History of the Washington Nationals facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team. They started in 1969 as the Montreal Expos. In 2005, the Expos moved to Washington, D.C.. They were then renamed the Nationals. This team won the National League pennant in 2019. They have also won their division five times. In 2019, they won the World Series against the Astros in game 7.

History of the Nationals

From Montreal to Washington

The Montreal Expos joined the National League in 1969. Another team, the San Diego Padres, joined at the same time. The Expos were named after the Expo 67 World's Fair. Their first home field was Jarry Park. The team struggled in its early years.

In 1977, the Expos moved to Montreal's Olympic Stadium. This stadium was built for the 1976 Summer Olympics. Two years later, the team had a great year. They won 95 games. The Expos started the 1980s with many talented young players. These included Gary Carter, Tim Raines, and Andre Dawson. The team won its only division championship in 1981. This was a shorter season due to a strike. They lost in the playoffs to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The team had a tough time in the 1980s. They usually finished in third or fourth place. In 1994, the Expos had the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Key players included Larry Walker and Pedro Martínez. However, a players' strike ended the season early. After this, the team started to trade away its best players. Fan support for the team began to shrink.

Moving to D.C.

In 2001, Major League Baseball thought about getting rid of two teams. The Expos were one of these teams. But this plan did not happen. So, MLB started looking for a new city for the Expos. Many cities were considered, including Washington, D.C.

For two years, in 2003 and 2004, the Expos played some of their home games in Puerto Rico. The rest were played in Montreal.

On September 29, 2004, MLB announced that the Expos would move to Washington, D.C. This move happened in 2005. The Expos played their last game on October 3, 2004. They lost to the New York Mets. On November 15, a lawsuit that could have stopped the move was dismissed. The owners of the other MLB teams approved the move on December 3. Only the owner of the Baltimore Orioles voted against it.

Baseball in Washington, D.C. Before the Nationals

Washington, D.C., has a long history with baseball. The city had two teams named the Washington Senators. The first Senators team played from 1901 to 1960. They won the 1924 World Series and two other championships. But they often struggled. This team moved to Minnesota and became the Twins.

A second Washington Senators team played from 1961 to 1971. They only had one winning season. This team moved to Texas and became the Texas Rangers. After 1971, Washington, D.C., did not have a baseball team for 33 years.

When the Expos moved to Washington, there was talk of bringing back the Senators name. But politicians in D.C. did not like it. This was because Washington, D.C., does not have full voting rights in Congress. The team decided to use the name "Washington Nationals." This was the official name of the first Senators team from 1905 to 1956.

Challenges from the Orioles

The owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Peter Angelos, did not want a team in Washington, D.C. He believed there were no baseball fans in D.C. He thought the Orioles would lose money if another team came to the area. However, the Orioles and the first Washington Senators team had shared the area successfully for many years. Also, other large cities have two MLB teams.

On March 31, 2005, the Orioles and Major League Baseball made a deal. This deal was to protect the Orioles financially. Because of this deal, the Orioles' company handles the TV and radio broadcasts for the Nationals. This means the Nationals are the only MLB team that does not own its own broadcast rights.

Season Highlights

2005 Season

Then President George W. Bush throws out a ceremonial first pitch in 2005.

On April 4, 2005, Brad Wilkerson became the first batter for the Washington Nationals. He got the team's first hit.
On April 6, 2005, the Nationals won their first regular season game. They beat the Phillies 7–3. Wilkerson also hit for the cycle in this game.
On April 14, 2005, the Nationals won their first home game in Washington, D.C. President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch. This continued a tradition for U.S. Presidents.
From May 29 to June 15, the Nationals had a great run. They won 15 out of 17 games. This included a team record 10-game winning streak.
On August 4, 2005, Brad Wilkerson hit the first grand slam for the Nationals.
The Nationals were in first place in their division at the season's halfway point. But they finished the season with an 81–81 record.

2006 Season

On May 19, 2006, the Nationals played their first game against the Baltimore Orioles. This series became known as the Beltway Series.
On Father's Day, June 18, 2006, the Nationals beat the New York Yankees 3–2. Rookie Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run home run to win the game.
On September 2, 2006, the Nationals won both games of a doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
On September 16, 2006, Alfonso Soriano became the fourth player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season.

2007 Season

Ryan Zimmerman

The Nationals faced many injuries to their pitchers and players in 2007. Despite this, they improved their record from the previous year. They finished the 2007 season with 73 wins and 89 losses.

On April 17, 2007, the Nationals wore Virginia Tech baseball hats. This was to honor the victims of a tragic shooting at Virginia Tech.
On May 12, 2007, Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off grand slam to win a game against the Florida Marlins.
On August 7, 2007, Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik gave up Barry Bonds' 756th career home run. This made Bonds the all-time home run leader.
On September 23, 2007, the Nationals played their last game at RFK Stadium. They won 5–3 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

2008 Season

Nationals 2008 team during warm up

On March 30, 2008, the Nationals opened their new ballpark, Nationals Park. President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch.
The Nationals won their first game at Nationals Park. Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the game 3–2.

2009 Season

In April 2009, some Nationals players wore jerseys with the team name spelled wrong ("Natinals"). This led to many jokes.
On July 27, 2009, Josh Willingham hit two grand slams in one game. He was the 13th player in MLB history to do this.
On September 30, 2009, Justin Maxwell hit a walk-off grand slam to win the last home game of the season.
On October 4, 2009, the Nationals won a 15-inning game. This was their longest game in Washington. They also became the first MLB team to start a season losing seven games and end it winning seven games.

2010 Season

On April 5, 2010, President Barack Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day.

Stephen Strasburg during his major league debut

On June 7, 2010, the Nationals picked Bryce Harper as the first overall pick in the draft.
On June 8, 2010, Stephen Strasburg made his major league debut. He struck out 14 batters in seven innings. This was a record for the Nationals.
On December 5, 2010, the Nationals signed Jayson Werth to a big seven-year contract.

Jayson Werth playing for the Nationals against the Orioles in May 2011

2011 Season

On June 23, 2011, the Nationals had a winning record for the first time since 2005. Right after the game, manager Jim Riggleman resigned.
The Nationals finished the 2011 season in third place. They had 80 wins and 81 losses.
After the 2011 season, the last player who had been with the team when it was the Expos, Liván Hernández, left the Nationals.

2012 Season

On September 20, 2012, the Nationals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. This earned them a spot in the playoffs. They were the first Washington-based baseball team to reach the postseason in 79 years.
On October 1, the Nationals won their division. They also had the best record in all of Major League Baseball with 98 wins and 64 losses. However, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the playoffs.

2014 Season

On October 31, 2013, Matt Williams was hired as the new manager.
The Nationals won their division again on September 16, 2014.
On the last day of the 2014 season, Jordan Zimmermann pitched the first no-hitter for the Nationals since they moved to D.C.

2015 Season

The Nationals started the 2015 season poorly. But they came back to win many games.
On June 20, 2015, Max Scherzer pitched a no-hitter that was almost perfect. This was the second no-hitter in Nationals history.
Scherzer pitched another no-hitter on October 3, 2015. He became the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1973 to throw two no-hitters in one season.

2016 Season

On May 11, 2016, Max Scherzer became the fourth pitcher in history to strike out 20 batters in a single game.
He won the NL Cy Young Award for being the best pitcher. He was the sixth pitcher to win this award in both leagues.
The Nationals won their division again with 95 wins. But they lost in the playoffs to the Dodgers.

2017 Season

In 2017, the Nationals won their division for the second year in a row. But they lost in the playoffs again to the Cubs. This was the fourth time they were eliminated early in the playoffs.
Max Scherzer won the NL Cy Young Award for the second year in a row.

2018 Season

In 2018, the Nationals hosted the MLB All-Star Game.
The team did not make the playoffs this year. They finished with 82 wins and 80 losses.
After the season, star player Bryce Harper left the team.

2019 Season: World Series Champions!

Even without Harper, the Nationals had a great year in 2019. They earned a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.
They beat the Milwaukee Brewers in a special play-in game.
Then, they won their first playoff series since moving to Washington, D.C. They upset the Los Angeles Dodgers.
They went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals. This won them the National League pennant, their first in team history.
The Nationals then faced the Houston Astros in the World Series. It was the first time a Washington-based team played in the World Series since 1933.
The Nationals won their first World Series title, beating the Astros 4 games to 3!

2020 Season

After winning the World Series, another star player, Anthony Rendon, left the team.
Stephen Strasburg signed a big contract extension.
The 2020 season was much shorter due to world events. The Nationals finished with a 26–34 record.

2021 Season

The Nationals started 2021 poorly. At the trade deadline, the team traded many key players for younger prospects.
They traded star pitcher Max Scherzer and homegrown star Trea Turner to the Dodgers. This marked the end of an era for the team.
The Nationals finished last in their division with 65 wins and 97 losses.

2022 Season

The 2022 season was the Nationals' worst since 1976. They finished last in their division with 55 wins and 107 losses.
On August 2, 2022, first baseman Josh Bell and outfielder Juan Soto were traded to the San Diego Padres.

2023 Season

In 2023, the Nationals finished last in their division for the fourth year in a row. They had a record of 71 wins and 91 losses.