt Suzuki just got himself a bit part in the next Kevin Sorbo/Dean Cain low budget feature.

You gotta take it all with this group. Young guys, old guys. Great players, fringe big leaguers. Fernando Rodney, Stephen Strasburg.

Loving this team is accepting their success as a collective. This very eclecticism is the reason they came together in the first place, everyone contributed.

While I hate Trump as much as the next man, I can appreciate Sean Doolittle and Anthony Rendon not going to the White House as much as I can appreciate Ryan Zimmerman's opinion too. Because I care about what they ALL did TOGETHER and what they represent as a group way more than I care about any one player's political beliefs.

Can't dismiss one guy as a "POS". Nah.

>You gotta take it all with this group. Young guys, old guys.
>Great players, fringe big leaguers. Fernando Rodney, Stephen
>Strasburg.
>
>Loving this team is accepting their success as a collective.
>This very eclecticism is the reason they came together in the
>first place, everyone contributed.
>
>While I hate Trump as much as the next man, I can appreciate
>Sean Doolittle and Anthony Rendon not going to the White House
>as much as I can appreciate Ryan Zimmerman's opinion too.
>Because I care about what they ALL did TOGETHER and what they
>represent as a group way more than I care about any one
>player's political beliefs.
>
>Can't dismiss one guy as a "POS". Nah.

And then you're shocked that people are appalled. Talk about living in a vacuum.

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