So bad for so long, does DC stand for District of Champions?

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Sean Doolittle and the rest of the Nationals geared up for Washington's first World Series appearance in 86 years, the lefty reliever thought back to when he first joined the team in a 2017 trade.

The attitude, he found, was not exactly reflective of a win-big mindset, much like the malaise that hung over the rest of the major professional sports scene in the nation's capital at the time.

"There were a lot of people close to the team, around the city, that were like: 'This is the year we're going to do it! We're going to get past the first round of the playoffs!'" Doolittle recalled. "And the new guys that got traded over were like: 'What are you guys talking about?! We have a team that can win the World Series. What are we talking about?' So I know people, D.C. fans, they had to wait a while."

So bad for so long, D.C. is suddenly turning into the District of Champions. It's no Boston, where there have been 11 titles in the past two decades, but things in Washington suddenly are a lot better than they've been.

The Nationals, for example, had never advanced in the playoffs until now, going 0-4 in NL Division Series appearances, including 0-3 in Game 5s at home. Now, though, they are the NL champs. To win the Fall Classic, they need to get past the Houston Astros, who are set to host Game 1 in the best-of-seven series Tuesday night.

Still, just getting this far is a big deal for the denizens of the District, who are not accustomed at all to this level of success.

Remember: For more than a quarter of a century, dating to the Redskins' Super Bowl championship in January 1992, zero Washington teams won a title in Major League Baseball (which was absent entirely from the banks of the Potomac River from 1969 until the Montreal Expos arrived in 2005), the NFL, NBA or NHL. (Some will note: D.C. United...

source https://www.chron.com/news/article/So-bad-for-so-long-does-DC-stand-for-District-of-14552096.php