For the past few weeks, I’ve been down on the Washington Nationals. (Please understand that I’m from Wisconsin, and the Nats crushed my Miller Park playoff dreams.) But the Nats deserve some serious credit. It was a toss-up whether they would win the wild card game against my Brewers last week. They were severe underdogs in the NLDS against Los Angeles. In fact, they were such long shots to win the series that the Dodgers, and probably all of their fans, are still in a state of shock the day after the Nats came back from a two-run deficit to beat the Dodgers.
Earlier this week, I said the Nats have an undeniable “Cinderella Story” vibe about them. I’m on the verge of upgrading that to “a team of destiny.” The only other team that rivals the Nats’ unpredictable success would be the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays’ fate remains a mystery until they face the Houston Astros in an elimination game Thursday night. If the Rays pull a stunner, it will make for two extremely interesting league championship series.
Whether the Nats continue on their hot streak or fall to the St. Louis Cardinals (who clinched their series Wednesday night with 10 first inning runs against the Atlanta Braves) this Washington team has given the city something worth celebrating.
As we all know, days in the Beltway can get long and tiresome. The relentlessness of the environment in Washington can turn even the most optimistic among us into downtrodden cynics.
Yet, the Nats have refused to give in to cynicism. They’ve ignored the naysayers and banded together as a team to fight the odds. Their belief in themselves has made the rest of us believe. The appetite for something, anything, positive in Washington is ravenous.
Don’t believe me? Look around.
On a normal day, a commuter in Washington exposes themselves to multiple collisions with people who can’t be bothered to look up from their cell phones, motorists running through stop signs into pedestrian crossings, and backpack-clad scooter enthusiasts who occupy sidewalks with abandon.
But thanks to the Nats’ win, people are smiling. A few folks actually made eye contact with each other, a miracle in today’s urban society. Some of my political colleagues who have never watched a full baseball game in their lives couldn’t wait to get my thoughts on Wednesday night’s game and speculate about the Nats’ chances against St. Louis. There’s electricity in the air, and for once it’s not the anxiety-inducing, gut-wrenching kind.
It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s exactly what this town needs, especially right now.
For that reason (and the fact that they knocked out the Dodgers, the team who ended Brewers’ fans World Series dreams last year) this Milwaukee Brewers fan is officially on the Washington Nationals’ bandwagon. Though, for transparency’s sake, I do think it’s important to note here (as I did to many unfriendly Nats fans last week) that I’ve held Nats season tickets for the past two years.
To the Washington Nationals, good luck as you take on the Cardinals in the NLCS. You’re giving this city something that it desperately needs: positivity and optimism — even if it’s just for October.
Nicole Tieman is a Wisconsin native, unapologetic fan of the Milwaukee Brewers, and general lover of baseball. In her spare time, she’s a communications professional on Capitol Hill.
