WASHINGTON -- Squinting through champagne-tinged goggles, Daniel Hudson saw vindication in the way it ended. Sean Doolittle did, too, standing amid a raucous on-field celebration at Nationals Park. Later at the postgame podium, Dave Martinez agreed. None will deny the numbers; all will contend they hardly matter now. 

That’s because the Nationals are headed to their first World Series in franchise history, the first slated for D.C. since the Senators made it in 1933. And that is thanks, at least in part, to their much-derided, oft-combustible relief corps, which had a major hand in locking down Tuesday’s 7-4 National League Championship Series Game 4 win over the Cardinals.

“We can’t hide from it, the bullpen struggled all year,” said Hudson, shortly after retiring Tommy Edman for the final out. “But for us to get the last [12] outs, it was good for us as a group, and we’re going to take that momentum into the World Series.”

By piecing together four scoreless innings from Hudson, Doolittle and Tanner Rainey to secure an NLCS sweep, the Nats’ bullpen showcased how it has morphed from what was, for large swaths of 2019, their weakest link into an October strength.

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It was a performance brought on by necessity. Staked to an early seven-run cushion, starter Patrick Corbin struck out 12 but allowed four runs over five innings, becoming Washington’s first NLCS starter to not complete at least seven frames.

That forced Martinez to ask his bullpen for more than a handful of outs, for the first time this series, to hold what had suddenly become a three-run game. It delivered: Rainey worked around a two-out single to pitch a scoreless sixth, Doolittle recorded five outs for the first time since mid-June and Hudson clamped down for the final four outs for his ninth consecutive save, and fourth this postseason. 

“It was awesome to watch those guys do what they did the last few innings,” Martinez said. “I've asked these guys to do things that they probably didn't think they could do. Doolittle going out there and getting five outs today. Huddy doing the same thing. Rainey putting them in big moments when everybody thought, 'This guy's wild.'”

Consider it symbiotic with the all-hands-on-deck approach the Nats have employed on the pitching side this postseason, and a blueprint for how Martinez plans to navigate the late innings next week. No doubt, the Nationals will lean heavily on a rotation that pitched to a 1.35 ERA in the NLCS, the sixth best produced in a best-of-seven LCS. But the World Series’ seven-game format will again make it difficult to deploy those starters in high-leverage relief roles, as Martinez did to great effect during the NL Division Series. 

And the Nationals simply can’t operate under the assumption their starters will complete at least seven innings every night, as they did in three of four games of the NLCS. Their best bet is to find other ways to mitigate the middle-relief woes that plagued them all season, which Martinez did by essentially whittling his bullpen down to a three-man unit.

Doolittle, Hudson and Rainey have combined to get 44 outs in the Nationals' eight postseason victories. Corbin, Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer recorded 17 more out of the 'pen. Only one other member of their regular-season bullpen has been called on -- Fernando Rodney, who has pitched one inning.

Rainey, Doolittle and Hudson have combined to pitch to a 2.16 ERA across 16 2/3 postseason innings.

“We’re not ignorant to what happened,” Doolittle said. “We didn’t pitch the way we thought we were capable of pitching for large portions of the season. It was a frustrating year overall. Heading into the last homestand, we really wanted to change the narrative and see what we can do. Make it so the story was, ‘These guys had some rough times early in the season, but down the stretch and into the playoffs, they were nails.’”

When Edman’s fly ball descended harmlessly toward Victor Robles waiting in center field to end Tuesday's win, that vision became reality. Hudson heaved his glove toward the first-base dugout and threw both arms skyward, and bedlam ensued.

“I think once you start naming guys that stepped up in different ways, you’ll end up naming everybody on the team. We got so many contributions from different guys who had to embrace new roles.” Doolittle said. “We had some help from pretty good starting pitchers coming down and making some cameos. But the past couple nights, with Rainey, Rodney stepping up, piecing it together with Huddy at the back end, it feels cool to clinch in that way.”