Book : Buzz Saw The Improbable Story Of How The Washington..

-Titulo Original : Buzz Saw The Improbable Story Of How The Washington Nationals Won The World Series

-Fabricante :

Simon & Schuster

-Descripcion Original:

The remarkable story of the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals told by the Washington Post writer who followed the team most closely.By May 2019, the Washington Nationals-owners of baseball’s oldest roster-had one of the worst records in the majors and just a 1.5 percent chance of winning the World Series. Yet by blending an old-school brand of baseball with modern analytics, they managed to sneak into the playoffs and put together the most unlikely postseason run in baseball history. Not only did they beat the Houston Astros, the team with the best regular-season record, to claim the franchise’s first championship-they won all four games in Houston, making them the first club to ever win four road games in a World Series. “You have a great year, and you can run into a buzz saw,” Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg told Washington Post beat writer Jesse Dougherty after the team advanced to the World Series. “Maybe this year we’re the buzz saw.” Dougherty followed the Nationals more closely than any other writer in America, and in Buzz Saw he recounts the dramatic year in vivid detail, taking readers inside the dugout, the clubhouse, the front office, and ultimately the championship parade. Yet he does something more than provide a riveting retelling of the season: he makes the case that while there is indisputable value to Moneyball-style metrics, baseball isn’t just a numbers game. Intangibles like team chemistry, veteran experience, and childlike joy are equally essential to winning. Certainly, no team seemed to have more fun than the Nationals, who adopted the kids’ song “Baby Shark” as their anthem and regularly broke into dugout dance parties. Buzz Saw is just as lively and rollicking-a fitting tribute to one of the most exciting, inspiring teams to ever take the field. About the Author Jesse Dougherty is the Washington Nationals beat reporter for The Washington Post, and previously covered college athletics, high school sports, and the Washington Capitals. Before joining The Washington Post in February 2017, he briefly covered the NHL for the Los Angeles Times. Jesse was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Syracuse University. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1: “They were ready for you.” 1 “They were ready for you.” November 28, 2018 They rode down an alley off reality, beneath the dim yellow streetlights, by bare bushes, bristling trees, and into a dark cul de sac, the gravel slicked and messy, the Potomac River swishing up to shore. This was where rich people went to impress other rich people, right inside, past one set of doors, then another, a pair of lit fireplaces, and a wooden, wraparound bar. So here were Mike Rizzo and Mark Lerner, at Fiola Mare in Georgetown, with millions to spend and business at hand. This, Rizzo believed, was how they’d turn the Washington Nationals from an 82-win team, their final identity of last year, into a real contender. Rizzo was not focused on the free agent everyone was talking about. He instead wanted the top starting pitcher on the market, and wanted him bad. That pitcher had visited two teams before arriving in Washington on November 28, 2018. Rizzo knew others were in the mix. And how to show his interest, yet not come off too desperate, was what the GM had stewed over for days now. He had to nail this dinner. “See, Pat, they were ready for you,” Rizzo told Patrick Corbin while they walked through metal detectors in the entryway. Security was wall-to-wall in the Italian restaurant, and Rizzo joked that it was to protect Corbin from adoring fans. Their white-clothed table was set for six. Corbin sat down next to Jen, his wife, and straight across from Rizzo. Lerner, the Nationals’ managing principal owner, and John Courtright, Corbin’s agent, filled the last two seats. It just so happened that Vice President Mike Pence was dining there, too. The dinner crowd is politicians, lobbyists, o