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Report: 2019 World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg to Retire – The Stream

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Stephen Strasburg, the Washington Nationals pitcher who electrified the baseball world as a rookie in 2010 and won the World Series MVP award nine years later, is set to retire, according to The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty.

Drafted No. 1 overall by the Nationals out of San Diego State in the 2009 MLB Draft, Strasburg made one of the most anticipated debuts by a pitcher in Major League Baseball history the following year, striking out 14 batters in his first game. He went on to record 1,723 strikeouts in his 13-year career, while posting a 113-62 record with a 3.24 earned run average and making three National League All-Star teams.

The postseason is where Strasburg ultimately made his biggest mark. After being forced to miss the 2012 playoffs due to an innings limit imposed by the Nationals while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, Strasburg pitched well in both the 2014 and 2017 postseasons.

It was in 2019, though, that Strasburg permanently etched his name in baseball history. Both as a starter and in relief, Strasburg dominated the entire postseason while leading the Nationals from a wild card berth to an unlikely first World Series championship. He went 5-0 in the playoffs and won Games 1 and 6 of the World Series in Houston to help the Nats upset the heavily favored Astros en route to Strasburg being named the Fall Classic’s most valuable player.

Despite signing a new contract after Washington’s World Series victory, a string of injuries starting in the the COVID-plagued 2020 MLB “season” ultimately ended the right-hander’s career at 35 years old. Dougherty reports that Strasburg plans to officially announce his retirement on September 9 at Nationals Park in Washington.

Stephen Strasburg is my favorite pitcher to ever put on a baseball uniform. I attended one of his first starts while living in Atlanta during his rookie year, as well as one of his last in the 2019 National League Championship Series. His autographed jersey also hangs in my living room for a very special reason.

After our daughter Natalie was born with Down syndrome in early 2020, the Nationals sent us a package full of gifts to congratulate us on Nat’s birth and lift our spirits during uncertain times.

To my complete shock, one of those presents was the aforementioned signed jersey. Every time I look up at it, I think not only of the magical month of October 2019, but how lucky we are that Natalie is happy, healthy and making new milestones on a daily basis.

We named our daughter “Nat” because — like the unofficial 2019 Nats motto — she’s not only staying in the fight; she’s winning the fight. Were it not for Stephen Strasburg’s amazing 2019 postseason run, we might have wound up giving her a different name. Even though baseball isn’t that important in the grand scheme of things, that nevertheless shows the profound impact one athlete can have on someone’s life.

Stras: thanks for all the great memories and congratulations on a remarkable career. Someday, we hope to introduce you to Nat!

Tom Sileo is a contributing senior editor of The Stream. He is the author of the forthcoming I Have Your Back, the recently released Be Bold and co-author of Three Wise Men, Brothers Forever, 8 Seconds of Courage and Fire in My Eyes. Follow Tom on X @TSileo and The Stream at @Streamdotorg.

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