NL Wild Card: Not Exactly Predictable

So I feel like a lot of people predicted that the Nationals would win, but like...not like this.

Like, the general thought with this matchup is 'oh, Scherzer's on the mound, game over'. But...Max Scherzer gives up a 2-run home run to Yasmani Grandal, and suddenly the odds are being rewritten. That was the most unexpected part of the night. That the day had to be saved FROM Max Scherzer.

The other bit of unpredictability is Josh Hader coming on, and everyone thinking 'oh, now he'll wrap it up'. He loads the bases, then Juan Soto gets up and gets a 3-run RBI sac TRIPLE, which...shouldn't have worked conceptually. But that's how Childish Bambino works, man. He's all for the team, and nothing for himself.

So...the Nats won, but...it was a lot closer than a lot of us thought. Still, it's Stephen Strasburg's fault that they held off the Brewers' lineup, and even if it means he won't start til like Game 2 or 3 of the NLDS...Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez are more than ready for LA.

Excited to see how the Nats will do, though...knowing what they're up against, it'll be hard to see them finally breaking their winless streak in the postseason this decade.

As for the losers...

Man, they put up a fight. They came to life in September when everyone thought they were dead, and damn near beat out the Cardinals for the NL Central. But deep down, the 2019 Brewers just weren't as good as their predecessors. If you're trying to make a playoff run WITHOUT Christian Yelich, you're not gonna get very far. So even if guys like Grandal, Chase Anderson, Brandon Woodruff and Keston Hiura worked wonders for them in 2019, it just didn't work out, sadly.

Tomorrow night, we get our AL Wild Card. I'm expecting a high-scoring game.