50 free Washington Nationals trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Washington Nationals trivia quiz covers a franchise with two lives: the Montreal Expos, born at Expo 67 with Rusty Staub, Youppi! and the heartbreak of the 1994 strike, and the Nationals, who brought baseball back to the capital in 2005. There are questions on the contraction vote and the Loria-Henry ownership shuffle, why the club is not called the Senators, RFK Stadium and Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg's 14-strikeout debut, Bryce Harper's unanimous MVP, Max Scherzer's contract, the four NLDS exits, Juan Soto's trade, and the 19-31 team that won the 2019 World Series without winning a home game. Nationals Park, the Racing Presidents and Teddy's long losing streak, the cherry-blossom City Connect uniforms, the MASN television saga and the ownership changes get their own questions too. Easy questions suit any Nats fan; the hard ones are for people who remember which mascot got ejected first. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before moving to Washington in 2005, the franchise played in which city?
Montreal
They were the first Major League team in Canada, and the franchise still tracks its records back to 1969.
Q 02The Expos were named after what?
The Expo 67 World's Fair
Seagram shareholder Charles Bronfman was the majority owner of the 1969 expansion club.
Q 03The Expos had the best record in baseball in which season, only to see it wiped out by a players' strike?
1994
Larry Walker, Moisés Alou, Marquis Grissom and Pedro Martínez were sold off soon after, and attendance collapsed.
Q 04In November 2001 MLB owners voted 28-2 to eliminate the Expos and which other team?
Minnesota Twins
A Metrodome lease injunction saved the Twins, and the 2002 labour deal banned contraction until 2006.
Q 05Which owner sold the Expos to MLB in 2002 in a deal that let him buy the Florida Marlins?
Jeffrey Loria
The three-way shuffle cleared the way for John Henry to buy the Red Sox.
Q 06The Nationals are the eighth major league franchise in Washington and the first since which year?
1971
That year the second Senators left for Arlington, Texas, to become the Rangers.
Q 07Which owner cast the lone vote against moving the Expos to Washington in December 2004?
Peter Angelos of the Orioles
He extracted control of the Nationals' TV rights through the MASN network as compensation for sharing his market.
Q 08Why did District politicians object to reviving the name 'Senators' for the new team?
D.C. has no voting representation in Congress
The Rangers held the trademark too, but sold it to MLB for $1; Mayor Anthony Williams had preferred 'Grays'.
Q 09Mayor Anthony Williams wanted the new team named in honour of which Negro league club?
Homestead Grays
The club played most of its 1940s home games at Washington's Griffith Stadium despite being based in Pittsburgh.
Q 10The Nationals played their first three seasons in Washington at which venue?
RFK
The old multipurpose bowl had hosted the expansion Senators until 1971.
Q 11The Nationals' first draft pick, in 2005, was which University of Virginia third baseman?
Ryan Zimmerman
He spent his entire career with the club and became the first National to have his number retired, in 2022.
Q 12Which U.S. president threw out the first pitch at the first game at Nationals Park in March 2008?
George W. Bush
The face of the franchise won it with a walk-off homer, his fifth of his career, on national television.
Q 13Nationals Park was the first major U.S. sports stadium to earn what distinction?
LEED green-building certification
Q 21The Nationals began 2019 with what record before their turnaround?
19-31
Their World Series odds sat at 1.5 percent; they went 74-38 the rest of the way.
Q 22The Nationals beat which team 4-3 in the 2019 NL Wild Card Game?
Milwaukee Brewers
Juan Soto's bases-loaded single skipped past the right fielder in the eighth inning to win it.
Q 23The Nationals defeated which team in the 2019 World Series?
Houston Astros
It was the first World Series in which the road team won every game.
What was unprecedented about the 2019 World Series?
It sits along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard neighbourhood and cost about $693M to build.
Q 14The Nationals used the first overall draft pick in 2009 and 2010 on which two players?
Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper
Back-to-back last-place finishes bought them the two most hyped prospects of their era.
Q 15How many batters did the Nationals' 2009 No. 1 pick strike out in his 2010 MLB debut?
14
It was a franchise record, and he needed Tommy John surgery before the season was out.
Q 16Bryce Harper was drafted as a catcher after leaving high school early to enrol where?
College of Southern Nevada
He won the Golden Spikes Award there at 17 after Sports Illustrated had already called him baseball's 'Chosen One'.
Q 17Bryce Harper became the youngest unanimous NL MVP in which season?
2015
He was 23; the team still missed the playoffs and manager Matt Williams was fired.
Q 18After the 2018 season Bryce Harper left the Nationals to sign with which division rival?
Philadelphia Phillies
His 13-year, $330M deal was briefly the richest in North American sports; the Nats won the World Series without him.
Q 19The Nationals won their first division title in which season?
2012
They lost the NLDS to St. Louis after the Cardinals took the lead with two outs in the ninth of Game 5.
Q 20Max Scherzer's 2015 free-agent contract with Washington was worth how much over seven years?
$210 million
He won two Cy Youngs as a National and started Game 7 of the 2019 World Series before being traded to the Dodgers in 2021.
The road team won all seven games
The visitors outscored the hosts 49-14 across the seven games.
Q 25Who was named MVP of the 2019 World Series?
Stephen Strasburg
He won two games in the Series and re-signed for $245M, but injuries limited him to 31 innings under the deal.
Q 26Whose two-run homer off the foul pole gave the Nationals the lead for good in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series?
Howie Kendrick
He had also hit a grand slam in the tenth inning of Game 5 of the NLDS in Los Angeles.
Q 27The 2019 Nationals went 5-0 in postseason elimination games, and all five wins had what in common?
They were come-from-behind victories
No team had ever done that; the run included the wild card game, NLDS Game 5 and World Series Games 6 and 7.
Q 28The Nationals wore which lucky alternate uniform to an 11-3 record on the way to the 2019 title?
Navy with script lettering
A white version of the script look followed in 2020 and became the primary home uniform in 2022.
Q 29The Nationals traded Juan Soto to San Diego in 2022 after he rejected an extension offer worth how much?
$440 million
He eventually signed with the Mets for $765M over 15 years, the largest contract in sports history.
Q 30Which two players from the Soto trade became Nationals cornerstones, one an All-Star in 2024?
CJ Abrams and James Wood
Abrams was the 2024 All-Star; Wood debuted the same season alongside No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews.