By Lorenzo Serrato, Reporter

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

The Fall Classic is finally upon us, and this year was extra special. The Houston Astros and Washington Nationals partook in the 155th World Series.

Heading into the American League Championship Series, the Astros were challenged by the powerful New York Yankees. With hot bats such as Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, and George Springer, the Astros defeated the Yankees in six games.

The Astros finished the regular season 107-55, holding not only the best record in the American League, but in all of Major League Baseball. They were successfully able to knock off the resilient Tampa Bay Rays in a close fought best of five American League Division Series, with the help of dominant starting pitching from Astros ace, Gerrit Cole. Cole went 8 innings, with 10 strikeouts, holding the Rays to a lonely one run. His dominance from the regular season has been in full effect this postseason.

In the National League, the Washington Nationals came in as quite the underdogs. Coming in as a Wild Card team, the Nationals defeated the Brewers in a one game playoff. Beating the Brewers was only the beginning, as the Nationals went on to defeat the Dodgers in a hard-fought best of five series.

Heading into the National League Championship Series, the Nationals had a clash with the Cardinals. Pitching was dominant for Washington, as stars like Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg paved their way to the World Series. In search of their first World Series in franchise history, the Nationals were tasked to face arguably the best team in baseball.

The 2019 World Series was everything expected, as the series went a full seven games. In a back and forth series, neither team won a game at home. Game seven was played in Houston, where the Astros were a game away from cultivating its second championship in franchise history. 

On the flip side, the resilient Nationals were one game shy of capturing its first World Series in franchise history. Right-hander Zack Grienke took the ball for Houston, and Max Scherzer went for Washington. In a packed house at Minute Maid Park, the atmosphere and energy were as good as it gets. Scherzer kept his club in the fight, only allowing two runs through five innings.

Astros starter Zack Greinke was everything advertised, going six innings and allowing only two runs. The top of the seventh was highlighted by Nationals veteran infielder Howie Kendrick, who hit a two-run homer to give Washington a 3-2 lead in the seventh.

The rest was history as the Nationals stormed on to add three more runs giving them a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. With three outs to go, the Nationals perfectly completed the ninth inning, crowning them 2019 World Series Champions, the first title in the Nation’s Capital.