Supreme Decision

The Washington nationals entered the late-September stretch run with the best record in baseball. That means the nation’s capital will host postseason play for the first time since 1933, when FDR was tossing first pitches. But in the tradition of Washington’s tortured baseball history–the Nationals have struggled since arriving from Montreal in 2005; the old Washington Senators stank for decades before leaving D.C., twice–success comes with a cruel twist.

The Nats will enter the playoffs without one of their star players–by choice. Starting-pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg was benched in early September, having neared his preassigned limit of 180 innings of work for the season. Most big-league pitchers can handle a heavier load, but Strasburg, 24, underwent reconstructive elbow surgery two years ago. The Nats didn’t want to overtax his arm, risking reinjury and long-term damage. So the team stuck to its blueprint, even though Washington, which finished 21 games out of first last season, surprised the pundits and rocketed to the top. “We kind of went from zero to one pretty quick,” says Nats starting pitcher Ross Detwiler. Oops.

Plenty of long-suffering D.C. baseball fans protested the decision. In a short playoff series, Strasburg’s arm–especially his wicked changeup–might make the difference. “I want to win. God, it’s been 80 freaking years,” says journalist Mark Judge, whose grandfather Joe Judge played first base on Washington’s only World Series winner, the 1924 Senators. “That’s the bottom line. It’s hard to win a World Series. We have one flag. I want a second flag out there, O.K.?”

Bipartisan Consensus

Rooting for the nats provided the summer’s only bipartisan consensus in politically divided Washington. “Anywhere you go, you see Nationals gear,” says Nats relief pitcher Craig Stammen. “You used to have to tell people who the Nationals were.” Attendance is up more than 20%, while in-stadium merchandise sales are up 100%. The team’s social-media following has skyrocketed. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and General David Petraeus have stopped by to chat. “Everyone is sniping at each other here all the time,” says television commentator Cokie Roberts, a longtime D.C.-area resident. “The Nationals have become a wonderfully optimistic distraction. We needed it.”

The Nationals could teach politicians a thing or two about teamwork. Even without Strasburg–who went 15-6 and remains second among major league starters in strikeouts per nine innings–Washington’s pitching is the envy of baseball. Last winter, the team acquired top-line starter Gio Gonzalez and his roundhouse curveball from Oakland in a trade. He became the first pitcher this season to reach 20 wins and is flirting with a Cy Young Award. The bullpen has shone. On the base paths, rookie call-up Bryce Harper, the Nats’ newest phenom, gives fielders jitters on routine ground balls since he motors down the line as if a tornado were tailing him. “He’s one of those dudes,” says Nats pitcher Edwin Jackson, “who’s going to be hustling on every play.” Harper, the top overall pick in the 2010 draft, is just 19; he has slugged 19 home runs and delivered on all the hype.

The Nats are built to thrive even without key players. For example, hulking power threat Michael Morse (who walked around the clubhouse before one September game in a T-shirt that said BEAST MODE, a nod to his nickname) missed the first 50 games this year with a strained lat. Clever trades and a sprinkling of free-agent signings have complemented homegrown talent. “This organization was built the right way,” says Detwiler, whom Washington drafted in 2007. “It wasn’t going out there and buying players.” This year Baseball America gave Washington’s minor league system its top ranking, five years after dubbing the team’s farmhands the worst in the game.

Washington’s cohesive off-field chemistry has played a large role in the team’s success. The clubhouse vibe is loose, and the veterans are trying to prevent the younger players from tightening up before the playoffs. Before a doubleheader in September, utility man Mark DeRosa grabs a microphone and starts ribbing his teammates. “It’s Gio’s birthday today,” he says. “Celebrate it by getting us all Gio Gonzalez jerseys. Sweet. I can wash my car with that.” DeRosa plays DJ. “We’re going to slow it down, fellas,” he says. “A little ditty called ‘Sister Christian.'” The cheese starts blaring. “Motorin’!” DeRosa belts out, cracking up the locker room.

Risk and Reward

Washingtonians have been debating the Strasburg decision more than politics–and with greater passion. “It’ll definitely be a topic for a long time,” says DeRosa. “It should be.” In September 2010, Strasburg had Tommy John surgery, in which a tendon from another part of the body replaces a damaged elbow ligament. Science doesn’t make it a clear-cut call. “No medical research definitively concludes that pitchers who cut their workload after Tommy John surgery are less likely to get injured down the road,” says Dr. Stephen Fealy, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

From a risk-management perspective, sitting Strasburg comes with a huge opportunity cost. You may never get that World Series chance again. “It’s hard to believe that they aren’t going to play him,” says Herb Appenzeller, author of Risk Management in Sport: Issues and Strategies. But he sees an upside: “If this turns out well for them, it can really set a precedent. It can signal to other teams that you’ve got to protect your players.”

The playoffs now carry higher stakes. Nats general manager Mike Rizzo, who made the final call on benching Strasburg, has refused to relent. “I think it took guts to do,” he says. “But we didn’t do it to be brave or to set a precedent or to show we’re smarter than everyone else. I did it because I thought it was the right thing for the kid, for the player, for the franchise.” He’s prepared for any backlash. “We’re going to have our detractors, and that’s fine,” says Rizzo. “I have to live with myself. I sleep well.” After Strasburg’s final outing of the year, on Sept. 7 (he was yanked after three innings), he said he was “not too happy” with the postseason benching. (Strasburg declined TIME’s interview request.)

Around Nationals Park, many fans cheer the Strasburg call. Some remember the lowly Senators, so they’re just thrilled to experience the playoffs for the first time. All those years coping with bad baseball–or no baseball at all–took a toll on their psyches. “A culture of losing was in my system,” says Jim Hartley, 63, who heads the Washington Baseball Historical Society and supports Rizzo’s move. The team’s failures had led D.C. to be called “first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.”

Memories of the expansion version of Washington baseball are especially vivid. The original Senators left for Minnesota after the 1960 season. Since Major League Baseball feared that angry D.C. politicians would repeal its antitrust exemption, it gave Washington a new club, which started play in 1961 and left for Texas a decade later. Ted Williams managed the team those final few seasons; current Washington manager Davey Johnson remembers the Splendid Splinter flipping him the bird after one of his Baltimore Orioles teammates smacked yet another home run off the Senators. The team’s stirring rallying cry one season: “Off the floor in ’64.” Indeed, the Senators finished second from the bottom that year, but they still lost 100 games.

The Nats are aiming much higher. “I’m still trying to come to grips that this is real,” says Hartley. “That this isn’t a dream. That this is really happening.” He’s ecstatic now. But come October, you just hope Hartley and all of Washington aren’t uttering two of life’s worst words: What if.