Tonight was an exciting night.  The Nationals clinched the National League East Division with a 3-0 win over their rivals, the Atlanta Braves.  This is the second time in three years that the Nats have won the Championship.

The Nationals had high expectations in 2013, but didn’t fulfill it. The Atlanta Braves were the winners that year.  But last night, the Nats were the winners and extinguished (get it- Fireman Bryce, extinguish) the Braves from the playoffs.

This 2014 campaign ended with champagne, and it began a new chapter to the story. This is definitely an accomplishment for the Nats after a tough season, stuffed with injuries, setbacks and overturned challenges. I think the turning point was when the Nationals went on 10-game winning streak.  At the same time, the Braves played great baseball but struggled to make up any ground.  The Nats pulled away to a 14.5 game lead and closed the door on the Braves on their home field.

And as color commentator F.P. Santangelo said on the TV broadcast, D.C. stands for Division Champs.

The Nationals’ cross-town rivals, the Baltimore Orioles, also won their Division last night for the first time since 1997.  My favorite tweet last night from the celebrations was this one:

Rename it Division Champions Drive pic.twitter.com/mUjAQJj0mp

— Matt Terl (@matt_terl) September 17, 2014

This turned out to be a very exciting day for me.  Not only did my favorite team win their Division, but Yankees Captain Derek Jeter featured one of my posts on his Facebook page.  He brought thousands and thousands and thousands of new readers to MattsBats.com yesterday.

Read my post about Jeter’s new book and pre-order a copy today to be delivered when it comes out next week.  I will be having free book giveaways on my website and Twitter (@MattsBats).

Categories: Uncategorized