WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals open a three-game series Monday against New York that could have a lot to do with whether they advance to baseball鈥檚 postseason. It’s a setup similar to the path D.C. followed聽to the city’s only World Series win, in 1924.
“The Nationals really came into the (2015) season as preseason World Series favorites – nobody saw the Mets as contenders,” Fred Frommer, the author of 鈥淵ou Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball,鈥� tells 海角精品黑料.
But after a rough August, games versus the New York Mets this week and聽 could make or break Washington’s playoff future. Going into the series Monday, for the top spot in the聽National League East.
“It’s this re-kindling of this really old history, this really old rivalry between New York and Washington,” Frommer says.
In 1924, Washington’s world championship depended on besting聽New York twice:聽the and the Yankees in the regular season.
The success of Washington, a perennial underdog, in ’24 was nearly unimaginable, and their unlikely run gained them a lot of followers. 聽Frommer says that the Senators were so popular that crowds at Washington’s road games cheered them.
It was also a matter of the Yankees being hated — even then, Frommer says,聽“everyone was so sick of the Yankees winning every single time.”
That was especially true in — where else? — Boston. 聽were in Boston when they edged out to advance to the Series, and the Boston-New York rivalry was also in full effect.
“When the Senators clinched the pennant in Boston, fans at Fenway Park rushed the field and carried the聽Senators off the field in celebration, they were so happy for them,” Frommer exclaims.
