Charlie Slowes has been a popular figure since he became the play-by-play radio voice of the Nationals in 2005. Slowes is known for his tell-it-like-it-is style and his trademark slogan, "Bang, zoom. A curly 'W' is in the books."

MLB.com caught up with Slowes recently to talk about the Nationals, who won their first World Series title in October. There is still an afterglow for Slowes with the Nationals going all the way.

MLB.com: Has it hit you on what occurred with the Nationals in late October?

Charlie Slowes: I think reality set in when you saw the thousands and thousands of people who lined the street in D.C. for their first-ever [baseball] world championship parade. You think the parade would be great if they won. The Nationals won, and it is a whole different story. It was amazing.

MLB.com: What made that parade amazing?

Slowes: The Nationals won on the road in Houston. There was a limited amount of their fans, family and friends there, so the Nationals really didn’t get that celebration with their fans. There were people at the watch party [at Nationals Park] who told me the streets were crazy after the Nationals won. That was a rainy night for Game 7. I can only imagine what it would have been like if you had 45,000-plus piling out of Nats Park into the streets with all the people that probably would have come into the area to be in the bars and restaurants in the event that they won. The parade was the celebration for everyone at once. The parade route wasn’t very long. It was a short distance of 15 blocks down Constitution Avenue into Pennsylvania Avenue, but the amount of people lining the streets, the steps of the museums and the National Archives, the roofs of other buildings, [it] exceeded all expectations.

MLB.com: What was it like to call the last out of the World Series in Houston?

Slowes: I’m still trying to put it into words. People have asked me, 'How do you control your emotions? Were you emotional?' It’s almost like an out-of-body experience. As it’s happening, you try to focus so much on describing the moment as best as you can. A bunch of pitches were fouled off by Michael Brantley in that at-bat. … So I did think about some things that I thought I should say to mark the moment in time for the team’s history, for the franchise's history. Then as Daniel Hudson struck out Brantley, you hope it flows out of your mouth in the manner you intended.

MLB.com: You seemed satisfied with how it flowed.

Slowes: You always think, 'I could have said this differently or I could have said that.' I’m probably the hardest critic of my own work, but everybody else seemed to enjoy it and compliments have been great, some telling me it’s their ringtone forever. So the fans were happy, and the reaction I received after the fact, on social media, then I’m happy. It’s not really just the last out [that pleased me], but all of our broadcasts throughout the postseason were tremendous. It was an honor and a privilege to be at the microphone at that moment. It’s a life’s dream come true.

MLB.com: Of all the guys who played on that World Series team, who are you most happy for?

Slowes: The longest tenured player -- Ryan Zimmerman. He went through several years of injuries that curtailed his playing time, including this year. When he came off the injured list in September, he had to share time with Howie Kendrick and Matt Adams at first base. But when Zimmerman played, he hit the ball hard, and it got to a point he had to play.

He didn’t start the Wild Card Game. He was off the bench because they had Kendrick at first and Asdrúbal Cabrera at second. Zimmerman hit his way into the lineup and was a big part of that run during the postseason. You couldn’t be happier for anybody else. He has been a part of all 15 Nationals seasons.

MLB.com: Who impressed you during the postseason?

Slowes: This is not in any particular order: Kendrick could roll out of bed in the middle of the winter and hit anybody. The way the Nationals used him -- they rested him when they needed to. I thought they did a great job in managing his playing time. When he was too tired, he didn’t play. The postseason played well for the older players because of the days off. The off-days really helped him.

As good as Kendrick was, I thought Stephen Strasburg was the MVP of the entire postseason because of the way he pitched. Three scoreless innings in the Wild Card Game. They wouldn’t have won that game if he didn’t pitch that way in relief. The rest of his starts in the postseason, he might give a run or two early. He shut it down after that. He pitched out of big jams. He was tremendous. He was a beast. I think teams once looked at him as a 1A behind Max Scherzer. Strasburg is No. 1 now for anybody. Hopefully, Strasburg will still be 1A or 1B for the Nationals next year.

MLB.com: What do you think turned the Nationals around? They were 19-31 to start the season. Then, all of a sudden, they won like gangbusters.

Slowes: They didn’t panic when they were 19-31 and playing the first two months without key players. They were without Anthony Rendon for a stretch. Juan Soto, Trea Turner and Zimmerman were on the injured list. They were fielding a road Spring Training lineup it seemed like.

Then they started winning because they were able to get their people back. They played to their capabilities. But I think the philosophy of [manager] Davey Martinez played a huge role in the success. He said, 'Let’s clean up the mistakes we are making and keep the noise down that you should hear on who could be fired or traded. Let’s make our own fun. Let’s play for each other, play for the guy next to you. Don’t worry about your own results if you can.' It all worked.

Just their philosophy of how they were during the regular season -- playing one game at a time -- it just carried over in the postseason.

MLB.com: Where does this World Series rank as far as your career is concerned?

Slowes: One of the great things is to call the game with the local broadcast on radio. And to call the world championship run and to call the last out, that’s the pinnacle. It’s baseball’s highest peak. It means a lot to me having been here since 2005, all 15 seasons, building the history of this team in Washington.

MLB.com: How has life changed since the Nationals won the World Series?

Slowes: It’s an afterglow that will last a while. It’s something that you will never forget. Whether your team wins the next year or not, this finish is going to be something that will be remembered forever. What’s different about it is, when the Nationals won over 90 games in 2012, ’14, '16 and '17, those teams were really good. But the 2019 team won 93 games after the 19-31 start and after the national media had them buried. They didn’t look like they were supposed to win. When you look at it that way, it makes winning that much sweeter.

MLB.com: We are close to Thanksgiving. Before you know it, it will be Spring Training. How are you going to spend the rest of the year?

Slowes: I’m going to spend Thanksgiving and the holidays with family. I’ll be back at Nats Park in January for Winterfest. I’m going to stay in town for about 10 days and then go back to Florida. We’ll be only a few weeks away from Spring Training by that time. The offseason is going to be short and fast. There's definitely some R and R time, but the finish to the 2019 season has pushed me toward the idea of possibly writing a book about my time in baseball and broadcasting.