48 Fun Facts About Washington Nationals

Before moving to Washington in 2005, the Nationals franchise played in which city?

Montreal. The Expos took their name from the Expo 67 world's fair, and in 2003 and 2004 they played about a quarter of their home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Which former Phillies manager became the Expos' first skipper in 1969?

Gene Mauch. His 1964 Phillies blew a 6½-game lead with 12 to play, and he managed 26 seasons in the majors without ever winning a pennant.

What ended the 1994 season with the Expos holding baseball's best record?

A players' strike. It wiped out the World Series, and the next spring the cash-strapped Expos parted with Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, John Wetteland and Ken Hill within days.

A court order forcing which team to honour its stadium lease derailed MLB's 2001 plan to fold two clubs?

Minnesota Twins. Owners voted 28-2 to drop two teams, reportedly the Twins and Expos, who cast the only no votes; a judge then held the Twins to their 2002 Metrodome lease.

Which owner sold the Expos to MLB in 2002 in a deal that let him buy the Florida Marlins?

Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball for $120 million in February 2002 and used the proceeds to buy the Marlins from John Henry, who then bought the Red Sox.

Washington's previous team, the Senators, left after the 1971 season to become which club?

Texas Rangers. Owner Bob Short moved the club to Arlington, and its last home game was forfeited to the Yankees when fans stormed the field with two outs in the ninth.

Which owner cast the lone vote against moving the Expos to Washington in December 2004?

Peter Angelos of the Orioles objected to a team in his market; as compensation MLB gave him control of the new club's television rights.

Why did District politicians object to reviving the name 'Senators' for the Nationals?

D.C. has no vote in Congress, and District politicians called the name a poor fit for a city with no senators of its own. Nationals had been the old American League club's official name for half a century.

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams wanted the Nationals named in honour of which Negro league club?

The Homestead Grays, though based near Pittsburgh, played many 1940s home games at Washington's Griffith Stadium; Mayor Williams favoured 'Grays' before 'Nationals' was chosen.

The Nationals played their first three Washington seasons, 2005 to 2007, at which venue?

RFK Stadium. It opened as D.C. Stadium and was renamed for Robert F. Kennedy in 1969, months after his assassination; the Nationals left for Nationals Park in 2008.

The Nationals' first draft pick, in 2005, was which University of Virginia third baseman?

Ryan Zimmerman. He reached the majors that same September, and in 2008 his ninth-inning walk-off homer won the first regular-season game at Nationals Park.

Who threw the ceremonial first pitch before the first regular-season game at Nationals Park?

George W. Bush. He had also thrown the first pitch at the club's first Washington home game in 2005; this time manager Manny Acta caught it, and Washington won on a walk-off homer.

Nationals Park was the first major U.S. sports stadium to have what?

LEED green-building certification. Aiming only for the basic grade, the park earned Silver status from the U.S. Green Building Council when it opened beside the Anacostia River in 2008.

The Nationals used the first overall draft pick in 2009 and 2010 on which two players?

Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. Washington earned both picks the hard way, finishing with the worst record in baseball in 2008 (59-102) and again in 2009 (59-103).

What did the Nationals' 2009 No. 1 pick do in his MLB debut?

Struck out 14. He did it without a single walk against the Pirates on June 8, 2010, fanning the last seven men he faced to top the Nationals' record of 13.

Bryce Harper left high school two years early to play for which junior college?

College of Southern Nevada. Harper, 17, caught there for his older brother Bryan, a pitcher, yet the Nationals drafted him first overall in 2010 as an outfielder.

Which teammate grabbed Bryce Harper's throat during his 2015 MVP season?

Jonathan Papelbon. The closer went at Harper in the dugout on September 27, and the club suspended him four games without pay; Harper was voted MVP unanimously all the same.

After the 2018 season Bryce Harper left the Nationals to sign with which team?

Philadelphia Phillies. His 13-year, $330 million deal with a division rival was the richest guaranteed contract in North American sports, and Washington won the World Series the next season without him.

Which Nationals closer lost Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS?

Drew Storen. Washington, fresh off its first NL East title, led 7-5 and stood one out from the NLCS before the Cardinals rallied to win 9-7.

Max Scherzer went to the Dodgers at the 2021 trade deadline along with which Nationals teammate?

Trea Turner. Less than two years after their World Series title, the Nationals sent their All-Star shortstop and Scherzer, a two-time Cy Young winner in Washington, west for four prospects.

Which children's song became the 2019 Nationals' rally anthem?

Baby Shark. Gerardo Parra, stuck in a slump, made his two-year-old daughter's favourite his walk-up music on June 19; the team had been 19-31 in May and finished as champions.

The Nationals beat which team 4-3 in the 2019 NL Wild Card Game?

Milwaukee Brewers. Trailing in the eighth, Juan Soto lined a bases-loaded single that skipped past right fielder Trent Grisham, and all three runners came home.

The Nationals defeated which team in the 2019 World Series?

Houston Astros. They had won 107 games that year and sent Cy Young winners Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke to the mound in Games 6 and 7, yet lost both.

What was unprecedented about the 2019 World Series?

The road team won all seven games, a first in World Series history: Washington won four times away from home and lost all three games played at Nationals Park.

Who was named MVP of the 2019 World Series?

Stephen Strasburg. He won Games 2 and 6, the second with Washington facing elimination, and finished 5-0, the first pitcher to win five times without a loss in one postseason.

Whose two-run homer off the foul pole gave the Nationals the lead for good in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series?

Howie Kendrick's two-run homer off the right-field foul pole in the seventh inning of Game 7 put Washington ahead 3-2; he had also hit a tenth-inning grand slam in NLDS Game 5.

All five of the 2019 Nationals' postseason elimination wins had what in common?

They were come-from-behind victories: Washington trailed in the Wild Card Game, NLDS Games 4 and 5 and World Series Games 6 and 7, and won every one.

In August 2022 the Nationals traded 23-year-old star Juan Soto to which team?

San Diego Padres. Soto went west with Josh Bell for six players; the Padres later dealt him to the Yankees, and in December 2024 he signed with the Mets for $765 million.

Which pair arrived in the 2022 Juan Soto trade, one of them a 2024 All-Star?

CJ Abrams and James Wood. Both arrived in the August 2022 deal; Abrams was an All-Star shortstop in 2024, and Wood followed him to the All-Star Game a year later.

Which manager led the Nationals to the 2019 title and was fired in July 2025?

Dave Martinez managed the club from 2018, winning the 2019 World Series, until he and general manager Mike Rizzo were dismissed on the same day in July 2025.

Which family bought the Nationals from MLB in 2006, with Ted as principal owner?

The Lerner family, led by Washington real-estate developer Ted Lerner, paid $450 million. The July 2006 handover ended four years in which MLB itself had owned the club.

Which giant-headed Mount Rushmore president famously could not win the Presidents Race at Nationals Park?

Teddy Roosevelt. He lost every race from the event's July 2006 debut until October 3, 2012, the last day of the regular season, just after the Nationals had clinched their first playoff berth.

Which president, who threw the first pitch at Washington's 1910 home opener, joined the Presidents Race in 2013?

William Howard Taft. 'Bill' ran until 2016, then was 'retired' to the club's Florida spring-training park along with one-season guests Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.

The Racing Presidents wear jersey numbers corresponding to what?

The numbers mark their order as president, so they leap from Washington at 1 to Lincoln at 16: the four original racers are the faces on Mount Rushmore, not consecutive presidents.

The Nationals' 2022 City Connect uniform paid homage to what?

Cherry blossoms. The gray 2022 set carried them as a print with pink trim, honouring the Tidal Basin trees that Tokyo gave Washington in 1912.

The Nationals lost in the NLDS in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017; which team beat them in Game 5 in 2017?

The Chicago Cubs won Game 5 9-8 at Nationals Park in October 2017, ending another Washington division series; Dusty Baker's contract was not renewed afterwards.

The Nationals' first big free-agent signing, ahead of the 2011 season, was which outfielder?

Jayson Werth signed for seven years and $126 million in December 2010. Two autumns later his ninth-inning walk-off homer won Game 4 of the 2012 NLDS, Washington's first playoff series since 1933.

Who managed the Nationals in their first Washington season, 2005?

Frank Robinson, the Hall of Famer who had run the Expos since 2002, had Washington 50-31 at the season's midpoint before a second-half fade left the club exactly 81-81.

Which Expos mascot became the first in Major League history to be ejected from a game, in 1989?

Youppi was sent off after Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda complained about the racket on his dugout roof in the 11th inning. When the Expos left, the mascot joined hockey's Canadiens.

Which Expos star of the early years was nicknamed 'Le Grand Orange'?

Rusty Staub, the Expos' first star, was 'Le Grand Orange' for his red hair, and won over French-speaking fans by taking French lessons. He hit 30 homers in 1970.

The Expos played their first years at Jarry Park before moving in 1977 to which venue?

Olympic Stadium, 'The Big O', was built for the 1976 Summer Games. Its retractable Kevlar roof arrived about a decade late and never worked reliably.

Which network carried Nationals games from 2005 until the club won the right to leave after the 2025 season?

MASN carried Nationals games for two decades, much of it spent in court over rights fees, until a March 2025 settlement freed the club to sell its own TV rights from 2026.

Which Nationals TV analyst lost his job in September 2010 after criticising the team's injured rookie ace?

Rob Dibble said on his radio show that the injured rookie ace should 'suck it up', days before the pitcher was found to need Tommy John surgery. He never called another Nationals game, and Ray Knight filled in.

Which 2018 event was Washington's first since 1969?

The All-Star Game. The sides hit 10 home runs at Nationals Park, shattering the old record of six, and Alex Bregman's leadoff homer in the tenth broke a 5-5 tie for the American League.

Who threw the Washington Nationals' first no-hitter, on the final day of the 2014 season?

Jordan Zimmermann no-hit the Marlins 1-0 on September 28, 2014, the regular season's final day, sealed by Steven Souza Jr.'s diving catch in left field.

Which Nationals pitcher struck out 20 batters in a nine-inning game in May 2016?

Max Scherzer fanned 20 Detroit Tigers, his former team, on May 11, 2016, matching Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Randy Johnson. With a record 21st in reach, the final batter grounded out.

Which catcher was the first Nationals player admitted to the team's Ring of Honor?

Iván Rodríguez, who played 155 games for Washington in 2010 and 2011, was added in 2017 after his Cooperstown induction; critics noted his Hall of Fame career was built elsewhere.

Where did the Nationals hold spring training from 2005 through 2016, at a facility inherited from the Expos?

Viera's Space Coast Stadium, named for the nearby Kennedy Space Center, had hosted the Expos for only two springs, 2003 and 2004. The Nationals stayed through 2016, then moved to West Palm Beach.