HOUSTON, TX—The Washington Nationals won their first World Series Title in franchise history defeating the Houston Astros 6-2 on Wednesday, October 30 at Minute Maid Park. 

Two teams fought their way to the greatest stage of the MLB, the World Series with the hopes of bringing home a championship.

The Nationals fought their way through each series of the post season against other great teams, such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, and concluding with the Astros, who won the World Series in 2017 against the Dodgers.

The 2019 season didn’t start out so promising for the Nationals, posing a 19-31 stat in late May with 12 games behind. Having lost their star player, Bryce Harper, the season before to the Phillies, there was talk of firing manager Dave Martinez. Manager Martinez said in the teams on-field celebration, “Guess what? We stayed in the fight. We won the fight!” 

The Nationals weren’t always the nations capital team. D.C. started out with the Washington Senators from 1901-1960, who later became the Minnesota Twins. The Senators are the last team to bring a World Series title to the state with their win in 1924. 

In 1969, with the MLB expansion, the Montreal Expos began playing in Canada, but were later purchased by MLB in 2002. The team made its way to Washington D.C. and became the Nationals in 2005. 

Game 7 of the 2019 World Series was full of excitement as Astros’ starting pitcher, Zack Greinke, pitched a one hit shutout up until the Nationals’ Anthony Rendon hit a solo homer with one out in the 7th inning. The Nationals rallied, as they had been doing all post season, followed by Howie Kendrick’s two-run homer in the same inning, making it a 3-2 game. Kendrick also brought his team the lead in the NLDS game that knocked the Dodgers out of the post season early with his grand slam in the 10th inning that earned the Nationals their win. 

The Nationals are the first Wild Card team since the San Francisco Giants in 2014 to go all the way and win the World Series. Starting with the Giants, the last six champion teams have clinched on the road.

Nationals starting pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, earned the MVP award after helping his team beat the Astros, who had the best record in the 2019 regular season. 

Written By Brenda De La Cruz