Players, staff respond with joy at finally receiving World Series rings

It was another special day for the Nationals at Nationals Park, as players and staff received their 2019 World Series championship rings prior to Thursday's batting practice and on-field workouts.

Left-hander Patrick Corbin unveiled his ring on Twitter and outfielder Adam Eaton had his reveal recorded and put up on his Instagram account. Right-hander Stephen Strasburg received his ring, too, but admitted he was worried when he saw the name on the outside of the gift box.

"It was very special to see," Strasburg said on a Zoom video call. "I got a little nervous at first because on the outside of the box that it came in, my last name was spelled wrong. Luckily, it was spelled correctly in the ring, so I was pretty happy about that.

"It is pretty special. You just look at all the little things that they put on the ring to commemorate some of the big moments of the season and kind of takes you right back to that moment. They did a great job on it and they really put a lot of time and effort into it to make it something special. I can't wait to get it home to show my kids."

Manager Davey Martinez started his Zoom call by showing his ring to the video camera and beaming with pride.

"As you can tell, I am still smiling about it," Martinez said. "It was definitely worth the wait. We waited a while to get these things on our finger. It's all about all the work that we put into this, (the) players. The way the players did it really means a lot to me, means a lot to my family. I'm proud. I am proud to be wearing this thing today. We are here again, hopefully to get another one."

And speaking of that 60-game season that is scheduled to begin two weeks from tonight, Strasburg said it will be a unique challenge as the Nats go for back-to-back titles.

"I think the focus last year - because we started out so poorly - was just to start playing good baseball on a consistent basis and then the results kind of happened," he said. "That was an extension of us putting in the work and grinding through 162-game season. It is going to be interesting just to see kind of how we start off because there is no time to make an adjustment.

"It's kind of uncharted territory, so I think we got to be ready to hit the ground running and we are doing everything we can to do that. But again, kind of like what happened last year, we are going to let the chips fall where as they may and hold our heads high for it."

The players were obviously thrilled to get their hands on the rings, but Strasburg was quick to point out he would have preferred to have the unveiling in front of 43,000 fans on opening night at Nationals Park back in April, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"It is unfortunate that we couldn't have done it in front of a sold-out crowd because the fans were just so special to us down the stretch there last year," Strasburg said. "But at the very least, it's great to be in the clubhouse and see the reactions from my teammates when they got to open theirs as well."

It is a point that the players and Martinez have repeated throughout this shutdown. Many other teams might just be happy having a ring unveiling in a banquet hall with their family and friends. But this team has always made sure to say not being able to celebrate with their fans in Nats Park has been tough to digest.

"Sad that we couldn't have the fans here with us," Martinez said. "For me, our fans are our 26th man. They were there through thick and thin with us all year long. I've always said this: We will do this again, hopefully with them in the stands. But it is nice to have these rings, see the players with the rings on. Just to see their faces when they open the box was tremendous. Everybody smiling, big smiles and excited. We deserve it. We worked hard to get it. Like I said, we are here to try to get another one."