Was the middle finger up for “We’re number 1?”
The numbers are fun to look at for these 2019 Nationals who defied the odds to win the World Series. They won their first game of the season on a walk-off home run by Trea Turner, and they won their final game of the postseason on a Howie Kendrick home run. We all know about the 19-31 record on the morning of May 24th, and the fact the Nats won 93 games in the regular season, and they won 105 games between the regular season and the postseason. The most important number is the Nats won the 7th game of the World Series fulfilling Davey Martinez’s mantra of going 1-0.
So here is the Top-40 numbers of the postseason:
#1: The Nats went 1-0 to finish the postseason. They were the only team that won the final game of the baseball season. Manager Dave Martinez‘s vision became reality.
#2: The Nationals had two triples in the postseason
#3: Three runs scored on Juan Soto‘s single with bases loaded to win the Wild Card game. The Nats also won 3 winner-take-all games.
#4 The Nats swept the Cardinals in four games in the NLCS
#5: The number of wins Stephen Strasburg had in the postseason which was a record. The Nats also won 5 win-or-go-home elimination games. Michael A. Taylor had a 5.000 OPS (h/t to stever20) in the World Series and the only way to do that is to hit a HR in every at-bat, and MAT was 1-1 in the WS and that one hit was a home run.
#6: The Nats combined for six saves in the postseason. Daniel Hudson had four saves and Sean Doolittle had two saves. “Late and great”, Anthony Rendon reached base safely six times in the 7th inning or later in the five elimination games going walk, home run, double, home run, double, home run, for a nice 5-7 (h/t Sec112).
#7: The World Series was the first time the Nats played seven games in a series.
#8: Anthony Rendon led the Nats with eight RBIs in the World Series. The Nats had a spectacular eight hits with bases loaded in sixteen at-bats. Two of those bases loaded hits won win-or-go-home games with Soto in the Wild Card and Kendrick in Game 5 of the NLDS with a grand slam against the Dodgers in the 10th inning.
#9: Juan Soto led the Nats with nine hits in the World Series. The Nats pitchers had nine quality starts in the postseason.
#10: Trea Turner scored 10 runs in the postseason. Nats pitchers stranded ten Astros baserunners in Game 7 of the World Series (h/t Sec112).
#11: The number of home runs the Nats hit in the World Series was eleven
#12: The number of wins the Nationals had in the postseason was twelve
#13: The Nats had thirteen sacrifices in the postseason 9 Sac Bunts 4 Sac Flies
#14: Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 Astros in the World Series
#15: Anthony Rendon drove in 15 runs in the postseason. Adam Eaton had 15 hits in the postseason. Victor Robles had 15 total bases in the postseason which included a home run, triple, double, and six singles.
#16: The Nats had sixteen pinch-hitting at-bats in the postseason (5-16) with a .313 BA
#17: The Nats played seventeen games in this postseason going 12-5
#18: Anibal Sanchez pitched 18.0 innings in the postseason including a no-hitter for 7 2/3 innings in Game 1 of the NLCS
#19: The Nats hit nineteen home runs in the postseason
#20: The Nats scored twenty runs off of the Cardinals in the NLCS, and Nats pitchers only gave up five earned runs in the NLCS.
#21: The Nats batters scored twenty-one runs off of the Dodgers in the NLDS
#22: Juan Soto‘s jersey number is 22. Twenty-two days after his game winning hit in the Wild Card game he hit a double, walked twice, and scored two runs in the Nats’ victory over the Astros in game 2 of the World Series. h/t to Section222
#23: Patrick Corbin pitched 23 1/3 innings in the postseason
#24: Ryan Zimmerman had twenty-four at-bats in the World Series
#25: Howie Kendrick had twenty-five at-bats in the World Series
#26: Nats pitchers gave up twenty-six doubles in the postseason
#27: The number of walks the Nats batters had in the World Series. Also the number of doubles the Nats had in the postseason.
#28: Howie Kendrick had twenty-eight total bases in the postseason
#29: The Nats averaged twenty-nine at-bats per home run in the postseason
#30: Asdrubal Cabrera had thirty at-bats in the postseason
#31: Yan Gomes had thirty-one plate appearances in the postseason
#32: The Nats offense had thirty-two hits in RISP situations in the postseason in 122 chances. The Nats regular season RISP BA was .279 (5th in the Majors) and was .262 in the postseason (1st in the postseason).
#33: The number of runs scored by the Nats in the World Series was thirty-three
#34: No Nats player or coach wore that jersey number in 2019. As Section222 pondered, that player will still be wondering, “Where’s My Ring?”
#35: Kurt Suzuki had thirty-five plate appearances in the postseason
#36: Patrick Corbin threw thirty-six strikeouts in the postseason
#37: Max Scherzer threw thirty-seven strikeouts in the postseason
#38: The Nats averaged 37.8 plate appearances per game in the postseason
#39: Juan Soto had thirty-nine plate appearances between the NLDS and NLCS
#40: Adam Eaton had forty plate appearances between the NLDS and NLCS
If you have any numbers to add to the A.T. 40, post some suggestions below!
