Nationals Playing Their Best Baseball When It Matters Most
By Chris Pyo
The Washington Nationals are up on the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 in the NLCS, and they're playing their best baseball at a time where it matters the most.
This is literally their best baseball in franchise history, and yes, that includes the years where the Nationals were the Montreal Expos.
How can a team to take a no-hitter into the 7th 2 days in a row in October?
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 13, 2019
Lots of astounding tidbits here, thanks to @StatsBySTATS - including this:
The Nats/Expos have played 7,363 games in the last 45 years. How many times had they done this before this series? Never! https://t.co/9iOaWiQHHL
Max Scherzer took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Nationals in their eventual 3-1 win in Game 2, and that wasn't even the best starting pitching performance of this NLCS series.
Anibal Sanchez no-hit the Cardinals for nearly eight innings in Game 1 before giving up a hit, and led the Nationals to a 2-0 win. Anibal Sanchez! In 2019!
This has been an unforgettable season for the Nationals, who have endured multiple seasons of coming so close in the playoffs, but failing to make anything out of their opportunities.
The @Nationals are the 1st NL team to give up 3 hits or fewer in consecutive #postseason games since the 2012 @Reds. pic.twitter.com/PPxVHBh1tr
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) October 12, 2019
If they continue to dominate the Cardinals and earn a World Series berth in commanding fashion, baseball fans might want to think twice before automatically ruling the winner of the ALCS as World Series champion.