The 2019 National League Championship Series was a best-of-seven series between the two winners of the 2019 National League Division Series, the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals, for the National League (NL) pennant and the right to play in the 2019 World Series. The series was scheduled in a 2–3–2 format, with the Cardinals having home-field advantage because the Nationals were a wild card team. The series was the 50th NLCS in league history, with TBS televising all games in the United States.
For the third straight year, Major League Baseball sold presenting sponsorships to all of its postseason series; as with the ALCS, this NLCS was sponsored by GEICO and officially known as the 2019 National League Championship Series presented by GEICO.
This was the second NLCS in which the winning team never trailed during a game (the other being in 2015) and the second postseason series in which the winning team scored first in every game and never relinquished a lead once taken (the first being the 1966 World Series). This was also the first NLCS since 2015 to end in a sweep and the fourth best-of-seven NLCS to do so (the others being in 2007 and 1995).
The Nationals won their first National League pennant, and would go on to defeat the Houston Astros in the World Series in seven games, winning their first World Series championship in franchise history and bringing Washington D.C. its first World Series title since the Washington Senators back in 1924. The Nationals also became the second team to sweep their opponent in the LCS since the series became best-of-seven, and subsequently win the World Series (the first being the Atlanta Braves in 1995).
Background
Both of the best-of-five National League Division Series went the full five games. This was the first time since the 2012 NLDS that both series went to five games.
The Washington Nationals, winners of the National League Wild Card Game, upset the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nationals were 19–31 on May 23, then went 74–38 the rest of the season to finish in the top NL wild card spot.
The St. Louis Cardinals were 44–44 at the All-Star break, and also finished the season strong, going 47–27 after the break and winning their first National League Central title in four years. As a third-seed, the Cardinals upset the second-seeded Atlanta Braves.
This was the 14th NLCS appearance for the Cardinals, who had a 7–6 record in prior Championship Series. It was the second NLCS appearance for the Nationals, who lost the 1981 NLCS when they were the Montreal Expos.
The only prior postseason meeting between these two teams was the 2012 NLDS, won by St. Louis. The Cardinals and Nationals faced each other seven times during the 2019 regular season, with the Cardinals winning five of those games.
Summary
Game summaries
Game 1
The Nationals entered Game 1 without closer Daniel Hudson, who was placed on paternity leave; Wander Suero was activated in his place. Washington got one run in the second as Yan Gomes drove in Howie Kendrick with a two-out double. Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas went six innings, allowing one run on seven hits while striking out seven. The Nationals added a run in the seventh, again with two outs, as Kendrick drove in Adam Eaton, who had tripled. In the 8th inning, 1st basemen Ryan Zimmerman made a Superman diving catch that temporarily preserved a no-hitter for Nationals pitcher Anibal Sanchez, although Sanchez did allow a hit later in the inning and lost the no-hit bid.[48] Washington starting pitcher Aníbal Sánchez did not allow a hit until a two-out single by José Martínez in the eighth inning; Sánchez struck out five, walked one, and hit two batsmen in innings. Sean Doolittle relieved Sánchez and recorded the final four outs, giving Washington the 2–0 win and a 1–0 lead in the series. Sánchez had also been the starting pitcher in the most recent prior one-hitter in playoff history, Game 1 of the 2013 ALCS, coming against the Boston Red Sox when he played for the Detroit Tigers. It was Doolittle's first save this postseason.