The 2019 Major League Baseball season has come to an end and the Washington Nationals are the last team standing, defeating the Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 7 of the World Series. It’s the first championship in Nationals history and they are the first team in World Series history to win four games on the road. Howie Kendrick is the hero for the Nationals, hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning to give them the 3-2 lead. Earlier in the inning, Anthony Rendon homered to get Washington’s rally going. Adam Eaton put the game way when he drove in two runs in the ninth inning.
The Washington Nationals had quite the run to reach the World Series. At the halfway point of the season, the Nationals were 41-40 and looked like one of the biggest disappointments in all of baseball. However, they finished the season with a 93-69 record and get hot in the playoffs. They didn’t win their division but they reached the postseason as a wild card and took down the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card game. They went on to face the Los Angeles Dodgers who were the defending National League Champions and they beat them in five games. The Nationals then showed the rest of the world they are for real after sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in a National League Championship Series.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Out of high school, Howie Kendrick tried out for nearly a dozen junior colleges and was cut by two. He eventually found a spot on St. John’s Community College in Florida.
Now, he’s hitting clutch go-ahead homers in Game 7 of the World Series.
(Via @mlb) pic.twitter.com/nCFDItoYlg
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 31, 2019
“I keep saying this and everyone keeps laughing at me, but we just try to win the game that day,” Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said after the team won Game Two via the team’s official website. “We’ll enjoy this today. And then by the time we get home, we’ll forget about it.”
Two players who have been standouts for the Nationals are Rendon and Juan Soto both players hit homers in Game Six of the series to keep their season alive. And both were standouts in the regular season as they hit at least 34 home runs and 110 RBIs.
As for the Astros, they entered the 2019 season as one of the favorites to win the World Series since they made won the title in 2017 and reached the American League Championship Series in 2018. Along with their key veteran players who were on the 2017 team, the Astros also had a good mix of young talent that led to them winning 107 games in 2019. In the playoffs, the Astros took down the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Divisional Series and they beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS.
There were a number of players who led the Astros to the World Series but their pitching has been their strong point this season and the staff is anchored by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Both players won over 20 games and both recorded an ERA under 2.60.
