The Washington Nationals are the 2019 World Series champions after defeating the Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 7 on Wednesday night, and with the nation’s capital bringing home a professional sports title, President Donald Trump sent a message to the team who had to fight for everything they accomplished this season. Trump, who attended Game 5 of the World Series and received a less than enthusiastic response, took to Twitter to congratulate the Nationals for winning their first title in franchise history.
“Congratulations to the Washington Nationals on a great season and an incredible World Series. Game 7 was amazing,” Trump wrote.
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The World Series was something no baseball fan has ever seen. Along with it being seven games, the Nationals became the first team in World Series history to win four games on the road. So not having home-field advantage turned out to be a good thing. And to think, this was a team that started the season with a 19-31 record.
“I believe in these guys,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said on the team’s official website. “They believe in each other. And the biggest thing for us is, never quit. We know that. We were 19-31. We didn’t quit then. We weren’t gonna quit now.”
In Game 7, the Nationals were down 2-0 in the seventh inning. But that’s when their bats came alive as Anthony Rendon hit a solo home run to put them on the board. A few batters later, Howie Kendrick hit a two-run homer to give the Nationals the lead and never look back.
“You know what? This is — I mean, honestly, all these years, all this hard work, this year, the struggles early — I mean, this is what it’s about right here,” Kendrick told Buster Olney of ESPN. “This is what it’s about. I mean, words can’t even describe this feeling. It’s phenomenal. This group of guys that we got here, we fought all year. This makes it sweet. This is so sweet right now.”
While Trump is happy with the Nationals winning the World Series, Nationals fans were not happy with Trump attending Game 5 as he was hit with a wave of boos. Trump and his wife Melania arrived shortly after the game began and they were introduced during the third inning. That’s when fans started to boo him and there were even some fans chanting “Lock Him Up.”
