The Washington Nationals are the 2019 World Series Champions.
I need to type that again.
The Washington Nationals are the 2019 World Series Champions.
When the postseason began on Tuesday, October 1, I planned to treat October like any other month this season in terms of donations. I briefly considered increasing donation amounts, knowing the Nationals historically exit the playoffs fairly quickly. I decided to wait until the end, and if extra bonuses needed to be added – multipliers, other donations – so be it.
And then the end never came. Until it did, more than 4 weeks later, on Wednesday, October 30.
The Wild Card game went much as we expected, for more than 7 innings. In the 8th, Josh Hader came in to pitch for the Brewers, with Milwaukee up 3-1.
Then Juan Soto happened.
There are a lot of players on a lot of teams that I respect for being as good at baseball as they are. Josh Hader… is not one of them. I was sitting in the 400s on the 3rd baseline for this game, and when Hader came in, I had a brief conversation with some folks sitting around me about his (racist, homophobic) history. I shared with them that what I would love to see is Hader blow the save. And blow the save he did.
I added a $1 blown save bonus for that game.
For the NLDS, everything proceeded as usual for #QueerFancyStats, until game 5, which started during the Break-Fast at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. The incredible comeback win resulted in a $36 bonus.
The NLCS… well. It was a series that happened. Much of it is still a blur for me. I was lucky enough to be in the ballpark for games 3 and 4.
Somehow, with the Nationals up 7-4 in game 4, I managed to keep my wits about me to the point that I was still capable of tweeting #QueerFancyStats updates.
This face is pure joy. I had been crying moments before this picture was taken, everybody was crying, and screaming, and hugging, and crying more… just incredible.
Here’s proof of the screaming and crying.
Then, we waited. And waited. And watched as the ALCS continued between the Yankees and Astros, wondering who the Nationals would face.
When Houston beat New York in 6 games on October 19, the World Series brainstorming began. It wasn’t easy, and I’m thankful for input from many friends from Nats twitter, and even Astros twitter.
The final determination for #QueerFancyStats donations for the 2019 World Series:
If you click through that thread, there is a brief explanation for each planned donation, including:
George Springer’s homophobic slur in April of this season
Yuli Gurriel’s racist gesture and slur during the 2017 World Series
and Roberto Osuna’s history of domestic violence, which was emphasized further during the break between the ALCS and World Series
In Houston, Brittanie Shey, an Astros fan, started the #SafeAtHomeAstros campaign to raise money for a domestic violence organization in the Houston area:
Below, you’ll find screenshots from my spreadsheets. If you’re interested in where the numbers are coming from, you may find this easier to follow, or you may prefer to use the actual spreadsheet. The “schedule” tab includes the entire Nationals season, including the month of October, with total monthly donations highlighted at the end of each month. Please note the Springer donation is included in this spreadsheet for the World Series, with a separate “WS – Springer” tab with Springer’s breakdown alone. There are also tabs for “WS – Gurriel” and “WS – Osuna.”
For Yuli Gurriel, donations based on wOBA went to AALEAD, Asian American Youth Leadership Empowerment and Development, which supports low-income & underserved Asian Pacific American youth with educational empowerment, identity development, and leadership opportunities.
For Roberto Osuna, donations based on wOBA-against went to My Sister’s Place, the oldest domestic violence shelter in DC offering a full continuum of care from emergency shelter through transitional-to-permanent housing.
Osuna had only appeared once in the World Series before game 7. I called a $50 audible when he came in to pitch in the 8th inning with the Nationals up 3-2.
Here’s the original QueerFancyStats spreadsheet (donations to SMYAL) by round:
Here is George Springer‘s spreadsheet:
The complete month of October, totaling $67.76 to SMYAL:
With $16.23 donated to AALEAD, $54.22 donated to My Sister’s Place, and $24.05 donated to SMYAL, all donations from just the World Series totaled $94.50.
When this season started, Queer #FancyStats as we’d known it for 3+ years was floating in the unknown. Daniel Murphy was gone, and I tried to think of how this project might progress. For reasons including my own mental health, I wanted to make it all more positive – there is already so much ugliness and hatred and bigotry without having to intentionally focus on it. Opening day came, and nothing firm was in the plans. Yet.
Then, during the third Nats game of the season, Sean Doolittle made his first appearance. He entered the game in the top of the 9th with the Nats and Mets tied at 5, a high leverage situation. He faced 4 batters, completed the hold, and then the Nats walked off with a Trea Turner home run in the bottom of the inning, making Sean officially the winning pitcher – a vulture win.
The next night, I was standing in the bakery of Whole Foods, engrossed in a group twitter DM as we brainstormed a new rendition of Queer #FancyStats, using Leverage Index – gmLI, specifically, the leverage index at the time a pitcher enters the game. You can learn more about LI in this blog post from April 1.
I updated the 2019 spreadsheet and announced the news on twitter.
I can honestly say I did not expect this particular response.
What a way to start an incredible season.
Over the course of the 2019 season, Sean was used in his role as closer, which by definition required him to pitch in the highest leverage situations. The higher the pressure, the higher the gmLI, the higher the donation. And woo, was there pressure!
You can find the archive of recaps from the whole season, by month, here.
As the first month of the season came to an end, I got some great news: Mel Magazine, the online magazine who published the awesome story on Queer #FancyStats last season, would be matching my donations to SMYAL this year!
Then, I got some more amazing news on June 1: Sean Doolittle and Eireann Dolan would be matching and doubling the total donations to SMYAL through my Queer #FancyStats project at the end of the season.
I can’t express how grateful I am for their support, and for the support of everyone who has pledged money, matched donations, donated any amount, shared and retweeted, even been inspired to do similar projects around Major League Baseball, like my friends in Rockies Twitter who had an amazing season with Bases for Pride, which raised an incredible amount of money for LGBTQ community organizations in Colorado and beyond based on Daniel Murphy’s stats.
This year’s total donations to SMYAL comes to $355.20.
There was also an $18 donation to the Montrose Center in Houston in recognition of Astros player George Springer in April; 2 donations totaling $36.97 to One Colorado, the Queer #FancyStats donations to the Bases for Pride project when the Nats played the Rockies; and the World Series donations to AALEAD ($16.23) and My Sister’s Place ($54.22).
All of these together come to a grand total of $480.62 for the 2019 season!
My personal 4-year grand total of Queer #FancyStats donations is now $1,691.14.
So much has happened this season, I can’t even think of trying to list all of the great moments here – this blog post is already too long! So I’ll leave with 3 of the moments that stand out to me right now. These aren’t the biggest, or the most important, but they are meaningful and wonderful and they helped make the 2019 season what it was, for me.
June 4, 2019: The 15th Annual Night OUT at the Nationals game. I have the privilege of being on the Team DC Night OUT committee that works with the Nats to put this game together each year, and I shared a thread to recap this year’s event on twitter here. My favorite part, though (besides the Curly W and Sean getting the save!) was his special Pride Month cleats that he made himself.
July 20, 2019: Sean’s 9th inning at-bat. The Nats were playing in Atlanta, and after Fernando Rodney got the first out in the 8th, Sean came in to attempt a 5-out save with the Nationals up 4-3. After the Nats loaded the bases (scoring another run in the process), Sean was up, and since he would need to pitch the bottom of the inning, he got an at-bat! He grounded into a double play, but then went on to get 3 straight outs for the save, and a Curly W was in the books.
August 16, 2019: For the first time in my life, I went to the ballpark for my birthday. I was with a group of 36, including baseball friends, non-baseball friends, and my family! Thanks to some of those incredible baseball friends, I was given a birthday card signed by Sean and Eireann. Then Sean came in and got the save for an amazing birthday Curly W! And best of all, my birthday fundraiser for SMYAL raised $936!
One last amazing moment from this historic season:
Thank you again, to everyone. Thank you. Thank you.
If you would like to match my donations, or make donations of any amount, here is the direct link to donate to SMYAL.
You can also donate to My Sister’s Place.
Donate to the Montrose Center (Houston).
Interested in making a donation to another organization, in DC or somewhere else? Comment below, or DM me on twitter, and I’ll do my best to help you find organizations that might match what you’re looking for.
Happy off-season – the happiest of off-seasons we have ever had here in DC. To be continued in 2020… if not sooner! Until then, love & solidarity.
jennrubenstein 