Houston Astros: Hats off to the Nats for being ultimate competitors

The Houston Astros came up short in Game 7 of the World Series, allowing the Nationals to win their first championship. Hats off but what went wrong?

It’s official Houston Astros fans — the Washington Nationals are the newly-crowned world champs and there’s nothing that we can do about it now that it has happened.  This was an incredible series to watch that was filled with emotion, pride, showmanship and it featured two teams hungry to win a title.

It just happened to be that the Houston Astros‘ opponent in the 2019 World Series was just a bit hungrier than they were.  No matter what the circumstances, the Nats always had the answer to whatever riddle the Houston Astros would put in front of them, being able to respond soundly with the crack of their bats.

Juan Soto, with the amazing amount of poise he had with his youth and with Howie Kendrick, being able to get it done as he enters the latter stages of his career were the anchors to a team that was evenly blended of youth as those advanced in age.

Trea Turner has a bright future and I think he’ll be terrorizing defenses for years to come with strong yet blazing-fast baserunning.

Ryan Zimmerman, Kurt Suzuki, Victor Robles, Adam Eaton, Asdrubal Cabrera, Anthony Rendon all provided some sort of boost to this team’s magical run through the postseason.

They just were deft at being able to convert runners off the basepaths to home plate and that’s where the Houston Astros were kicked in the teeth.

They went from grinding out a tough win over the Milwaukee Brewers to stunning the baseball gods by toppling over the Los Angeles Dodgers and then they embarrassed the St. Louis Cardinals, to which some consider baseball royalty.

It’s absolutely impressive to see them pull off such a feat and with the Houston Astros in the way, our team took them to the brink to have them earn it against among who many ceded as the best team in baseball this past season.

The Nationals have changed that narrative and they will be the talk of the town now as they should be.  This championship run was so unique with their horrible start to the season, the health issues that Dave Martinez went through while working his earnest and the team getting hot at the right time down the stretch toward the end of the season.

The Houston Astros could very well sweep the seasonal awards with either Justin Verlander or

More from House of Houston

• Are you the 2021 FanSided Sports Fan of the Year?
• Houston Texans: 4 reasons Romeo Crennel is right coach right now
• Astros-Twins Wild Card Series: 5 things to know as MLB postseason begins
• Houston Texans: The Most Underrated Sports Drought Ever
• Houston Texans: J.J. Watt’s early case for NFL Hall of Fame

Gerrit Cole picking up AL Cy Young Award honors, Alex Bregman could be MVP and Yordan Alvarez could be Rookie of the Year.

These awards have a bittersweet taste in one’s mouth as they had an opportunity to accentuate their accolades with another championship to boot.

That’s not going to happen and the Houston Astros will have to try again.  But as the years wear on, it’s going to get tougher as this franchise will have to make some important decisions about future free agents.

The main concern is Cole, who is a free agent.  Will he stay to an agreeable deal just be a part of the Houston Astros?  Or does he cash in elsewhere to get his first windfall of cash in his career?  We’ll be finding that out this winter but I certainly hope that Cole decides to be a member of the team if a fair offer is made.

Regardless, this team is set to be talented for years to come and Houston Astros‘ baseball will still be fun to watch.

Congrats again the Nationals — let’s go Houston Astros — I can’t wait until 2020!