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WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals were four outs from elimination with the bases loaded on Tuesday when a feeling of serenity came over Mike Rizzo, their general manager. Rizzo was watching the National League wild card game with his senior adviser, Jack McKeon, who is 88 years old. The hitter at the plate, Juan Soto, was 20.
“Right man in the right spot,” Rizzo told McKeon, and a moment later, everything had changed — the game, for sure, but also the sense of dread that stalks this tortured franchise. Soto cleared the bases with a single that skidded past Trent Grisham in right field, lifting the Nationals past the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, and into a division series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.