Nationals advance to first World Series

The Washington Nationals advanced to their first World Series Tuesday night with a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, completing a sweep in the National League Championship Series.

The victory defied skepticism of the Nationals’ abilities during the regular season and will bring the World Series to the nation’s capital for the first time since 1933, when the Washington Senators faced off against the New York Giants.

{mosads}The Nationals, who ended the regular season with a 93-69 record, also had to face a wild-card game against the Milwaukee Brewers and defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had the second-best regular season record in baseball, in the National League Division Series.

The Nationals scored all seven of their runs in the first inning Tuesday night, and the Cardinals responded with a three-run fifth inning. Washington did not allow another run for the rest of the game.

Despite a rocky start to the season, the Nationals have been on a tear, now winning 16 of their last 18 games, including the postseason.

The Nationals will now face either the New York Yankees or Houston Astros in the World Series, two baseball juggernauts who are slugging it out in the American League Championship Series. The Astros currently have a 2-1 lead in the series. 

The last Washington baseball team to win a World Series was the 1924 Senators, who won in seven games. 

The first game of the 2019 World Series will be played on Oct. 22 in either Houston or New York.