The Washington Nationals won the American League East Division on Monday night, and Michelle and I were there to be a part of this historic achievement. Some friends of ours had two extra tickets and were nice enough to invite us to go with them. The tickets were ground level, in center field, right behind Bryce Harper!
As the season in MLB draws to a close, the teams that are in playoff contention start figuring out how many games they would have to win or that the closest contender for their playoff spot would have to lose. This number is called the 'magic number' in baseball. Going into Monday night's game, the Nats' magic number was down to 1. This meant that if either the Nats won or the Braves lost, the Nats would become champions of their division and clinch a playoff spot.
The Nats were down most of the game, and they did in fact end up losing the game. Right at the end of the bottom of the eigth inning though, right before the Nats went out to bat to start the top of the ninth, the anouncer informed the crowd that the Pirates had just beat the Braves, and that the 'Division Champion Washington Nationals' would be going to bat. All the scoreboards and monitors throughout the stadium showed that the Nats were division champions, and the crowd basically went crazy. It was for precisely this moment that I had wanted to attend the game. It was fantastic! Of course, it would have been nice if the Nats won their game and then celebrated the division championship, but this worked too. When the game was over, and the Nats were back in the locker room, the monitors showed them celebrating (despite losing).
I am looking forward to playoff baseball more this year than in any other past year that I can remember. I am even thinking about buying a Bryce Harper jersey (they're not cheap!).
