The Washington Nationals are coming off a great regular season performance. The Nationals went 93 wins and 69 losses which put them second in the NL East (National League East). This gave them the wild card position up against the other wild card team from the NL, the Milwaukee Brewers. 

On Tuesday October 1st, the Nationals played in the wild card game against the Brewers. The Nationals started off slow, down 3-1. The game was quiet until the 8th inning where Juan Soto hit one to right field which scored three runs. The Nationals held on to win 4-3.      

The Nationals moved on into the divisional round of the playoffs (second round). Now playing a 106 win team during the season, the Nationals were definitely the underdogs against the LA Dodgers. The Dodgers put up a great showing at home winning 6-0. Then the Nationals won 4-2.

Game three started with the Nationals playing well up 2-0. The game became quiet for five innings until the Dodgers shockingly scored eight runs total in the fifth and sixth innings with seven runs in the sixth. The game was too far out of reach so the Nationals lose 10-4 at home. Two days later the Nationals need to bounce back to stay in the playoffs. The Nationals bounce back winning 6-1 to stay alive and send it back to LA. 

The biggest game for the Nationals in a long time was in LA with a win or go home game. With the Dodgers Going up 3-0 in the first two innings. The game went quiet for three innings until the Nationals finally get a point on the board in the 6th. Into the 8th, the Dodgers up 3-1 with Clayton Kershaw stepping up. Kershaw shockingly gives up two home runs back to back and sat for the rest of the game.

The game went into extra innings. With the bases loaded, Howie Kendrick’s smacked a ball deep to center field with a grand slam. The Nationals won 7-4 now into the NL Championship finals. 

The Nationals moved on to play the St. Louis Cardinals in the Eastern Conference Finals. This series was very intense and high scoring with a red hot Cardinals team coming off a 13-1 win (scoring 10 runs in one inning).

The Nationals started off strong leading the series 2-0. The Nationals did close things out with two home wins that they commandingly earned.

History was made after the game because the Nationals have finally made a World Series for the first time in their history. Varsity baseball pitcher Dylan Bliven explains that the Washington Nationals pitching rotation is the best in the league and need to exploit that in this series. 

“The Nationals are going to need players to step up,” Dylan explains how Bryan Dozier will need to step up on the offense and to be a part of the team. Dylan also talked about how the Washington Nationals need to score at least four runs in four of the seven games. 

Lastly Dylan explains that this series will go to seven games and that any team can win.