This week I will be discussing game four in the series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals.

The St. Louis Cardinals finished the regular season with a record of 91-71, while the Washington Nationals finished the season with a record of 93-69.

This series was the National League Championship Series, or NLCS, meaning that the winner of this series is the National League champions, and advances on to play the winner of the American League Championship Series in the World Series.

Game Four of the NLCS was won by the Washington Nationals, winning them the best of seven series four games to zero. They won this game by a score of seven to four. This was especially surprising, as the Nationals had to win through a one-game playoff between the two wild card teams, two best of five Division Series playoffs (DS) featuring the wild-card winner and the winner of each division, and finally the best-of-seven ​League Championship Series (LCS) to make it to where they are today.

Dating to the final week of the regular season, Washington has won 16 of its past 18 games.

This month alone, the Nationals beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL wild-card game after trailing 3-1 heading to the eighth, and eliminated the league best Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the NL Division Series after trailing 3-1 heading to the eighth again.

The wild card Nationals got RBI from middle of the order stars Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in a seven-run first inning Tuesday night, and Patrick Corbin’s 12-strikeout performance plus a trio of relievers helped hold on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 in Game 4 to complete a sweep in the NLCS.

This marks the city’s first World Series appearance since 1933, much to the excitement of all of the Washington fans. The last time the World Series came to the nation’s capital, more than eight decades ago, the Washington Senators lost to the New York Giants in five games. Have to go even further back, to 1924, for the city’s lone baseball championship, when the Senators defeated the Giants.

Now the Nationals get plenty of time to rest and set up their so far terrific rotation before beginning the last series of the season against the Houston Astros or New York Yankees in a week. Houston leads the best of seven American League Championship Series 2-1 after winning Game 3 at New York 4-1 Tuesday.