Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals: Champions of 2019.
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Nationals Park, located on South Capitol Street in the Navy Yard neighborhood of the Southeast quadrant of D.C. along the Anacostia River.
- Division
- NL East
- League
- National League
- Washington Era Start
- 2005
- Franchise Predecessor
- Montreal Expos
- Status
- Active Rivalry
- Home Venues
- Citi Field / Nationals Park
Lore & Background
The Nationals are the eighth major league franchise to be based in Washington, D.C., and the first since 1971. The current franchise was founded in 1969 as the Montreal Expos as part of a four-team expansion. After a failed contraction plan, MLB bought the Expos, seeking to move the team to a new city. MLB owners chose Washington, D.C., in 2004 and established the Nationals the next year, in the first MLB franchise move since 1971 when the third Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, to become the Texas Rangers. No other MLB team would move until the 2025 season, when the Oakland Athletics relocated to West Sacramento in advance of their ultimately planned move to the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
In Their Own Story
The lights hummed over Nationals Park as the ninth inning approached under an autumn sky. A tie game in October air meant everything to both rosters standing on the diamond. The crowd roared for a home run that could seal a division title, echoing the tension of New York's own high-stakes nights at Citi Field. Dust rose from the infield dirt as the pitcher wound up.
Reader's Guide
While the team initially struggled after moving to Washington, the Nationals enjoyed considerable success throughout the 2010s. The team had back-to-back first overall picks in the MLB draft in 2009 and 2010, selecting Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. The team secured their first playoff berth and first division title in 2012 and won the National League East again in 2014, 2016, and 2017, but failed to advance past the NLDS each time. In 2019, the team advanced to the World Series as a Wild Card team and defeated the Houston Astros in seven games to earn their first championship.
Did You Know?
- The Nationals are the eighth major league franchise to be based in Washington, D.C., and the first since 1971.
- The franchise was originally the Montreal Expos, the first Major League team in Canada.
- The team's first championship came in 2019, when they defeated the Houston Astros in seven games.
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