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.