History of the Washington Nationals

Background

The Expos joined the National League in 1969 alongside the San Diego Padres, with Charles Bronfman as majority owner and a name borrowed from the Expo 67 World's Fair. Managed by Gene Mauch, they lost 110 games in their first season at Jarry Park, and they moved into Montreal's Olympic Stadium in 1977. A young early-1980s core of Gary Carter, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Steve Rogers and Bill Gullickson won the club's only Montreal division title in the strike-split 1981 season, which ended with a three-games-to-two loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.

Major League Baseball announced the move to Washington on September 29, 2004. The Expos played their last game on October 3, 2004, an 8-1 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, the same opponent they had faced in their first game, and the other owners approved the move 28-1 on December 3, Baltimore's Peter Angelos casting the only vote against. In Washington the team played three seasons at RFK Stadium, opened Nationals Park in 2008, won the National League East in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017, and beat the Houston Astros in seven games in the 2019 World Series.