WASHINGTON -- The game was over in the first inning. With chants of "Let's go Nats!" echoing from the first pitch, and then chants of "Let's go Corbin!" as Nationals starter Patrick Corbin mowed down the Cardinals with three strikeouts to begin the game, then to the "M-V-P!" chants as Anthony Rendon stepped up with two runners on, the Nationals never let the Cardinals breathe. They never let them breathe the entire series.

The Nationals ambushed the Cardinals with a seven-run first inning - an insane amount of action in just 21 pitches that included six hits, a sacrifice fly, a sacrifice bunt and two horrific defensive miscues -- and held on for a 7-4 victory to complete a sweep in the NLCS and reach the first World Series in franchise history. The Cardinals never led for a single inning in the four games.

It was complete domination, with the vaunted Nationals' rotation leading the way as the Cardinals hit just .130. The four Nationals starters -- Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin -- allowed five runs in 26.2 innings, three of those in the fifth inning off Corbin in the clinching game. It means for the first time since 1933, when the Washington Senators played the New York Giants at old Griffith Stadium, the World Series will be played in the nation's capital. The Nationals, born as the Montreal Expos in 1969 and residents of D.C. since 2005, become the 29th franchise to reach the World Series. Only the Seattle Mariners have never reached one.

Back in May, the odds were long of that happening. The Nationals stumbled to a 19-31 start through May 23 and owned the second-worst record in the National League. There were rumors that manager Dave Martinez could lose his job and even that Scherzer could go on the trade block if they didn't turn things around. According to FanGraphs, the Nationals' playoff odds on that date were 22.2 percent. Their odds of reaching the World Series: 3.9 percent.

In other words: They had a chance. There was too much talent here. The Nationals didn't fire Martinez. They kept Scherzer. The rotation got on a roll and the offense started clicking. Trea Turner was out from April 3 to April 17. Rendon played just one game between April 21 and May 7 -- and still ended up leading the majors in RBIs. Juan Soto was hitting .246/.358/.435 on May 20. The rest of the season, the 20-year-old super sophomore hit .295/.414/.587.

After May 23, the Nationals went 74-38, tied with the Dodgers for the best record in the NL (the Astros went 74-37). That was their first comeback: They won 93 games and hosted the wild-card game against the Milwaukee Brewers. That was comeback No. 2: Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth, they rallied for three runs against Brewers closer Josh Hader to win 4-3. That led to comeback No. 3: They trailed 2-1 in the division series to the Los Angeles Dodgers before Scherzer won Game 4 and then trailed 3-1 in the eighth inning in Game 5 when Rendon and Soto smacked home runs on consecutive pitches off Clayton Kershaw to tie the game. Howie Kendrick's grand slam in the 10th would win it.

No comeback was needed in the NLCS. Sanchez took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in Game 1. Scherzer took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Game 2. Strasburg struck out 12 with no walks in Game 3. Corbin struck out 12 in just five innings in Game 4. Only three teams had been 12 games under .500 and reached the World Series: the 1914 "Miracle" Boston Braves, the 1973 Mets and the 2005 Astros.

Another key perhaps was not firing Martinez. Ryan Zimmerman, who reached the majors back in the team's first season in D.C., has been here through it all -- the bad seasons, the playoff disappointments, the hiring and firing of managers.

"I have had a lot of managers, obviously, and they all come into spring training and say they're going to stay this way no matter what, we're going to be here for you, it's going to be us, we don't care what anyone says," Zimmerman said at the outset of this series. "And then as soon as stuff goes bad, every manager has pretty much kind of thrown that out the window and sort of gone into self-preservation mode, where Davey, honestly, has stayed the same way. He's positive every day, his energy, he always trusts his players and has his players' backs. And I don't think it's been any different this year, even when we started as poorly as we did, he stayed the same."

Martinez had a heart procedure in mid-September -- a cardiac catheterization -- after feeling chest pains. He says in good health right now.

"I don't know if you guys have noticed, I have been sitting down a little bit more in the dugout," he said prior to Game 4. "Just because the doctor told me to kind of keep the heart rate down a little bit. It's tough to do, but I'm doing it, and it's helped a lot. I feel my health is great. I took all the tests. ... So the running joke now is I had to take a stress test, and I told the doctors, 'You don't see me every day? I take a stress test every day, and I think I'm passing.' They started laughing, and they said, no, you're going to take a real one now, and I passed that one."