Washington Nationals

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the East Division of the National League of Major League Baseball (MLB). The team's home ballpark is Nationals Park, located on South Capitol Street in Southeast D.C., near the Anacostia River. The park opened in 2008, replacing RFK Stadium, the team's home from 2005 to 2007.

The Nationals' name derives from the former Washington baseball team that had the same name (used interchangeably with Senators). Their nickname is "the Nats"—a shortened version that was also used by the old D.C. teams.

An expansion franchise, the club was founded in 1969 as the Montreal Expos, the first major league team in Canada. They were based in Montreal, Quebec, and played their home games at Jarry Park Stadium and later in Olympic Stadium. During the strike-shortened 1981 season, the Expos won a division championship and made their only post-season appearance as a Montreal franchise, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies, 3–2, in the National League Division Series, but losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3–2, in the National League Championship Series.

The club had its highest winning percentage in the strike-shortened season of 1994, when the team had the best record in baseball. The team's subsequent shedding of players caused fan interest to drop off, and after the 2001 season, MLB considered revoking the team's franchise, along with either the Minnesota Twins or the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After being purchased by MLB in 2002, the team was moved before the 2005 season to Washington and renamed the Nationals, the first relocation since the second Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, and became the Texas Rangers in 1972.

The Nationals are one of two MLB franchises, and the only one in the National League, that has never played in a World Series (the Seattle Mariners are the other).

NATIONALS PARK

Nationals Park is a baseball park located along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is the home ballpark for the Washington Nationals, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. When the Nationals franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., they temporarily played at RFK Stadium until Nationals Park was completed. It is the first LEED-certified green major professional sports stadium in the United States. The facility hosted the 2008 season's first game (in North America), when the Nationals hosted the Atlanta Braves on March 30, 2008. The first game played there was a collegiate baseball game.

The ballpark, designed by HOK Sport and Devrouax & Purnell Architects and Planners, was originally to cost $611 million but eventually cost $693 million to build, with an additional $84.2 million spent on transportation, art, and infrastructure upgrades to support the stadium for a total cost of $783.9 million. The stadium originally seated 41,888 fans, but some seats from various parts of the stadium have been removed since its opening to reduce the capacity to 41,546 in 2010, down to 41,487 in 2012,^[and to 41,418 in 2013. The Washington Monument and the Capitol building are visible from certain areas of the stadium, namely the upper decks on the first base side of the field.

The park's name echoes the original name of the early-1900s ballpark used by the Washington Senators/Nationals, which was called National Park until it was rebuilt and renamed Griffith Stadium. The name was originally a temporary name, as the Lerner Family had planned to sell its naming rights. When a strong bid never surfaced, the team chose to stick with Nationals Park. The stadium and its grounds are owned by the Washington Convention and Sports Authority

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