{"id":16264,"date":"2019-11-04T10:20:13","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T15:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16264"},"modified":"2019-11-04T10:20:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T15:20:13","slug":"ranking-the-top-nats-post-season-games-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16264","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the top Nats post-season games of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The new Nats #1 all -time game. Photo via nytimes.com<\/p><\/div>\n

In the wake of the 2019 World Series run, I thought (while its fresh in everyone’s mind) it’d be a fun one to try to rank all the Nats post-season games.<\/p>\n

I put in my top 10, then put in all the other candidates in chronological order.\u00a0 For years I had a running list that conflated regular season exploits and post-season glory; now there’s so many games to consider just from 2019 that I’ve separated them in my (future) larger list of Best and Worst games.\u00a0 As it turns out, I’ve got 8 of our top 10 post-season games now being from the 2019 run.<\/p>\n

Feel free to discuss and tell me i’m wrong.\u00a0 Nicely please \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Greatest Nats Post Season Games<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. October 30th, 2019<\/strong>: WS Game 7 win.\u00a0\u00a0Scherzer<\/strong>\u00a0throws 5 heroic innings, the Nats beat\u00a0Greinke<\/strong>\u00a0with a\u00a0Rendon<\/strong>\u00a0homer and a\u00a0Kendrick<\/strong>\u00a0homer to seal it, then run away to take Game 7.<\/li>\n
  2. October 9th, 2019<\/strong>: NLDS Game 5<\/a>:\u00a0Howie Kendrick<\/strong>\u00a0caps a come-from-behind win with a grand slam in the 10th to exorcise the Nats playoff daemons and seal their first ever playoff series win,\u00a07-3 over the Dodgers.<\/li>\n
  3. October 29th 2019<\/strong>: WS Game 6 win;\u00a0Strasburg<\/strong>\u00a0masterpiece,\u00a0Turner<\/strong>\u00a0controversy at first,\u00a0Rendon\u00a0<\/strong>homer exploits, another elimination game rally.\u00a0 This game had it all.<\/li>\n
  4. October 11th, 2012<\/strong>:\u00a0NLDS Game 4<\/span><\/span>:\u00a0Jayson Werth<\/strong>\u00a0walk-off homer<\/a>\u00a0in an epic battle against\u00a0Lance Lynn<\/strong>, hitting the 13th pitch of the at-bat (!!) on a line-drive into the seats.\u00a0 Ironic that what I think is the most special game in Nats franchise history occurred the day before what I consider to be the worst game in franchise history.\u00a0 (note; thanks to my former coworker Eric Hay for correcting me on my pitch count memory here in the comments).<\/li>\n
  5. October 1st, 2019<\/strong>:\u00a0come-from-behind Wild Card win<\/a>\u00a0over Milwaukee on\u00a0Juan Soto<\/strong>‘s bases-clearing single in the 8th against super reliever\u00a0Josh Hader<\/strong>. \u00a0First ever franchise “win-or-go-home” victory.<\/li>\n
  6. October 11th, 2019<\/strong>: NLCS Game 1:\u00a0Anibal Sanchez<\/strong>\u00a0keeps a no-hitter into the 8th and the team blanks St. Louis to steal game one on the road and set the tone for what became a 4-0 sweep.<\/li>\n
  7. October 9th, 2016<\/strong>:\u00a0NLDS Game 2 comeback win<\/a>\u00a0over the Dodgers: after dropping the first game in a missed opportunity, the Nats fell behind quickly 2-0 and the crowd was quiet, worried and lethargic. \u00a0That all ended when the team put some runners on base for\u00a0Jose Lobaton<\/strong>, who clubbed a 3-run homer into a stiff wind coming in from left; the crowd exploded, the team relaxed and they tacked on a couple of runs later for a 5-2 win.<\/li>\n
  8. October 12th, 2019<\/strong>: NLCS Game 2:\u00a0Scherzer<\/strong>\u00a0throws seven innings of one hit dominant ball to power the Nats to the win and the surprising two game sweep on the road.<\/li>\n
  9. October 22nd, 2019<\/strong>: WS Game 1: The offense surprisingly gets to Astros ace\u00a0Gerritt Cole\u00a0<\/strong>while Scherzer holds on for the shock game 1 win in Houston.<\/li>\n
  10. October 23rd, 2019<\/strong>: WS Game 2: The Nats explode on Astros pitching for 12 runs to shock the baseball world and take a 2-0 series lead.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I’m putting the 2019 WC winner just below the Werth homer.\u00a0 I realize this is not a popular take; I like the way that frequent commenter MarkL put it in a discussion just after the WC game:\u00a0 “[the WC winner] excitement level is #2 after the Werth game but #1 in importance.”\u00a0 I agree with that sentiment.\u00a0 If the Soto hit had been a walk-off we wouldn’t be having this argument; it’d easily be #1.\u00a0 But its ok for a non-clinching game to be considered great; consider that most pundits put Game 6 of the 1975 World Series (aka the “Fisk\u00a0 homer”) as the greatest game of the last 50 years…. and it was won by a team that went out the next day and lost game 7.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter in the end, since the Kendrick homer trumped them both, and then the WS winner trumped all.<\/p>\n

    Post season honorable mentions<\/strong>\u00a0(in chronological order):<\/p>\n