Oct 12, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals fans react after the St. Louis Cardinals took a 9 – 7 lead during the ninth inning of game five of the 2012 NLDS at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE

In fact, the Cardinals weren’t always an unkillable group of vampires. They were a team that was disappointed. Twice. Prior to their 2006 World Series, they were unable to get over the hump.

2000 NLCS : Lost 4-1
2001 NLDS: Lost 3-2
2002 NLCS: Lost 4-1
2003: Did not Qualify
2004 World Series: Lost 4-0
2005 NLCS: Lost 4-2

That’s a lot of heartbreak before finally making it over the hump. And it didn’t end there for the Cardinals, either.

2007: Did not Qualify
2008: Did not Qualify
2009 NLDS: Lost 3-0
2010: Did not Qualify
2011 Won World Series

To recap: That is 2 NLDS losses, 3 NLCS losses, a World Series loss and four seasons of missing the playoffs for two World Series titles. Every year, only one team wins the title. Other teams need to bide their time. The Nationals intend on being back in the post season. They have a young core mixed with able veterans. Most of them haven’t won before. Next year they will, ideally, come back stronger. But the Cardinals aren’t the only team that had to go through this.

The New York Yankees went through 4 ALDS losses, 1 ALCS loss, a World Series loss and a year of not qualifying for the playoffs before their 2009 World Series win. Even a team that has won before needs to learn how to win together.

Going to another sport, the Pittsburgh Penguins had a good mix of youth and veterans due to great drafting and a little bit of luck and rode through the regular season with one of the best records in the league (sound familiar?). Only, they couldn’t win in the playoffs. They lost in the first round their first time in the playoffs. The next year, they lost in the Stanley Cup finals. The year after that? Won the whole thing.

This was a long winded post to basically say these Nationals are following the exact same route as the St Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees in the 2000s and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins from 2006-2009. Sure, the philosophy and roster construction wasn’t exactly the same but all of those teams had a similar cycle. Regular season success, playoff failures and finally a championship.

The title of this post says the upside of losing. It always comes in patterns. The upside of losing in the regular season brought Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper to Washington. The upside of losing in the playoffs brings experience and humility. That ultimately brings championships. Teams need both to succeed.

Waking up this morning and having to wait four months for baseball is cruel. But think of the Nationals players. They wake up this morning hungry. They wake up this morning wiser. They wake up never wanting to feel like this again. They wake up motivated.

Oct 11, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth (28) celebrates at home plate after hitting the game-winning walkoff home run in the ninth inning of game four of the 2012 NLDS at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

The Nationals have had trouble hitting with runners in scoring position since Tyler Moore’s base hit in the series opener. Today against Kyle Lohse, Mitchell Boggs and Lynn, they didn’t have one runner in scoring position. Both runs were scored on home runs. Werth’s walk off and Adam LaRoche’s lead off homerun in the bottom of the second inning.

What turns out to be the secondary story in this one is the Nationals pitching in the must-win game. Ross Detwiler pitched what may very well have been the best game of his career going six innings allowing only three hits, one unearned run after an error by Ian Desmond and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Beltran in the top of the third and struck out two with three walks. Detwiler did get in and out of the biggest jam in the 6th when he allowed a single and an intentional walk sandwiching an errant throw by Ryan Zimmerman on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Needless to say, there will be no screams for Stephen Strasburg on this night. Funny what a win could do…

The bullpen was even better. Jordan Zimmermann, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen pitched an inning each, striking out eight of the nine outs allowing just two walks (one by Clippard, one by Storen) between them. That set the stage for the most dramatic homerun in franchise history. Or, the most dramatic offensive homerun in franchise history anyways.

There are still concerns about the offense. Everybody not named Werth, LaRoche or Zimmerman had a zero in the hit column and only Kurt Suzuki managed a walk (LaRoche had one as well). That is a negative most Nationals fans will choose to forget about. At least for the next 24 hours.

Champ of the Game: This has to be Werth. Cases can be made for Detwiler, the bullpen and LaRoche but Werth getting the walk off homerun makes this a decision no one will argue with.

Chump of the Game: It’s always hard to name a chump after a win, but I will have to go with the rest of the lineup that went hitless. Ian Desmond had his worst game of the series, not only at the plate but an error that led to the Cardinals only run.

Unsung Hero: I’m going to go off the board for this one and say Jordan Zimmermann. Yes, Adam LaRoche had a big game. Coming off of a horrible start in a tied game out of the bullpen for the first time in his Major League career, all Zimmermann did was strike out the side.

Next Game: For the third time in three playoff series in franchise history, the Nationals will go to a fifth and deciding game. Gio Gonzalez (0-0, 3.60), the ace of the Nationals staff is the guy Washington would have wanted to start a game of this magnitude. He will go up against Adam Wainwright (0-0, 1.59) who has also pitched in deciding games before. Both pitchers had no decisions in Game 1. First pitch is set for a little after 8:30 in the first night game of the series.

Oct 03, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Edwin Jackson (33) throws in the second inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE

There has been a lot said about how good the Nationals have been at home. It makes sense. Most of your games are there as opposed to anywhere else. You’re in a routine, you know what to expect. That added comfort helps a lot when you are dealing with different things. Like playoff baseball for the first time. Or, a 1:00 start on a Wednesday. Things happen that you can’t control but you can bet that Nationals Park will be loud, it will be red and it will be a sight to see despite the controversy surrounding several decisions by Major League Baseball.

Nationals fans get a ribbing for allegedly being bandwagon fans and just discovering that they had a baseball team. But they are passionate, and let’s be honest. There aren’t many cities where people live and die with a losing team. Look for the crowd to bring all of the energy surrounding scheduling and television coverage to come out in loud, powerful screams. I’m sure Davey Johnson and the rest of the Nationals would like it no other way.

***

To say that Edwin Jackson struggled in his last start against the Cardinals would be a gross understatement. In fact, he couldn’t have been much worse. But this is also why the Nationals signed the free agent this offseason. He helped the same Cardinals win a World Series last season and now is armed with the task to give the Nationals their second lead in the series. There has been more talk both within the team and outside of the team about Washington missing Stephen Strasburg. The only way to make sure people stop talking about that is by winning.

Having come here after the decision was made, I haven’t let my personal opinion be heard. Truth is, I think the way that the Nationals handled it was poor. I understand limiting his workload, but when they saw the team was on their way to the playoffs, why not stretch out his usage to allow him to perform in the playoffs. Sure there were struggles as his season came to an end. He now says he was tipping his pitches. Either way, this decision will be the talk of the offseason unless the Nationals win the World Series. People looked at the way that the Atlanta Braves handled Kris Medlen as the way to go, but even that didn’t help the Braves any (not that it was necessarily Medlen’s fault). The truth is, there would be the same second guessing happening if Strasburg were to get hurt or if he were to struggle. There was no right answer for Mike Rizzo and company unless they were to win everything. Then no one could say anything.

Nationals players know that. Sure there was one that told Ken Rosenthal that they would be up 2-0 with him. But there was also the one that said this all goes away with winning. It’s time for the Nationals to show up and what better place for that to happen then at home.