MLB Bullets will have a Game 7

Once again, all of the “Nationals are in trouble/how the Nats can come back” stories are obsolete by the time you read this.

So much for home field advantage, huh?

• Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon led the Nationals to a Game 6 win and we’ll play Game 7 tonight. Bob Nightengale has a recap of Game 6 and Strasburg’s star turn.
• Anthony DiComo shows how Strasburg stepped up when the Nats needed a hero.
• The game will be remembered, however, for the big controversy in the seventh inning when Trea Turner was called out on interference. Anthony Rendon’s home run thankfully made the play and the Nationals protest of the game moot.
• Louis Bien breaks down what happened in that crazy seventh inning.
• R.J. Anderson explains the relevant rules on that interference call.
• Eno Sarris has three quick thoughts on Game 6. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Before Game 6, Craig Edwards wrote about how dominating Strasburg has been in the playoffs throughout his career. Game 6 will just add to the narrative.
• That’s better than the other possible narrative that both Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and then Nationals outfielder Juan Soto carried their bat all the way to first base after hitting a home run. Bregman apologized after the game for doing it. Soto said he thought what Bregman did was cool so he did it too.
• Of course, the Retired Player Fun Police weighed in.
• Nationals ace Max Scherzer, who was scratched from Game 5 with neck spasms, said he’s good to go for Game 7 tonight.
• If the umpires were in a bad mood during that seventh inning (and they tossed Nationals manager Dave Martinez), it might be because they spent their Monday off day in Iowa at the funeral of fellow umpire Eric Cooper. Tim Brown has the story of the funeral and the umpires talking about their beloved colleague.
• Jayson Stark notes that if the Nationals win the first DC World Series since 1924, they will be breaking a 95-year drought. (Technically, Thomas Boswell brought it up and Stark ran with it.) But is it a drought similar to what the Cubs and Red Sox went through? (The Athletic sub. req.) Stark speaks with Boswell and MLB historian John Thorne, as well as Mark DeRosa and Ryan Dempster and the answer is “It’s bad, but no, it’s not the same.” (Also, the White Sox snapped a long drought, but mentioning that would deprive them of the joy they get from being outraged that they’ve been forgotten, so I wouldn’t want to do that.)
• Unfortunately, not a lot of people are watching the 2019 World Series. Actually, a lot of people are watching. Just not anywhere near as many as normally watch the World Series.
• Tony Wolfe thinks the 2019 World Series has been fairly dull, which may account for the poor ratings. He wrote this before Game 6 and certainly Game 7 is going to draw a lot of attention. But while the series itself has been exciting, the games have not had a ton of excitement. Before Game 6, there was only one lead change in the entire Series.
• Craig Edwards looks at the Pirates firing of general manager Neal Huntington and notes that firing him won’t solve what’s wrong in Pittsburgh. But keeping him on wouldn’t solve what’s wrong with the Pirates either, so they might as well find someone else for the job.
• Pirates owner Bob Nutting wants you to know/believe that the team can’t spend any more on players.
• Craig Calcaterra explains what baseball executives mean when they talk about “sustainable success.” They’re referring to their profits, not their wins and losses.
• The Yankees have fired longtime pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
• The Braves will try to sign free agent Josh Donaldson to a new deal.
• It looks like the Brewers are going back to the M-B glove logo for 2020. Or at least a modified version of it.
• Scott Allen looks at how MLB authenticates all the balls and other stuff from the World Series. They authenticated a “baby shark” this year.
• One of the writers I link to a lot of Zach Kram of The Ringer, who is one of the more statistically-oriented baseball writers around. What I didn’t know is that he’s the grandson of Murray Chass, who is . . .well, Murray Chass. Ben Strauss writes of the relationship between a sabermetric-hating sportswriter and his loving but numbers-obsessed grandson.
• The last time the Nationals won the World Series, their pitching staff was Hall-of-Famer Walter Johnson and a strategy of what we would today call “bullpenning.”
• Rangers outfielder Hunter Pence reviews Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew. Because I know you were wondering what he thought of ti.
• And finally, Packers tight end Jimmy Graham and trainer Nate Weir dressed up as Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve and pretty dead on recreated a photo of the two from the AL Championship Series.

And tonight is Game 7, Buster.