Washington Nationals, American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., that plays in the National League (NL). The Nationals have won one World Series and one NL pennant (both 2019).
The franchise was based in Montreal and known as the Expos (after Expo 67, the world’s fair held in the city in 1967) for the first 36 years of its existence. Founded in 1969, the Expos were one of four teams to join Major League Baseball (MLB) that year. Montreal lost 110 games in its first season to finish at the bottom of its division and tie for the worst record in the major leagues (with the San Diego Padres), and the team continued to finish in the lower half of the NL East throughout its first decade. In 1979, under the guidance of future Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, the Expos posted their first winning season and finished only two games out of a division title. Behind star players such as catcher Gary Carter and outfielders Andre Dawson and Tim Raines, the Expos advanced to their first postseason appearance two years later during the strike-shortened 1981 season. That year they won their first-round series against the Philadelphia Phillies before losing to the eventual world champion Los Angeles Dodgers as the result of a ninth-inning home run in the deciding fifth game of the NL Championship Series.
For the remainder of the 1980s, Montreal fielded teams that usually finished their seasons with winning percentages within a few games of .500. In the early 1990s the Expos amassed a roster filled with young talent—such as outfielders Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom, and Larry Walker, as well as pitcher Pedro Martínez—that led to a rapid ascent toward the top of the divisional standings. After finishing the 1993 season three games out of first place, Montreal posted a league-best 74–40 record in 1994 only to have the remainder of the season canceled over a labour dispute, cutting short the team’s best chance to win a division title. By the time MLB renewed play in 1995, Montreal had lost much of its young talent through free agency or trades in the off-season, and the Expos ended the year at the bottom of the NL East standings.
In 1996 the team called up future All-Star slugger Vladimir Guerrero, but his late-season addition was not enough to push the Expos past the Atlanta Braves in their division. The Expos then began a prolonged period of subpar play that coincided with a decrease in home game attendance and complaints by team ownership about the Expos’ home stadium, which led to questions about the stability of the team’s tenure in Montreal.
In 2001 the Expos were one of two teams (with the Minnesota Twins) that commissioner Bud Selig proposed for elimination from the major leagues in an effort to raise revenue throughout the sport. The team was then sold to MLB in 2002. A Minnesota court order effectively ended the threat of contraction in the major leagues, so MLB pursued relocating the franchise. The Expos played a handful of their “home” games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2003 and 2004 while MLB courted suitors from different North American cities. In 2005 the Expos moved to Washington, D.C., and became known as the Nationals. The Nationals routinely fielded some of the worst teams in the NL during their initial seasons in Washington, including 102-loss and 103-loss seasons in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
There was a substantial silver lining to the team’s two 100-loss seasons, however. By finishing with the worst records in the major leagues in those particular years, the Nationals were able to select with the first pick of consecutive drafts two of the most-prized prospects in decades: pitcher Stephen Strasburg and outfielder Bryce Harper. The pair joined an existing group of solid players, and in 2012 the Nationals posted an 18-game improvement over the previous season, finished with the best record in the majors (98–64), and won the franchise’s first division title. However, the team was eliminated in its opening postseason series by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Washington returned to the postseason in 2014, but the team was again eliminated in its first playoff series. The young and talented Nationals entered the 2015 season as the oddsmakers’ favourite to win the World Series, but the team disappointed on the field, finishing with an 83–79 record and seven games outside the playoffs. Washington rebounded the following season to win another division title but was again eliminated in the team’s opening playoff series. The franchise repeated this result in 2017, continuing the trend of regular-season success without winning a playoff series. The Nationals took another step back in 2018, winning 82 games to snap the team’s short-lived playoff streak.
Harper left the team in free agency during the off-season, but the Nationals’ strong starting pitching (led by Strasburg and Max Scherzer) and hitting by young phenom Juan Soto led the team back to the postseason in 2019. There Washington exorcised years of playoff failures by defeating the two-time defending NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series for the franchise’s first victory of a postseason series. The Nationals followed that by sweeping the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series to advance to the team’s first appearance in the World Series. The Nationals continued their improbable playoff run by winning all four of their road games (while losing their three home games) in the World Series to capture the team’s first championship. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were disappointing, as Washington finished well out of playoff contention both years.