16 months ago, we got to attend a victory parade in Washington, DC for the first time in a long while.

Yesterday, on November 2, 2019, it happened again. This time we got to gather along Constitution Ave to fete the victorious Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball’s 2019 World Series Champions.

Of course the racing presidents made an appearance. Here’s George on a Capital Bikeshare bike.

The DC Police Department led things off.

With a 162 game regular season schedule that unwinds over 6 months, a city’s baseball fans are given the opportunity to witness a new story every year. It begins in February when pitchers and catcher report to spring training, and comes to its conclusion sometime in October. Most years, the story ends in disappointment, tragedy, or some combination of both. For the Washington Nationals in 2019, it ended yesterday in a triumphant parade.

Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Fernando Rodney

Much like the Washington Capitals in 2018, the story of this Nationals team was one of struggle, of “fight”, of a silly song for toddlers, and of doing the impossible. The team famously started 19-31 in their first 50 games, and were summarily written off (rightly) by nearly anyone that was paying attention.

Anthony Rendon basking in the glow of a championship.

Sean Doolittle swings his light saber to the delight of the crowd.

Then a funny thing happened: they went “1-0”. Again. And again. And again.

They went 1-0 often enough that they found themselves in the playoffs again. Then they kept doing it, until they went “one and oh” on the last day of the season; winning game 7 of the World Series in Houston.

Brian Dozier in one of the few moments during the parade when he had a shirt on.

This story had a lot of heroes: Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Howie Kendrick, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, and Ryan Zimmerman, just to name a few. It also had more than its share of exciting chapters, punctuated by important strikeouts, clutch hits, and invaluable defensive plays. Mostly though, the story was about fighting hard, refusing to give up, and trying to win each day before worrying about the next.

Ryan Zimmerman holding onto the Commissioner’s Trophy while sharing a laugh with Davey Martinez

The story of this championship team had plenty of ups and downs, plenty of dark moments, and more than its share of near misses, but when each day had that goal of “1-0”, there was no individual setback was too big. No obstacle that could not be overcome. Each chapter did not end with a victory, but it did end with the opportunity for another chance, and ultimately the last chapter ended with a trophy and this parade.

It’s a story that I’ll remember fondly for many years to come.

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