The Washington Nationals recently made walk-off history with ten straight wins, but are now struggling to rise above the Phillies. The Nationals have fallen to the Phillies 3-2 on Monday and 4-3 on Tuesday. Despite the recent losses, Nationals fans have not ceased to discuss the possibility of a Beltway World Series against the Orioles.
In order for this to happen, both teams will need to advance to postseason. The Nationals are in first place of the National League with 75 wins and 56 losses while the Orioles are in third place of the American League with 75 wins and 55 losses. After the 162-game regular season, the top two teams in each division and the two teams below them, the wild cards, enter the playoff season. Next, both teams must win their League Championship Series. The series for each league consists of a one-game wild-card playoff between the two wild card teams; two best-of-five Division Series including the wild-card winner and the winner of the division; and finally the best-of-seven League Championship Series.
If the National’s win the National League Championship Series and the Orioles win the American League Championship Series they will face off in the best-of-seven Beltway World Series. The odds are small, but many seem to have hope. Professionals are guessing on a 0-15% range that this will happen, and Bryce Harper, Nationals outfielder, even commented, despite the baseball mentality to only look toward the next game, taking it one step at a time. It was near the end of the Nationals 10-game winning streak when he joined “MLB Tonight” for an on-field interview after the Nationals’ 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
“Man, it would be so epic to have a Beltway World Series,” said Harper, “Us against them. Have just an amazing crowd every single night. When we play them, it’s pretty insane in both ballparks. That would be pretty incredible for that to happen. Hopefully, we can both get there and make some bigger buzz coming into every single day we play.”
Others are looking at the statistics.
“I don’t think it would be likely to have a Beltway World Series because, although both teams hold a solid lead over their respective divisions, the Nationals haven’t won a single postseason series since moving to Washington in 2003,” said Anika Malik, sophomore, “Also, the Orioles would have to get past both the Angels and the Athletics, the two teams that hold the best records. Although both teams will more than likely get to the postseason, I don’t think they will face each other in the World Series.”
Even with the backup of statistics and hope to lean on, no one can predict the future, leaving the world anxiously awaiting the results.
