Max effort epitomizes never-say-die champs
HOUSTON — The end made all that came before it worthwhile. All the strikeouts. All the homers. All the questions of the 2019 season about first the liveliness of the baseball and then its deflation.
Game 7 of the 115th World Series goes into the forever basket because of Max Scherzer’s grit, Zack Greinke’s greatness and — most notably — the Nationals’ grind. The Nats played out their whole season on Wednesday night. Seemingly dead, until they weren’t. Knocked down. But not out.
“It’s kind of what we did all year,” said Ryan Zimmerman, the first pick ever of the Washington Nationals in 2005, a champion first baseman in 2019.
These Nationals survived a 19-31 start and ultimately five elimination games in October. In the fifth of those do-or-dies, they were dominated by Greinke’s precision for two-thirds of a game. Astros fans were counting outs to a second title in three years. Minute Maid Park was rocking in joy, anticipation, dynasty possibilities.
Maybe it was fitting that Halloween would be the next day. Because these Nationals are Michael Myers. They just won’t die.
So now they live forever. As the first champion from the 51-season lineage that began with the Montreal Expos. As the first Series winner to call Washington home since the 1924 Senators. As the first team in NBA, NHL or MLB history to take a best-of-seven series by capturing all of its games on the road. They did so against the behemoth that had the majors’ best overall record and best home record, rallying then pulling away on the final day of the season to win 6-2 in a thrilling, dramatic, worth-the-wait Game 7.
The Astros are the best club of the last three years, but it is hard to win titles. Harder still when the opponent merges fortitude and fearlessness. For years the Nats were talented team that could not prosper in the postseason; Washington this time around scoffed at history and degree of difficulty. This version proved to be both pesky gnats and fierce Nats.
“It’s just the way these guys have been all year,” Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said on the field amid the celebration. “Even when we were playing badly, we still got after it. We willed our way here.”
Scherzer personified the team Wednesday night. He had been scratched from Game 5 with neck/trapezius muscle spasms that debilitated movement. But cortisone, tenacity and adrenaline had him warming up late in
Game 6 and on the mound in Game 7. He was not Max Scherzer in talent in the decisive contest. But was in mettle.
He never had a 1-2-3 inning in his five frames. He lacked the elite swing-andmiss finish to his pitches. Davey Martinez had inning after traffic-filled inning to take him out. Yet, the Nationals manager invested in Scherzer’s heart, if not his talent — plus he just didn’t trust his bullpen. The Astros grinded Scherzer for 103 pitches in five innings. They received a Yuli Gurriel homer in the second and a Carlos Correa RBI single with two outs in the fifth to lead 2-0. But they were squandering more than they were producing.
Houston managed just two hits in 13 atbats with men on base against Scherzer — one in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position. They had opened the door for regret. Nevertheless, Greinke seemed poise to close it. He had not had a good postseason. But through six innings he allowed just two base runners and no runs and had thrown only 67 pitches.
“It’s the last game, what else can you do [but keep believing]?” Zimmerman said.
With one out in the seventh, Anthony Rendon unleashed the Nats’ attack with a homer that drew Washington within 2-1. Houston manager A.J. Hinch stayed with Greinke, who walked Juan Soto.
Gerrit Cole had walked to the bullpen in the fifth. Closer Roberto Osuna had not been heavily used in this series. But Hinch turned to Will Harris, so good all postseason, but having given up a homer to Rendon in Game 6.
Howie Kendrick had been such a difference-maker in the Nats’ run to the NL pennant, specifically with his 10th-inning grand slam to win the decisive Division Series Game 5 over the Dodgers. But he had been mostly quiet in the World Series. Before lifting a Harris cutter to the opposite field and off the right-field foul pole. The two-run homer put the Nats ahead. And it stunned and quieted the crowd. The Astros felt like they were way ahead on points in this game, but they were not way ahead on the score. Now, they were behind — for the rest of 2019.
The Nationals, who seemed done in May, whose manager was on life support, now get a parade, rings, forever status. They endured a three-game losing streak at home, in the World Series and flew to Houston to win it all. They return to the nation’s capital, D.C.
Definitely Champions. joel.sherman@nypost.com