October 30, 2019: The Washington Nationals Win the World Series

October 30, 2019: Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston is the site of the 1st Game 7 of the World Series in which both starting pitchers had previously won the Cy Young Award: Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Zack Greinke of the Houston Astros.

Yuli Gurriel's home run in the bottom of the 2nd and Carlos Correa's single in the bottom of the 5th gave the Astros a 2-0 lead. Greinke cruised into the 7th, but then gave up a home run to Anthony Rendon. He then walked Juan Soto, and was replaced by Will Harris, who gave up a home run to Howie Kendrick.

The Nationals ended up winning 6-2, marking the 1st World Championship for the franchise that had once been the Montreal Expos, in 51 seasons; the 1st World Series win for a Washington baseball team in 95 years, since the 1924 Senators; the 6th straight year that the World Series was clinched by the visiting team, including 4 Game 7s (2014, '16, '17 and '19); and the 1st time in the history of major league sports that the visiting team won all 7 games of a postseason series.

Stephen Strasburg, the injury-prone pitcher whom the Nationals infamously benched for the 2012 postseason to save his arm, resulting in an embarrassing NLDS loss, was named the Series' MVP. He had beaten Justin Verlander in both Game 2 and Game 6. Verlander, 8-1 in Division Series games and 7-4 in League Championship Series games, fell to 0-6 in World Series games.

The Nats' win got more amazing when it was revealed that the Astros were cheating, especially at home, and yet the Nats won all 4 games in Houston. They will always have my thanks for that. Their fans will always have my respect for booing Donald Trump in Game 5 at Nationals Park.

Essentially, the Nats traded a chance at the 2012 title without Strasburg for future chances at a title with him. It worked. But in 2019, they traded a chance at the title with him for the risk of his career. That worked, too, but at a price. Strasburg led led the NL with 209 innings pitched in the 2019 regular season, plus another 36 1/3rd in the postseason. In the 2020, '21 and '22 seasons combined, he pitched just 31 1/3rd innings in the major leagues, plus another 18 in minor-league rehab assignments.

(UPDATE: Strasburg did not pitch at all in 2023. On April 7, 2024, he announced his retirement. He had thrown his last professional pitch at the age of 34. He was 113-62, with 1,723 strikeouts. He should have had twice as many in each of those stats. He finished with a 3.24 ERA, and a 1.096 WHIP.)

As Strasburg has gone, so have gone the Nats: First, mere existence; then, frustration at coming close but falling short; ultimately, the crowning glory; and then pain, physical and emotional. But what achievements he did have were more than most players get.

UPDATE: Scherzer's 161 wins during the 2010s made him the winningest pitcher of the decade. Through the 2024 season, he has won 216 regular-season games, Verlander 262, and Greinke retired after the 2023 season with 225. Verlander finally won a World Series game, when the Astros won in 2022.

*

October 30, 2019 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks, 112-97 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets, 109-106 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 120-91 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. That's right: Within 1 year, all 3 of these arenas saw their naming rights deals expire, and the rights bought by someone else.

And there were 6 games in the NHL: 

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-6 at the Prudential Center. Tyler Johnson scored the winning goal with 3:44 left in overtime.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3, at the Pepsi Center, a few hours after the Nuggets game there. Jonathan Huberdeau scored the winning goal, 29 seconds into overtime.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Arizona Coyotes, 4-1 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-3 at the Staples Center, a few hours after the Lakers game there.

October 12, 2012: The Game That Stephen Strasburg Didn't Pitch

Stephen Strasburg (left) and Davey Johnson

October 12, 2012: The biggest game in Washington baseball in 79 years is Game 5 of the National League Division Series at Nationals Park. The Washington Nationals lead the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 going into the 9th inning. But Nats reliever Drew Storen implodes, allowing a double to Carlos Beltrán, a walk to Yadier Molina, another walk to David Freese, a single to Daniel Descalso, a stolen base by Descalso, and a single to Pete Kozma.

The Nats go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th, and the Cards win, 9-7, and advance to the NL Championship Series. The Nats went from having, according to Baseball-Reference.com, a 93 percent chance of winning the game to losing it.

Concerned about putting too much stress on his arm after coming back from Tommy John surgery at the start of the season, the Nats had shut down ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg for the season after September 7, at which point he had pitched 159 innings. I wonder what Nats management would have given to have Strasburg pitch to just 1 batter: Descalso, when there were 2 outs and the score was still 7-5.

Keeping Strasburg off the postseason roster was a major blunder. It took the Nats another 7 years to get their 1st postseason series win since they were the 1981 Montreal Expos. Nats manager Davey Johnson, who previously managed the New York Mets to win the 1986 World Series, later said that, with Strasburg, the Nats would have gone all the way.

Johnson lasted 1 more season as Nats' manager, ending a managerial career that began with the 1984 New York Mets. Strasburg turned out to be a major reason why the Nats won the World Series in 2019 -- and his subsequent injury turned out to be a major reason why they declined thereafter.

*

October 12, 2012 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't start until November 1. And the NHL team owners had locked the players out.

The other NLDS was wrapped up the day before, with the San Francisco Giants beating the Cincinnati Reds. 

Earlier in the day, CC Sabathia went the distance for the New York Yankees, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with 9 strikeouts, and getting out of a bases-loaded, 1-out jam in the 6th inning. A Curtis Granderson home run was the offensive highlight of the Yankees' 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium II, giving the Pinstripes the deciding Game 5 of the American League Division Series. The other ALDS had wrapped up the day before, with the Detroit Tigers eliminating the Oakland Athletics.