It had been 95 years since Washington D.C. had won a World Series. In that time period, the nation’s capital had seen two iterations of the Senators come and go, gone through an extended period without major league baseball, and in more recent years seen the Nationals suffer some crushing playoff losses. But it would be these Washington Nationals, in the 2019 MLB season, that finally ended the drought and won it all.
The Nats were built around the National League’s second-best offense. Anthony Rendon finished third in MVP voting with a stat line of .412 on-base percentage/.598 slugging percentage, along with 34 home runs and 126 RBIs. Juan Soto, at the tender age of 20, had a .401/.548 line, 34 homers of his own and both scored and drove in 110 runs.
While the pitching as a whole was more mediocre, it was built for the postseason, with aces at the top. Max Scherzer finished third in the Cy Young voting and Stephen Strasburg was an 18-game winner.
The lack of pitching depth was a problem in the long regular season though, and it was the Atlanta Braves who set the pace in the NL East. Atlanta got 17 wins from Max Fried, while Mike Soroka went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA. Brave pitching ranked fifth in the NL for composite ERA. The everyday lineup had an emerging star in Ronald Acuna Jr. who posted a .365/518 stat line, homered 37 times and stole 41 bases. Acuna finished fifth in the NL MVP tally.
Freddie Freeman was one of the best all-around hitters in the game, at .389/.549, 38 homers, 121 RBIs and 113 runs scored. Ozzie Albies and Josh Donaldson were similarly productive, each ending up in the high .300s for OBP and over .500 for slugging percentage.
Washington got off to a slow start and wasn’t even on the playoff radar on Memorial Day, while the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets—the latter led by Cy Young Award winner Jacob de Grom—contended with Atlanta. But by the All-Star break, the race had started to take its shape. The Braves had a six-game lead in the division, while the Nationals led a packed race for what were then two wild-card spots.
Atlanta put the NL East title away with a spurt in early September. Washington consistently led the wild-card race and had a spurt of their own in the final two weeks. They earned the right to host what was then a single-game knockout.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were having a dominating season in the NL West. They led the league in both runs scored and staff ERA. Max Muncy and Joc Pederson combined for 71 home runs. Justin Turner’s stat line was .372/.509. And none of those three were even close to being L.A.’ most productive everyday player. That was Cody Bellinger. With a .406/.629 stat line, 47 home runs, 115 RBIs, 121 runs scored and 15 stolen bases, Bellinger was an easy choice for the National League MVP.
Hyun-Jin Ru led the pitching staff, going 14-5 with a 2.32 ERA and coming in second for the Cy Young Award. Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw each had ERAs in the low 3s and combined to win 30 games. The Dodgers had no weaknesses, and they were never challenged in an NL West that had no other serious playoff contenders. Los Angeles went into the postseason as the 1-seed in the National League.
In the NL Central, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Chicago all contended. The Cardinals had a balanced pitching staff. Jack Flaherty finished with a 2.75 ERA, there were no real weaknesses anywhere and St. Louis finished second in the NL for composite ERA. While the offense had problems, they still got 30-homer seasons from Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong. The Brewers’ Christian Yelich was magnificent and was runner-up in the MVP voting, at .429.671 and 44 homers. Mike Moustakas hit 35 more bombs, and Josh Hader saved 37 games with a 2.62 ERA.
The Cubs, coming off a crushing ending to the 2018 season, where they lost a division tiebreaker and wild-card game at home in consecutive days, held a narrow lead in the NL Central for the first half and were still only three back of the Cardinals on Labor Day. When Yelich suffered a bad leg injury in early September and was lost for the year, the Brewers looked finished.
But Milwaukee came together and rallied, while Chicago faded, and St. Louis held steady. The Cardinals took the division crown and the 3-seed. The Brewers pulled even with the Cubs with two weeks to go, and then pulled away to get the second wild-card spot.
Milwaukee looked ready to continue their September surge when they took a 3-1 lead on Washington and turned the game over to Hader in the eighth inning. But their closer was wild. A walk, a hit batsman, and an error allowed the Nats to turn two singles into three runs and a 4-3 win.
Washington would go on to play Los Angeles in the Division Series round, while Atlanta got set to host St. Louis.
The best regular season team in baseball was the Houston Astros. They finished in the top-3 in the American League for both scoring runs and pitching. They had a pair of 20-game winners in Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, who finished 1-2 in the Cy Young voting. Alex Bregman was runner-up in the MVP race, with a stat line of .423/.529, 41 homers, 112 RBIs and 122 runs scored. Georgie Springer clocked in at .393/.591 and 39 homers. Michael Brantley was a complete offensive threat. Jose Altuve, while limited to 124 games, still homered 31 times. As did Yuli Gurriel.
Oakland was a formidable foe in the AL West, being a top-5 team for both offense and pitching. The corner infielders, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, each hit 36 home runs. Shortstop Marcus Semien hit 33 bombs, posted a stat line of .369/.522 and finished third in the MVP tally. A balanced pitching staff had a 15-game winner in Mike Fiers and closer Liam Hendricks finished with a 1.80 ERA.
Houston got control of the division race, taking a six-game lead by Memorial Day. As good as the A’s were, they weren’t going to stop the Astros from cruising to the 1-seed in the playoffs. Even though the Angels had the AL MVP in centerfielder Mike Trout, they never contended past the early part of summer. Oakland settled into a long fight for a wild-card spot, joining Tampa Bay and Cleveland in a three-team race to the finish. The A’s got in, and they earned the host the wild-card game.
The American League’s most productive offense was in the Bronx. Even with Aaron Judge only playing 102 games, the Yankees hit home runs up and down the lineup. Gary Sanchez hit 34 bombs, and four others, including Judge, hit at least 20. And no one was more consistent than D.J. LeMahieu, who just kept making contact and putting the ball in play. LeMahieu’s final stat line was .375/.518 and he finished fourth in the MVP race. While the rotation was spotty, it was made up for with a good bullpen anchored by Aroldis Chapman, who saved 37 games with a 2.21 ERA.
Tampa Bay was the mirror image of New York. The Rays had the best pitching in the American League and everyone contributed. Charlie Morton contributed more than most—the only one to make at least 30 starts, and his 16-6 record with a 3.05 ERA got him third in the Cy Young voting. While the offense was middle of the pack, they got a big year from Austin Meadows, who hit 33 homers with a .364/.588 stat line.
The AL East had the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox. But the Sox had a hangover year, and while they hung in the playoff race for five months, they were never a serious threat to win the division and ultimately faded in September. New York moved out to a 6 ½ game lead on Tampa Bay by the All-Star break, and then broke it open in late summer. The Yankees got the 2-seed in the American League.
The Rays were able to outlast the Indians and claim the second wild-card spot. Tampa Bay then went to Oakland and got a 5-1 win in the knockout game. The Rays would get a crack at the Astros in the Division Series.
While Cleveland contended, it was Minnesota who set the tone in the AL Central. The Twins could hit home runs. Nelson Cruz hit 41 and had a stat line of .392/.639. Four more players hit at least 30, including catcher Mitch Garver, who only played 93 games, but finished with a .329/.639 stat line. Three other players popped at least 20 dingers. It was enough for Minnesota to have the league’s second-best offense. And a good pitching staff got 14 wins from Jose Berrios and 15 Ws from Jake Odorizzi.
The Twins came barreling out of the gate and led the Indians by ten games on Memorial Day. The Tribe cut the margin in half by the All-Star break and made it a race in the second half. But Minnesota consistently kept the lead and finally put away the division title, the 3-seed, and the chance to play the Yankees in the Division Series.
An anticipated battle between the feared attacks from Minnesota and New York proved quite one-sided. The Yankees outscored the Twins 23-7 in a three-game sweep. The rest of the Division Series matchups all produced more excitement and went the distance.
Verlander and Cole were dominant in getting Houston two quick wins over Tampa. But the Rays bounced back behind Morton in Game 3, and then knocked off Verlander in Game 4. The Astros went back to Cole, and he delivered a 6-1 win. For the third straight year, Houston was going to the ALCS.
Atlanta won two of the first three games over St. Louis and then took a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning of Game 4. The Cardinals tied that game and then won it in extra innings. And in Game 5, the Braves had one of the all-time postseason meltdowns. Playing on their homefield, they gave up ten first-inning runs. It was over before it started, and St. Louis punched their ticket to the NLCS.
Los Angeles also won two of their first three games, before Washington rallied. The Nats comfortably won Game 4. In Game 5, the Dodgers led 3-1 in the eighth inning. Kershaw was summoned to try and close it. This was a gambit that had worked when these same times played a Division Series Game 5 in 2016. Not so much this time. Rendon and Soto greeted Kershaw with consecutive home runs to tie it. Washington scored four times in the 10th inning to complete the upset.
The Nationals kept that momentum rolling in an NLCS that was a wipeout. Washington’s pitching was rounding into form ad they held the Cardinals to just six runs in four games. The Nats won all four and advanced to the World Series with a sweep.
There was more excitement in the American League. New York went on the road and grabbed Game 1 in Houston. The Astros pulled out an 11-inning win Game 2, and then rolled to road wins of their own in Games 3 & 4. New York responded in Game 5 and forced the series back to Houston.
The Astros had a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning of Game 6 and were closing in on the pennant. LeMahieu tied the game with a two-run homer. In the bottom of the ninth, after two were out, Springer worked a walk. Then Altuve homered. Bedlam ensued. Houston had their second pennant in three years.
In the World Series, it was all about the road teams. Washington, behind Scherzer and Strasburg, went into Houston and took Games 1 & 2. It looked all but over. Then Astro pitching took over. The Nats scored just one run in each of Games 3, 4 and 5. Houston won all three. It looked all but over. Washington went back on the road and Strasburg beat Verlander in Game 6.
The seventh game saw the Astros holding onto a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning. In shades of the decisive game with the Dodgers, the Nats got a solo blast from Rendon, and then a two-run shot from Howie Kendrick. Then Washington started adding on, with a run in the eighth and two more in the ninth. The 6-2 win completed their World Series title.
It was a long-awaited title for the nation’s capital, but one that was well-earned. In three elimination games—against Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Houston—the Nationals had trailed in the seventh inning or later. They responded and won a long-awaited championship.