For the first 16 innings of the NLDS, the Nationals were searching for offense and general signs of life against the Cubs. It wasn't just their inability to get the big hit. They were unable to get a hit almost at all. Only four hits in those 16 innings.
That all changed in the eighth inning on Game 2 on Saturday night. Down 3-1 on the scoreboard, Adam Lind opened the inning with a single, and Bryce Harper followed with a mighty wallop off Carl Edwards Jr. into the right field upper deck to tie the game 3-3. Check this blast out:
That is the hangiest hanging curveball that ever hanged. Make sure you don't miss the bat flip:
When you hit a baseball to the moon and are one of the two of three best players on the planet, you get to flip your bat like that. You've earned it.
The postseason is still very young, but according to championship probability added, a metric that measures how much an individual play improves the team's chances of winning the World Series, Harper's homer was the single most impactful play of the postseason so far.
But wait! The Nationals were not done yet. After Harper tied the game 3-3, Anthony Rendon drew a walk and Daniel Murphy slapped a single to left, setting up franchise icon Ryan Zimmerman for the go-ahead three-run home run off Mike Montgomery. Washington went on to win the game 6-3 (box score).
Here is Zimmerman's go-ahead blast, which lacked majestic carry of Harper's home run, but nonetheless did the job:
By championship probability added, Zimmerman's home run was the fifth most impactful play of the postseason so far. So, in the span of four batters, the biggest and fifth biggest hits of the playoffs were recorded. They were also two of the seven biggest home runs in franchise history:
That's a heck of a way for the Nationals to break out of their team-wide 16-inning slump.