Washington Nationals: 10 greatest moments at Nationals Park

The Washington Nationals are still a young franchise, but there have already been countless memorable moments at Nationals Park.

When the Washington Nationals opened Nationals Park in the spring of 2008, no one in D.C., not even the Lerner family, could have foreseen the franchise’s current run of success. Since 2012, the Nationals have averaged nearly 93 wins per season, topped off with four division titles. But before the 2008 season, the foundation for this exceptional run was still in its infancy stage.

The architect of the operation, general manager Mike Rizzo, was still Jim Bowden’s assistant GM. Stephen Strasburg was entering his sophomore season at San Diego State and making the transition from reliever to starter. Max Scherzer was awaiting his first career start in Arizona. Bryce Harper was still just 15-years-old.

Of course some key pieces – Ryan Zimmerman, Jordan Zimmermann, Ian Desmond among others – were already a part of the organization, but they had yet to reach their peaks. In fact, the Nats were still approaching the depths of the rebuild – back-to-back 103-loss seasons in 2008 and ’09.

But since Nationals Park opened for business on the banks of the Anacostia River, Washington has developed into one of the preeminent organizations in the game. The Nats have to reach the pinnacle – or even an NLCS – but fans and players have still made countless memories along the way.

Here are the 10 best moments in the history of Nationals Park (honorable mention to the Werth 2B-Harper 3B-Zimmerman-HR start to Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS – the ending made that sequence simply too painful to include here).

10. Bryce Harper’s three-homer game (2015)

Bryce Harper’s performance on May 6 was one of his many individual highlights in what became the finest offensive season in the history of Washington baseball.

Batting fourth against the Miami Marlins, the then-22-year-old walloped three long balls off starter Tom Koehler, including a 441-foot missile in the fifth inning. All told, Harper went 3-4 with three homers, five RBI and nearly 1,300 feet in home run distance. He became the fourth Nationals player to hit three home runs in a game, and the first since Ryan Zimmerman in 2013.

Harper continued to tear up National League pitching for the rest of the summer en route his unanimous NL MVP award. The fiery right fielder posted a .330/.460/.649 slash line, and led the league with 42 homers, 118 runs, and a 198 OPS+.

The Nationals failed to make the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, but Harper’s record-breaking campaign still shined a light on an otherwise gloomy year.

9. Teddy wins his first race (2012)

What started as a fun, little gimmick used to keep fans interested during the summer slog of a baseball season eventually became a national phenomenon in 2012. While the team on the field was in the midst of its best season, Teddy Roosevelt was mired in the middle of a winless streak never before seen in baseball history.

While the streak flew under the radar at the beginning, fans eventually caught on, and Teddy became local cult hero. Shirts were made and blogs were started, but Teddy still failed to capture the elusive W (though not for a lack of trying). National media started to get in on the fun too with features from ESPN, the Wall Street Journal, and others.

But after the Nationals had clinched their first division title, winds of change breezed through Nats Park. On the final day of the 2012 regular season, Teddy Roosevelt busted through the tape first, marking his first victory in seven seasons and 525 races.

Teddy backed up his first win with three more W’s in the 2012 NLDS. From 2013-16, he racked up 78 wins in the suddenly competitive President’s Race.

But his luck eventually ran out, and according to the blog ‘Let Teddy Win,’ Teddy has lost 86 consecutive races to date. At this rate, we might not see the mustachioed mascot win again until Stephen Strasburg’s contract expires in 2023.

8. Capitals host Winter Classic (2015)

The Winter Classic has become one of the most unique sporting events in the country. The annual New Year’s Day hockey game is played at an outdoors venue, and has created a steady stream of highlights since the series began in 2008.

The Nationals have played some unforgettable games at home over the years, but the 2015 Winter Classic put Nats Park on a bigger stage as a high-level venue in the nation’s capital.  Nationals Park now joined other iconic stadiums as Winter Classic hosts, including Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and the Big House at the University of Michigan.

The event also further ingrained the Nationals organization within the fabric of the city. D.C. is typically viewed as a football town, and with the Capitals recent run of success, hockey is a clear number two. The Wizards and Nationals were left fighting for scraps. But with the Winter Classic, the Caps and Nats created a quasi-partnership, which is something we’ve since watched develop over the years.

Now, Nationals Park is picking up more recognition as a beautiful stadium in a budding baseball town. This summer, the baseball world will descend on Nats Park when the All-Star festivities roll into Washington for the first time since 1969. With their on-field performance and quality stadium to boot, the Nationals continue to rise the ranks of MLB organizations with each passing season.

(Oh, and the Caps won the Winter Classic when Troy Brouwer netted the game-winning goal with less than 13 seconds remaining. That helped too.)

7. Max Scherzer ties MLB record with 20 K’s (2016)

Max Scherzer, more so than anyone else in baseball, is capable of a historic, record-breaking performance each time he toes the rubber.

At this point, after seeing Scherzer on no-hitter watch nearly 12 percent of the time, fans are so blasé towards his otherwise dominant efforts. Seven innings, two runs, 10 strikeouts? Please, that’s about as run of the mill as the Mets slotting another corner outfielder in center. But every so often, the three-time Cy Young award winner spins something so magical that Nats fans can’t help but be wowed.

In May 2016, in his first start against his former Detroit squad, Scherzer racked up 20 strikeouts, something only three other pitchers have ever accomplished (Roger Clemens (twice), Randy Johnson, and Kerry Wood). Scherzer issued zero free passes and scattered just six hits, all while fanning Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, James McCann, and Anthony Gose three times apiece.

We are witnessing one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, and a certain Hall of Famer. Sure, the long ball can bite him from time-to-time, but his ability to thoroughly embarrass a major league lineup for nine straight innings sets Scherzer apart from the rest of the big leagues.

6. Nationals clinch first division title (2012)

For a relatively under-the-radar franchise, the Nationals were on a fairly chaotic path leading up to the 2012 season.

In 2005, the first season after moving from Montreal, the team raced out to first place in the NL East before collapsing in the second half. The Lerners bought the organization the following summer, but the aging, overmatched roster began to crumble. Luckily, fortune (apparently) favors the bad, and the Nationals’ two catastrophic 59-win seasons coincided with the epic Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper drafts. From there, the team climbed the ladder from 59 wins to 69 in 2010 and then 80 in 2011.

And when 2012 rolled around, baseball became fun in D.C. We had Werth’s beard, and Harper’s hair. Morse’s “Take on Me,” and Desmond’s helmet grabs. Bernadina’s shark. Stealing home. Lombo singles. Shutdowns. Goggles. We had it all. The amount of Natitude coursing through our veins was unreal.

The Nationals clinched their first division title on Oct. 1 when the Braves fell 2-1 in Pittsburgh. For the first time in decades, Washington finally had a winning baseball team, and it didn’t seem like the train would ever stop.

5. Jordan Zimmermann’s no-hitter to close season (2014)

For every no-hitter, there almost always seems to be the one defensive play that sticks in our mind as much as the actual pitching performance. Dewayne Wise. Aaron Rowand. Watch a full compilation here.

Now that Steven Souza has been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, he will be remembered for two things as a National: the Trea Turner heist and the iconic catch to save Jordan Zimmermann’s no-hitter.

Souza was a defensive replacement in left field for Ryan Zimmerman, who almost certainly does not make that play. He fully extended his body for an over-the-shoulder catch with the sun beating down and center fielder Michael Taylor barreling towards him. Souza’s grab is quite the possibly the greatest defensive play in team history. (Somehow, the guy who made that amazing catch is also the same guy committing this hilarious defensive blunder).

The no-hitter also highlighted the most dominant stretch in Zimmermann’s career. In his final 13 starts of 2014, including the playoffs, Zimmermann posted a 1.79 ERA over 90.1 innings with 87 strikeouts to just 10 walks. Before Max Scherzer arrived in town, Zimmermann was the horse of the Nats’ rotation who held the staff together through Stephen Strasburg’s injury concerns. He would be gone a year later, but Zimmermann’s one-walk, 10-strikeout no-hitter was the culmination of an excellent Nationals’ career.

4. Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off home run to open the stadium (2008)

The Nationals were about to begin a two-year stint where they lost a whopping 206 total games, but on March 30, 2008, there was nothing but promise in the air.

With ESPN in town for the grand opening of the new Nationals Park, baseball had finally captured the attention of the city. Finally removed from the shadows of the crumbling RFK Stadium, nearly 40,000 fans piled into the ballpark for the start of the season. In turn, the ragtag Washington squad managed to put together one of their finer games of the year.

With names like Odalis Perez, Jon Rauch, and Austin Kearns playing key roles that night, the Nationals entered the bottom of the ninth knotted at two runs apiece. Braves’ reliever Peter Moylan made quick work of Cristian Guzman and Lastings Milledge, bringing a 23-year-old Ryan Zimmerman to the plate. After taking the first pitch for a ball, Zim unleashed his familiar smooth swing.

Washington would go onto lose their next five home games and finish a league-worst 25-56 at home that season. But in that one moment, the team finally had something special. They had the stadium and they had the young star. Things were looking up.

2. Stephen Strasburg’s first career start (2010)

For the first five years of Nationals Park, Stephen Strasburg’s debut was probably the most boisterous crowd in stadium history. In 2010, the Nats averaged less than 23,000 fans per game. But for Strasburg, over 40,000 fans crammed into the ballpark for a first-hand look at the savior of D.C. baseball. And the young righty did not disappoint.

After setting down the first two batters of the game, Strasburg went up 0-2 on former Nat Lastings Milledge. With the crowd on their feet, hungry for the K, Strasburg forced Milledge to whiff at his curveball, and the fans boomed.

Strasburg kept rocking from there, setting down nine of the first 10 batters he faced, six via strikeout. For a June game, the stadium had an October buzz, the fans rising with each out as they looked for any opportunity to roar. Strasburg ran into some trouble in the fourth inning when Delwyn Young popped him for a two-run homer, but stayed composed and got stronger from there. He finished the night by striking out his last seven batters, giving him 14 for the game, then a franchise-record (since broken by Max Scherzer).

Strasburg went seven innings and allowed just four hits, two runs, and no walks, en route to one of the finest debuts in baseball history. “He pitched probably the best game I’ve ever seen pitched,” first baseman Adam Dunn said after the game.

After years of sloppy, starless baseball, the Nationals were finally the toast of the majors.

1. Jayson Werth’s walk-off home run in NLDS Game 4 (2012)

Every sports fan has those defining moments where you remember exactly where you were for “the play.”

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When Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman unloaded a pair of homers in the eighth inning against Chicago last fall, I was sitting at a bar in Milwaukee with my dad and my girlfriend, arms raised while the Cubs fan next to us shook his head in disbelief. During Stephen Strasburg’s first career start, I was watching alone in my living room, giddy with every additional strikeout. And for Jayson Werth’s slam, I was having a birthday dinner at the Annapolis Cheesecake Factory with my family, hanging on with each excruciating foul ball. I haven’t dined at a Cheesecake Factory since, but every time I drive by one, I still think of that home run.

Werth’s play over his seven seasons in Washington did not always match his nine-figure contract, but his walk-off home run in the 2012 NLDS against St. Louis summed up his playing style. Only Werth could cap off a 13-pitch at-bat with a heroic walk-off home run.

Next: Nats' catching options dwindling

His flair, hair, grit, and passion will be missed in D.C. He will always be remembered for that homer.