Nationals use 4 starters, 2 relievers to beat Astros in World Series

World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg

Five times during the 2019 playoffs, the Washington Nationals faced elimination. In those five games, the Nationals trailed in all of them. However, they never lost.

Washington finished off an improbable run to a World Series championship Wednesday night, rallying to beat the Houston Astros, 6-2, in Game 7.

The Nationals trailed, 2-0, after six innings, but they came back with three runs in the seventh inning, one in the eighth and two in the ninth to stun the crowd in Houston and win the series, four games to three.

Most people will remember this series because the road team won all seven games -- that's never happened before in any sport. But hopefully, history will look back on this series as the one that brought good starting pitching back into fashion.

The Nationals won this series with basically six pitchers: World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez, Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson. The first four men on that list are starters; the last two are relievers.

Washington pitched 36 innings in this series, and 32.2 of them were handled by the six men listed above.

Strasburg earned his MVP with a brilliant, clutch performance in Game 6. He went 8.1 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in a 7-2 Washington victory.

On the morning of Game 7, it was unclear who would pitch for the Nationals. But Scherzer answered the bell, three days after being scratched from his Game 5 start and taking a cortisone shot for back and neck muscle spasms.

Scherzer was far from his best, allowing 11 base runners (seven hits, four walks) over five innings, but only two of them scored. The Astros were ahead, 2-0, but they could have been ahead 6-0. Instead, they left 10 men on base and went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. It was a gutsy outing by the Washington pitcher.

Worth noting: Houston also got brilliant starting pitching in Game 7. Zack Greinke allowed no runs on one hit through six innings, before he ran into mild trouble in the seventh inning.

Anthony Rendon homered with one out to make it 2-1, and Juan Soto followed with a walk. Greinke had only thrown 80 pitches, but you know, the analytics say you shouldn't let a starting pitcher face a lineup the third time through.

So even though Greinke had good stuff, Houston manager A.J. Hinch went to the bullpen. And then Hinch spent the rest of the game desperately trying to find a reliever who had stuff as good as Greinke's was.

Howie Kendrick greeted Will Harris with a two-run homer that put the Nationals ahead to stay at 3-2.

Soto's RBI single in the eighth made it 4-2 and added a run to Houston closer Roberto Osuna's tab. Then Washington scored two more in the ninth off Joe Smith and Jose Urquidy, with Adam Eaton delivering a two-run single to make it 6-2.

The Astros used five relievers, and the game got out of hand on their watch. So much for the era of "super relievers," huh? Maybe it is better to stick with an accomplished starter over a bunch of decent but not great relievers, no?

Meanwhile, the Nationals relieved Scherzer with another starting pitcher, Corbin, who worked three scoreless innings and earned the win in this clinching game. Hudson came on in his familiar relief role and worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts, no doubt setting off a wild celebration in the nation's capital.

Our congratulations go out to the Nationals and their fans. This was a surprising championship, but a well-earned one. Washington beat both the 106-win Dodgers and the 107-win Astros on its path to the title. You have to respect that performance. 

Washington Nationals rally to beat Milwaukee Brewers in NL wild card game

Juan Soto

During the 2018 playoffs, teams that took a lead of two or more runs into the eighth inning went 24-0.

One night into the 2019 playoffs, teams that look a lead of two or more runs into the eighth inning already are 0-1.

That's because the Washington Nationals scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against Milwaukee Brewers relief ace Josh Hader to rally for a 4-3 victory in the NL wild card game Tuesday night.

Juan Soto delivered the big hit, and now the Nationals advance to the NL Division Series, where they will meet the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers.

For Hader, who had 37 saves and a 0.806 WHIP this season, the meltdown was stunning. But, he had some bad luck in the inning, and he was his own worst enemy with shoddy command.

Summoned to protect a 3-1 lead, Hader could not throw his slider for a strike to save his life, which allowed Washington batters to completely disregard that pitch and key in on his fastball. And Hader did not command his fastball well either, routinely missing up and out of the zone.

Washington's Victor Robles actually did Hader a favor by striking out on a 3-2 fastball up and out of the zone to lead off the eighth inning. The Milwaukee left-hander was not so fortunate as the inning progressed.

The next batter, pinch-hitter Michael Taylor, also worked a full count. Hader's 3-2 fastball rode up and in and hit either Taylor's hand or the knob of Taylor's bat, depending on your perspective. It was a tough call -- it could have been ruled a foul ball -- but umpires determined it was a hit batsman, and the call held up under replay review.

Trea Turner also did Hader a favor by striking out swinging on a fastball up and out of the zone. That was the second out, and despite his shaky control, it appeared Hader might escape trouble.

However, Ryan Zimmerman muscled a broken-bat single to center field that advanced Taylor to third base. Hader made a good pitch there, but he was unlucky, as the weakly struck ball landed where nobody could catch it.

That brought up the leading RBI man in the NL, Anthony Rendon, who worked a walk on five pitches. Once again, Hader routinely missed high with his fastball, and he could not throw his slider for a strike.

That loaded the bases for Soto, who obviously noticed that Hader didn't throw a single low fastball the whole inning. Everything with velocity was top of the zone and up, and Soto lined a fastball at the top of the zone into right field for a single.

The ball appeared to take a funny kick on right fielder Trent Grisham. It got past him, and all three runners scored, turning a 3-1 Washington deficit into a 4-3 Nationals lead.

Milwaukee managed to tag Soto out in a rundown between second and third base on the play for the third out, but the damage had been done. The Brewers, who won 18 of their last 23 games in the regular season to earn the second wild card spot, went from being in command with their best reliever on the mound to being in big trouble.

Former White Sox prospect Daniel Hudson, now a veteran reliever, got three outs for the Nationals to earn a save, pitching around a Lorenzo Cain single in the top of the ninth.

For Washington and its fans, this had to be a bit of a catharsis. In each of the Nationals' last three playoff appearances, they had lost a winner-take-all game at home -- one loss each to the St. Louis Cardinals, Dodgers and Cubs.

The last time a Washington team won a winner-take-all game at home? Well, Walter Johnson was on the mound for the Senators in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series.

Quite a start to the playoffs, no?

Buyer's remorse? Five worst recent deadline deals, White Sox edition

The White Sox have had success adding pieces at the trade deadline, but it's maybe arguable they've had more failure making deals under duress. Here are the five worst July trades since 2000:

5. July 25, 2002: Traded Ray Durham and cash to the Oakland Athletics. Received Jon Adkins.

Durham was set to be a free agent at the end of the year and a July nosedive had taken the Sox from four games back in the AL Central in late June to 14 games behind Cleveland when Durham was traded.

Not wanting to sign the then-30-year-old Durham to a big contract, but determined to get something for him, the Sox took a flyer on Adkins. Which might have made sense if not for the fact that under baseball's last collective bargaining agreement, the Sox could have offered Durham arbitration and either gotten him to agree to an affordable one-year contract, or gotten draft pick compensation when he signed with another team.

The Sox might have been better off with that draft pick than watching Adkins flounder to a 5.08 ERA in just less than 80 innings in his Sox career. Sox fans probably would have more enjoyed another two months of Durham's under-appreciated career.

4. July 28, 2012: Traded Eduardo Escobar and Pedro Hernandez to the Minnesota Twins. Received Francisco Liriano.

Liriano was walking one of the valleys of an up-and-down career with the Twins, but as a left-hander with good velocity, he seemed like a good candidate to improve under the tutelage of Sox pitching coach Don Cooper.

Instead of recapturing the dominant form he had flashed at times since his rookie year, Liriano kept nibbling at the strike zone, walking too many batters and giving up home runs at inopportune times. Deciding they'd done all they could do with him, the Sox let Liriano walk in the offseason only to watch him have a resurgent year that helped carry Pittsburgh to the playoffs for the first time in more than two decades.

Liriano probably wouldn't have found that success in the American League, or without a ballpark that helps hide some of his flaws. And the Sox probably don't miss Escobar or Hernandez. It was still a disappointing outcome as Lirano's struggles were part of the reason a division title slipped through the Sox's fingers.

3. July 26, 2001: Traded James Baldwin and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Jeff Barry, Gary Majewski and Onan Masaoka.

The Sox predictably got little for Baldwin, who like Durham was set to be a free agent after the season in which he was traded. Unlike Durham, Baldwin wasn't very good.

What makes this trade embarrassing for the Sox is that they didn't actually want Jeff Barry, a journeyman minor league first baseman. They wanted pitching prospect Jonathan Berry.

Berry never made the majors, otherwise this would have been an embarrassment that could have lived on for years and years.

2. July 27, 2011: Traded Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart.

Instead of trading their best asset near the deadline, the Sox basically bundled it with Teahen's ill-advised contract for salary relief, plus the meh and bleh performances they'd respectively get from Frasor and Stewart.

Jackson certainly had value as the Jays immediately spun him off in a package for Cardinals center fielder Colby Rasmus. In a way Rasmus has been a hitting version of Jackson, with his up-and-down career that hasn't seen him reach his full potential. Though it's no doubt Rasmus' line with Toronto (.233/.295/.431) would make a number of Sox outfielders over the last three years envious.

No matter how crowded their rotation was at the time, or if Rasmus or someone similar would have been available in a similar package, the Sox should have done much better in any deal with Jackson while he was near the peak of his value.

1. July 30, 2010: Traded David Holmberg and Daniel Hudson to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Edwin Jackson.

Jackson graces the list twice, coming and going. Even though Jackson had one the better stretches of his career with the Sox (3.66 ERA over 196 2/3 innings), it was an awful idea to trade the young Hudson for him straight up, much less adding another prospect in Holmberg.

The Sox were concerned Hudson's fly ball tendencies wouldn't play in their ballpark. They were frustrated that he nibbled at the plate in his brief audition with the big club. And they were worried he would get hurt.

The injury concerns were validated when Hudson needed elbow surgery during the 2012 season, and then needed another during his comeback attempt. Still, he pitched to a 3.58 ERA over 347 innings for the Diamondbacks (who also play in a homer-friendly park) before his injuries. He also did it for nearly league minimum salaries.

Besides not getting good value back in Jackson, it was rumored the Sox had only traded for him in an attempt to pry Adam Dunn away from the Washington Nationals. When Nats GM Mike Rizzo either backed out, or the Jackson-for-Dunn swap wasn't as solid as Sox GM Kenny Williams had believed, the Sox were stuck with Jackson and ended up claiming Manny Ramirez off waivers in August to bolster their offense instead.

All of this was to help hold on to an unlikely division lead grabbed after an unreal 26-5 stretch during June and July. And the Sox did lead as late as Aug. 8, but the reinforcements didn't really matter much as the team slid to a double-digit deficit by mid-September. 

That the Sox were willing to spend big bucks to keep their run alive in 2010 only made it more frustrating when they punted in 2011 just to save a few bucks they never would have had the need to spend if they'd kept Hudson around.