Yay for Teddy and for his victory in today’s presidents’ race. It’s long past time for a Teddy win, and I’m happy both for everyone’s favorite racing president and for the countless fans who long ago tired of the Nationals’ promoting a storyline about losing.

Read all about today’s race at the Let Teddy Win! blog.

Congratulations to Teddy and to the 98-win, best-record-in-baseball, NL-East-Champions: our Washington Nationals.

Next, let’s win some playoff games. Go Nats!

Photo: Teddy Roosevelt and Screech celebrate Teddy’s first victory in the presidents’ race. Teddy won during the last home game of 2012, the same day the Nationals secured home-field advantage for the playoffs.

And thank you for a very fun regular season.

See you in the playoffs!

Last night’s 11-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs had many highlights, including six home runs by the good guys and a monster night by Adam LaRoche, who went 4 for 4 with a walk and two dingers.

But my favorite highlight was a different one: Christian Garcia’s major-league debut.

I love major-league debuts, and Garcia’s accomplishment is one to stand up and cheer for. At 27, Garcia has overcome two Tommy John surgeries and a third surgery to shave down a bone spur. He first pitched in the minor leagues in 2004.

On Monday, Garcia took the mound at Nationals Park and threw three pitches to retire Cubs catcher Welington Castillo on a popup to LaRoche.

Congratulations, Christian. Welcome to Washington.

Photos: (1) Christian Garcia pitches in his major-league debut; (2) Garcia in the dugout after pitching.

On Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals, Harper ran full-throttle to score from first on a single by teammate Ryan Zimmerman. Three bases? No problem.

Photos: Bryce Harper takes out Yadier Molina while scoring from first on an infield single by Ryan Zimmerman. Fernando Salas had the ball but was unable to tag Harper in time.

I recorded a lot of screaming and yelling for Gio.

Photo: Gio Gonzalez in motion on his 119th, and final, pitch in a complete game shutout over the Cardinals on August 31.

Count me among those who are fine with the coming shutdown of Stephen Strasburg. Sure, it’d be nice to see him pitch into October, but I also want to see him pitch for years to come.

For now, I plan to savor every start, like last night’s dominant effort against the Atlanta Braves. Strasburg threw ten wonderful strikeouts in six innings, while allowing only 4 hits, one walk, and one earned run.

Before the rain, as the rain began to fall, and after the rain delay, Stephen was terrific. As were the Nationals, who beat the Braves 4-1, and in so doing increased their lead in the NL East to 7 games.  This is fun!

Photo: Stephen Strasburg earns another curly W (his 15th this year) with a 10-strikeout effort against the Atlanta Braves on August 21.

Photo: Chad Tracy hits a walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Nationals a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves

Last night, Edwin Jackson struck out eleven while allowing only two hits and one walk in seven innings. That’s some pretty slick pitching, but it wasn’t enough and the Nationals lost 0-2 to the New York Mets.

I’m tempted to joke that the Nats offense thought it was a Jordan Zimmerman start, but sometimes you just gotta tip your hat to the other guy, the Mets’ Jon Niese, who also pitched a pretty good game.

Photo: Edwin Jackson leaves the field after giving up a walk and a home run in the top of the seventh inning on August 18. The two runs that scored were all the Mets needed to beat the Nats.

Woooo hoooo! It’s Michael Morse with a beastly grand slam off Johan Santana.

As a pitching-and-defense-loving fangirl, I have to concede that offense can be fun too.

How fun? I got a big hug from Peter, the sometimes-grumbling season ticket holder who sits in front of me at Nationals Park.

Nats 6, the New York Metropolitans 4. Record another curly W for the major-league-leading, 74-wins-and-counting, Washington Nationals.

Photo: Michael Morse and his RBIs celebrate Morse’s grand-slam home run on August 17. Left to right: Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Morse, and Bryce Harper.

Weeknight games in the Pacific time zone are brutal, but who needs sleep when our Nats are playing fantastic baseball.

Eight wins and 2 losses on a 10-game road trip? Pinch me.

Photo: Ryan Zimmerman reads to kids (both young and not-so-young) during Picnic in the Park on August 4, 2012.