The Nationals pulled off a wild comeback in the NL Wild Card game, flipping the script late in the eighth. Down to their final five outs, things kicked off with a strange hit-by-pitch call. Replay didn’t clear up much, so the call stood. That put a man on, and after a quick strikeout, Ryan Zimmerman delivered with a broken-bat blooper that kept the inning alive. Good baserunning followed, and suddenly the bases were loaded after Josh Hader lost the zone and walked Anthony Rendon.
Then 20-year-old Juan Soto stepped in. On a 1-1 count, he turned a fastball and sent it to right field. Brewers rookie Trent Grisham misplayed it, letting the go-ahead run score and clearing the bases. Soto tried for second and got caught in a rundown, but by then the damage was done. Nationals fans erupted as their team snatched the lead.
The Brewers had no answer in the ninth. They went down quietly, stunned and trying to shake off what just happened. From near victory to a crushing collapse, their season ended in a blink. Washington advanced, fueled by chaos, pressure, and one massive swing from their rising star.