WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It doesn't usually happen like this. October is the month in which misfortune attaches itself to the Washington Nationals. They are the ones who lose in the postseason in excruciating fashion. Games like Tuesday's National League wild-card barnburner happen to them, not in their favor.
Maybe, then, this is a different Nationals team. All it took was a hit by pitch, a broken-bat single, a walk, a single and a timely error by the Milwaukee Brewers, all in the eighth inning, to erase a two-run deficit and send the Nationals to the division series with a 4-3 victory in front of 42,993 at Nationals Park.