Congratulating the Washington Nationals

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, to lead off, I would certainly be remiss not to congratulate the 2019 World Series champions, the Washington Nationals. This year, our national pastime came down to a dramatic finish. The Nationals and the Astros traded blows right up until the final innings of game seven.

For the first time ever, the away team won all seven games of the series. And now Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, and the rest of the 2019 Nationals are bringing a World Series trophy here to the Nation's Capital for the first time since 1924. Back then, of course, the home team was officially the Washington Senators, although still often called the Nationals. That is a distinguished name for a team.

This squad has to be hands-down the most athletic, most resilient, most team-spirited bunch of ballplayers certainly this city has ever had. These remarkable players; their manager, Dave Martinez; the Nationals' front office; and the team's owners, the Lerner family--and I particularly want to mention Ted Lerner, the patriarch, who is 94 years old. Many people thought he might not be around to see the Washington Nationals' first championship, but he was. He is a great owner, a great friend of the city, and it was fun to see him after the game revel in this great accomplishment. They achieved, actually, a small miracle. For a couple of weeks, they gave us something that all of Washington, DC, could unite around--a miracle indeed. It is something we can use around here these days. Congratulations to the champions.

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