The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team that has been based in Washington, D.C. since 2005. The Nationals are a member of both the Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League Eastern Division and the National League (NL) itself. Since the 2008 season, the Nationals have played in Nationals Park; from 2005 through 2007, the team played in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
The Nationals are the successors to the Montreal Expos, who played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from their inception as an expansion team in 1969 through 2004, with the majority of that time (1977â"2004) spent in Montreal's Olympic Stadium.
The following takes into account both teams, as all Montreal records were carried with the franchise when it moved to Washington.
Season-by-season results
All-time records
Record by decade
The following table describes the Exposâ² (1969â"2004) and Nationalsâ² (2005â"2017) combined regular-season wonâ"lost record by decade.
These statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com's Washington Nationals History & Encyclopedia, and are current as of October 13, 2017.
Footnotes
- a The Finish column lists regular season results and excludes postseason play.
- b The Wins and Losses columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play. Regular and postseason records are combined only at the bottom of the list.
- c The GB column lists "Games Back" from the team that finished in first place that season. It is determined by finding the difference in wins plus the difference in losses divided by two.
- d This was the Expos' first season in Jarry Park Stadium.
- e ROY stands for National League Rookie of the Year.
- f The 1972 Major League Baseball strike forced the cancellation of the first seven games (thirteen game-days) of the season.
- g This was the Expos' last season in Jarry Park Stadium.
- h This was the Expos' first season in Olympic Stadium.
- i The 1981 Major League Baseball strike caused the season to split into two halves. This caused Major League Baseball to hold the Divisional Series so that the first- and second-half champions could play each other to determine playoff spots for the NLCS and World Series.
- j The Expos finished one-half game ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals in the second half of the 1981 season.
- k NLDS stands for National League Division Series.
- l NLCS stands for National League Championship Series.
- m MOY stands for Manager of the Year.
- n The 1994â"95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season on August 11, as well as cancelling the entire postseason. While Montreal was leading at the beginning of the strike, no team was officially awarded any division titles.
- o The Expos were six games ahead of the second-place Atlanta Braves when play ceased in 1994 due to the strike.
- p CYA stands for Cy Young Award.
- q PCA-PI stands for Players' Choice Award for Outstanding Pitcher in the National League.
- r This was the Expos' last season in Olympic Stadium.
- s This was the Nationals' first season in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
- t RMA stands for the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award.
- u This was the Nationals' last season in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
- v CPOY stands for the Players' Choice Award for National League Comeback Player of the Year.
- w This was the Nationals' first season in Nationals Park.
- x âThe Nationals finished four games ahead of the second-place Atlanta Braves in 2012.
- y The Nationals finished 17 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets, who finished tied for second, in 2014.
- z HAA stands for National League Hank Aaron Award.
- aa PCA-PL stands for Players' Choice Award for Outstanding Player in the National League.
- bb MVP stands for National League Most Valuable Player.
- cc MVP stands for Esurance MLB Awards. In 2015, Bryce Harper won two Esurance MLB Awards, for Best Major Leaguer and for Best Everyday Player.
- dd The Nationals finished eight games ahead of the second-place New York Mets in 2016.
- ee The Nationals finished 20 games ahead of the second-place Miami Marlins in 2017.