HOUSTON -- Never mind what history says. For the record, history says the Washington Nationals are going to win this World Series after opening with a pair of victories at Minute Maid Park, including a resounding 12-3 decision over the Astros in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Again, never mind that.

Do you believe in destiny? That¡¯s what you think about when you watch the Nationals twice beat the team with the best home record in baseball. When you watch them beat American League Cy Young Award candidates Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander on consecutive nights.

Destiny, baby. The Nationals didn¡¯t just survive that 19-31 start. They used it as a springboard. In five months since, they¡¯ve been baseball¡¯s best team at 84-40. Did 19-31 end up giving the Nats the edge they still have?

¡°I think then it was kind of where we got our attitude,¡± third baseman Anthony Rendon said. ¡°[We] said, ¡®Screw everybody else, we're not worrying about what's going on outside of our clubhouse. We have to worry about the 25 guys that are in here and that are actually grinding.¡¯

¡°No offense, but nobody outside of that clubhouse knows the work that we put in each and every day and the amount of time that we're away from our families and the sacrifices that we have to make. So that's been our attitude for a while now.¡±

The Nationals rallied from three runs down to beat the Brewers in the National League Wild Card Game. Juan Soto¡¯s three-run single in the bottom of the eighth was the backbreaker.

And then the Nats rallied again from three down to beat the Dodgers in a deciding Game 5 of the NL Division Series. Rendon and Soto hit back-to-back homers off Clayton Kershaw to tie it, before Howie Kendrick delivered the knockout with a 10th-inning grand slam.

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Those games were tuneups for the NL Championship Series, during which the Nationals barely broke a sweat in sweeping the Cardinals, outscoring them 20-6. Now with a record-tying eight-game postseason winning streak, they are two wins from a parade down Constitution Avenue.

¡°What I believe in is hard work, being consistent in what we do and sticking to our process,¡± Nats manager Davey Martinez said. ¡°And we did that. We're here because the boys never gave up.¡±

Game 2 on Wednesday was a terrific baseball game for six innings, as Verlander and Stephen Strasburg each gave up a pair of first-inning runs, then settled in to keep the score tied at 2-2 into the seventh.

Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki led off the top of the seventh with a tiebreaking home run off Verlander, and that¡¯s when the wheels came off. The Nats scored six in that inning.

This is an extreme version of what the last five months have been like. When the Nationals have needed a pitch or a hit or a defensive play, they¡¯ve gotten it. Sometimes, that happens in sports. Months from now, the Nats will look back and not be able to fully explain how it happened.

¡°We¡¯ve got a great group of guys here, a great team, everybody pitches in,¡± Suzuki said, ¡°and we have a good time.¡±

Shock the world? That¡¯s for other people to say. Inside baseball, no one is really shocked as this World Series shifts to Nationals Park, where the home team has won 44 of its last 62 games.

The Nats will roll into Game 3 on Friday as the nation¡¯s capital hosts a World Series for the first time in 86 years. They¡¯re cautious about things. They know there¡¯s still work to be done.

¡°I think it would have been a success if we only came in and stole one game, obviously, playing at this stage and playing with the crowd and at their home field,¡± Rendon said. ¡°But for us to obviously steal two games from them at their home field is great. But like you say, we still have a job to finish and we have two more to go.¡±

The Nationals won Games 1 and 2, in part, because they have Max Scherzer and Strasburg, two of the five best starting pitchers in the game. The Nats also won because they have a very good lineup built around a pair of cornerstone players, Rendon and Soto.

Some wondered if the Nationals would lose their edge after six days off between the NLCS and the World Series. Scherzer and Strasburg weren¡¯t their sharpest, but their teammates overwhelmed the Astros¡¯ aces.

Funny how it works out. The Astros thought their advantage was pitching depth. They doubted the Nats could win if they didn¡¯t get at least seven innings from their starters to make up for a thin bullpen. Houston believed the short bullpen strategy would catch up with Washington in a seven-game series.

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So far that hasn¡¯t mattered. Scherzer gutted through five innings, Strasburg six. But the Nationals won because they ended up getting nine runs in 13 innings off Cole and Verlander combined.

Washington is the 26th team to win Games 1 and 2 on the road in baseball¡¯s current playoff format, and 22 of the first 25 have gone on to win the series. No team has rallied from an 0-2 hole at home since the 1996 Yankees in the World Series.

¡°It¡¯s a special thing to be a part of,¡± Nats first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said after Game 1, ¡°and we appreciate it and hopefully we can keep it going.¡±