I wrote back in June that the St Louis Blues hockey team won their first Stanley Cup Championship after being worst in the league with nearly half a season gone. (They won only 15 of their first 37 games, 40.5%.) It’s deja vu all over again with the Washington Nationals winning their first World Series after starting the season winning only 19 of their first 50 games (38%). 

Proving, once again, it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

Moreover, the Nationals had to win five elimination games, counting the one-game wild-card playoff. In each of those games, they were behind at some point in the game, usually late in the game. 

It’s the first time in any sport that all the games in a 7-game series were won by the visiting team. 

As Winston Churchill said: 

Never give up.

As the Nationals’ sweatshirts read:

Finish the Fight

At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. (2 Corinthians 4.8, Passion Translation)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4.7, ESV)