All season long the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros were the best teams in their respective leagues and looked to be on a collision course for a rematch of the 2017 World Series.
Of course, baseball has proven time and time again to be an unpredictable sport. The postseason rarely ever plays out as expected, and that was the case this year as both the Dodgers and Astros were defeated by a Wild Card team in the Washington Nationals.
After coming from behind to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, the Nationals faced the juggernaut Dodgers in the National League Division Series. It went five games and although the Dodgers held a late lead in the decisive Game 5, the Nationals were again able to come back and defeat them.
It marked a shocking end to Los Angeles’ historic season in which they won a franchise-record 106 games. After sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series, the Nationals then met up with the Astros in the Fall Classic and it was much of the same.
The series went seven games and Houston held a late lead, but Washington rallied once more to hoist their first World Series trophy.
The Nationals’ run is one of the most improbable in history considering they held a 19-31 record in May and were counted out by many before going on to win all five of their elimination games in October.
Dodgers reliever Casey Sadler was among those that took to social media after Game 7 to congratulate the Nationals for their historic run:
If you had to beat us, you might as well win the whole dang thing. @Nationals. Congratulations! #WorldSeries
— Casey Sadler (@sadler_squared) October 31, 2019
The Dodgers acquired Sadler from the Tampa Bay Rays in the middle of the season in 2019 and he was solid, pitching to a 2.33 ERA in 24 appearances. He was left off the postseason roster though so did not get a chance to face the Nationals in the NLDS.
In that Game 5 between the Dodgers and Nationals at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles held a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning before Clayton Kershaw gave up back-to-back home runs to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. Washington wound up winning the game in 10 innings after Howie Kendrick hit a back-breaking grand slam off Joe Kelly.
Sadler and his teammates will have plenty of time to think about that tough loss as they prepare for the 2020 season, where they should once again be among the favorites to win it all.
