Star-studded, resilient Nationals earned this title

HOUSTON - It would be easy to look at the 2019 Washington Nationals as a good team that went on a great October run to win the World Series. Really, it's one of the great October runs (12-5 to topple the Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals and Astros) in baseball's wild card era.

But that's still not entirely fair to this team. It seems to minimize the big picture and label the Nats as a team that simply got red-hot at the right time and rode the wave all the way to a championship.

Here's how they deserve to be remembered: As a great team that proved it was as good as anybody for more than five months and deserved to win the World Series not only because of what it did in October but what it did over the course of the entire season.

The Nationals' final record in 2019, postseason included, was 105-74. We all know they began the year 19-31. Which means from May 24 through Oct. 30 they went 86-43. That's exactly two out of three. Which is a 108-win pace over a 162-game season.

Stop and think about that. The Nationals played at a 108-win pace for more than five months. Not for one month. For more than five months.

That's not a fluke. That's not a team that just got hot at the end. That's a juggernaut.

If you watched this entire postseason run, you saw the Nats face the 106-win Dodgers in the five-game National League Division Series and the 107-win Astros in the seven-game World Series. Both opponents supposedly were far superior teams, making the Nationals a massive underdog. Vegas declared these Nats the biggest World Series underdogs since the 2007 Rockies (a team that, by the way, did just get ridiculously hot at the end).

In hindsight, the Nationals deserved far more credit than that. Not because the Astros weren't great. They were. But because the Nats were just as loaded.

Max Scherzer. Stephen Strasburg. Patrick Corbin. Anthony Rendon. Juan Soto. Trea Turner. Howie Kendrick. Ryan Zimmerman. Adam Eaton. Victor Robles. Aníbal Sánchez. Sean Doolittle. That's some serious star power, enough to rival any other roster in baseball.

So why were the Nationals thought of as inferior to their October opponents?

Maybe it was the bullpen, the roster's weak link all season long, the one that posted the majors' worst ERA and lost 23 total games the Nats either led or were tied in heading into the seventh inning.

Guess what? That bullpen didn't blow a single lead in the seventh inning or later the entire postseason. Yes, the Nationals bullpen didn't blow a single lead in the seventh inning or later the entire postseason.

"Obviously, we had some help from the starters coming down in between starts," Daniel Hudson said. "Obviously, we know the narrative with the bullpen all year: 'It's not a very good bullpen.' But nobody cares anymore. We got a ring. That's all we care about."

Maybe it was the inconsistent lineup, one that could score runs in bunches one night but then go ice cold for six or seven innings at a time the next night.

Guess what? The Nats averaged 4.6 runs per game in the postseason. Only the Yankees, at 4.9, averaged more among all playoff participants. And Rendon (.328 with three homers, seven doubles and 15 RBIs), Soto (five homers, 14 RBIs) and Kendrick (two homers, 12 RBIs) all consistently delivered in big spots, especially in Games 6 and 7 at Minute Maid Park.

"You know, there's guys in a big moment you want up there," manager Davey Martinez said. "And those are the guys that, when a big moment arises, you want them up there. And they've come through all year long for us in big ways. They have the knack to just stay calm and do what they need to do."

And then there's Martinez himself. Much of the baseball world wanted him fired on May 23, and plenty more still believed he was costing his team with his pitching decisions, lineup decisions and faith in sticking with the same group of players throughout the postseason.

How'd that work out in the end? Is it safe yet to declare Martinez a great manager who understands how to motivate his players, how to bring a clubhouse together through good and bad times and how to put people in a position to succeed?

"I'm very happy for him," managing principal owner Mark Lerner said. "He worked his butt off, and how he stayed patient through all the tough days to bring this team back, I don't know how he did it. I give him a lot of credit."

In the end, too many people were looking for reasons the Nationals couldn't win in October instead of looking for reasons they could win.

They had a brilliant rotation headlined by a 1-2 pitching punch that was the envy of nearly every team in the sport. And they rode Scherzer and Strasburg as much as they could, going a perfect 10-0 in games one of them started.

They had a deep and opportunistic lineup that, for the most part, rose to the occasion in big spots.

They had just enough arms they could trust in the bullpen to get the job done.

And they had an unflappable resolve, refusing to give up on any game at any point. They scored the most runs in the majors from the eighth inning on during the regular season. And they came from behind to win each of their five elimination games this month. No other team has ever done that.

"It's almost like we've done it so many times that we have to get punched in the face to kind of wake up," Strasburg said. "I think it's just the M.O. We don't quit. We never quit throughout the season, despite kind of everybody saying that we were done."

Nobody can say they were done anymore. The Nationals were the last team standing in the majors in 2019. They climbed all the way to the top of the mountain, taking down a slew of daunting opponents along the way.

It was a remarkable postseason run that now will be celebrated with a parade Saturday afternoon.

But this Nationals season was about so much more than that.

This legitimately was a great team that earned its first championship.

Here's hoping this special group of players, coaches and support staff will forever be remembered that way. Because they deserve it.