By Kyle Miller, Staff Writer
The 2019 World Series has come to an end, and it was a historic one. Not only did the Nationals win their first title in franchise history, but it is also the first time in World Series history where the road team won every game.
This series started off with two statement wins from the Nationals in Houston, shocking baseball fans everywhere. In the first two games the Nationals faced the two CY Young award frontrunners, but their aces did not back down. In game one, they scored five runs off of Gerrit Cole, and in game two, they scored four off of Justin Verlander.
After these first two games, it seemed as if the series was going to end in short fashion with the next three games scheduled to be back in DC. This was not the case. After putting up a combined 17 runs in the first two games, the Nationals offense fell asleep in games three through five. The Nationals scored just three runs over the next three games and blew what seemed like a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The momentum of the series shifted in an instance. At first it seemed like the Nationals had it in the bag and then, before you know it, the series is heading to Houston where the Astros have a chance to win their second World Series in three years.
Each team had an ace on the mound for game six. Strasburg vs Verlander, it is hard to beat this kind of pitching matchup. Strasburg was unreal, allowing two runs through 8.1 innings. Verlander was decent, but it was not enough for the World Series.
In his career Verlander is 0-6 in the World Series, a shocking stat to some that is rarely talked about. Anthony Rendon (in my opinion the NL MVP) had five RBIs leading the Nationals to a 7-2 victory and to a chance at being world champs.
Going into game seven, it was anyone’s series. The matchup on the mound was Scherzer vs Greinke. Scherzer was originally scheduled to pitch game five, but due to back pain he had to receive a cortisone shot and was pushed back to game seven.
Scherzer gave the Nationals everything he had in the tank and gave a solid five innings. His counterpart Greinke had a big-time performance, which was cut short for strange reasons. Greinke was pulled in the sixth inning while only throwing 67 pitches.
Pulling Greinke so early will forever haunt manager AJ Hinch. The decision made very little sense and to follow it up, he did not use Cole out of the bullpen. The only reason to pull Greinke that early would have been to use Cole, but Hinch decided to use Will Smith who gave up a two-run homerun to Anthony Rendon that blew the Astros’ lead.
The Nationals manager, Dave Martinez, did what Hinch should have done, used a starter out of the bullpen. Patrick Corbin gave the Nationals three scoreless innings out of the pen and handed the ball off to Hudson for the save.
This Nationals team came to play this postseason, and as much as it pains me to say as a Mets fan, they deserved this World Series. Stephen Strasburg was the World Series MVP as he went 2-0 with a 2.51 ERA. This should not make baseball fans overlook the amazing performances of Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto.
The 21-year-old phenom Juan Soto proved that he is a big-time player who will be around for years to come. Anthony Rendon got to show on a national stage that he is one of the best players in baseball. If Rendon resigns to the Nationals in this upcoming free agency, there is nothing that should prevent them from repeating.
