The Nationals and D.C. held a parade and rally today honoring the 2019 World Series champions, and I braved the crowd for the parade part. (Honestly, I sort of envisioned the rally as a bacchanalian party, which was not what it turned out to be, but I enjoyed my afternoon anyway, so it’s best not to have regrets.)

I cannot tell you what was happening in the parade in between the buses, because I was far enough back that sometimes I could see the plumes on band members hats, but that was pretty much it. I saw Teddy (Roosevelt, the racing president) on some sort of micromobility device (a scooter, maybe?), and I could see the Budweiser dalmatian, but not so much the Clydesdales. And my cell phone camera was really not up to the task of getting photos that were both zoomed and detailed.

But I was there, and that was what was important.

This is relief pitcher Sean Doolittle, whose name you should know if for no other reason than that he visited indie bookstores on every road trip during the season this year. And he succinctly defended our closer, Daniel Hudson, when he decided to miss the first game of the NLDS for the birth of his third child — a decision questioned by a lot of dude bros, including a lot of media and at least one (non-Nationals) sports team owner. (“If your reaction to someone having a baby is anything other than, ‘Congratulations, I hope everybody’s healthy,’ you’re an asshole.”) He also was the first National to declare he wasn’t going to the White House (and gave measured reasons for his decision — the highlight of which was “I don’t want to hang out with someone who talks like that.”). A huge Star Wars geek, Doolittle famously celebrated the NLDS victory by wandering back out onto the field with his light saber and asking camera crews, “What are you talking about?”

And here are first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, “Mr. National” himself, and manager Davey Martinez (on the far side) holding up the World Series Commissioner’s Trophy for everyone to see. Zimm was the first player the Nats signed as a rookie after moving to D.C., has long been acknowledged as the District’s favorite player when a walk-off homer is needed (he hit the game winner when the Nats moved from RFK to Nationals Park in 2008), and will surprise no one if he announces that he’s going to retire after this season. You may have heard each Nats player had a home run dance. 35-year-old Ryan’s mimics using a walker. (Incidentally, did you know that there is now only one player born in the 1970s in MLB — Nationals relief pitcher Fernando Rodney? Don’t you feel old knowing that?)

Should you ever get a chance to watch one of your favorite teams be feted with a ticker tape parade (or the modern equivalent thereof), I recommend it, even if you are crowd-averse. You’ll be glad you were there.