Washington Nationals: Our staff's favorite Nationals Park memories

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The Washington Nationals will take on the New York Mets in their home opener today. To honor the event, the District on Deck staff recalls their favorite moments at the park.

After visiting the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves to begin the season, the Washington Nationals will finally play their first home game today. Home openers are always exciting, but today should be exceptionally fun.

For one, 2018 is the tenth anniversary of the inaugural season at Nationals Park. The Nats played their first few seasons at RFK Stadium, but moved to Nationals Park shortly after returning to DC.

Nationals Park will also host the All-Star festivities this summer. From the All-Star game, to the Home Run Derby, to the Futures Game, everything will occur at Nationals Park.

Washington has not hosted an All-Star Game since 1969, when the Senators represented DC, so it will be an exciting time for the team and city.

While the All-Star festivities will be great for Nationals Park, the Nats have had some of their own great moments at the ballpark.

Jayson Werth produced arguably the greatest moment with his walkoff home run in game four of the 2012 National League Division Series. Aside from Werth’s incredible homer, the park has hosted a few postseason wins, Stephen Strasburg‘s dominant debut, and Jordan Zimmermann‘s no-hitter.

Without further ado, our staff recalls their favorite Nationals Park moments.

Blake Finney, Podcast Director

Having lived across the pond for most of my life, the choices for favorite Nationals Park memory are limited to just two games. However, when you witness Major League Baseball history, it makes the choice easy regardless.

A day game against the Milwaukee Brewers at the end of July last season. The Washington Nationals had taken an early 1-0 lead on a Bryce Harper home run. Nothing too historic there.

Then the third inning came around. After a Max Scherzer lead-off walk, Brian Goodwin teed off on Michael Blazek for his 10th HR of the year. That was quickly followed by Wilmer Difo and Harper going yard off the fill-in starter for the day.

On the first pitch he saw, Ryan Zimmerman put one into the opposing bullpen. This tied the major-league record for most HRs in a row by a team, a very special time to be at Nats Park.

Me, my dad, and Ron, a steward we met the night before, high-fived with every long-ball. And with eight home runs that day, there were rather a lot of high-fives.

And just to top things off, we even got to see a position player pitch! Hernan Perez ate an inning for the Brewers at the end of the blowout.

Go to the ballpark; you’ll see something you’ve never seen before. The old saying held true this time.

Ross Shinberg, Staff Writer

As a belated birthday present, I got the opportunity to see a Nats game. The game was on a Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants. No clouds, a light wind, it was a perfect day for baseball.

On the hill for the Giants was perhaps my second favorite pitcher in the entire league: Madison Bumgarner. And he worked the Nationals lineup front to back. He pitched a complete game (albeit eight innings pitched) with two hits allowed and seven strikeouts.

Opposing Bumgarner, Tanner Roark matched him pitch-for-pitch, throwing seven strong shutout innings.

As one could imagine, the ballpark was relatively quiet for most of the game (with the exception of the Racing Presidents playing volleyball, of course). That was until the seventh inning.

With two on and two out, old friend Ben Revere made an incredible over-the-shoulder catch, bringing back memories of Willie Mays from the 1954 World Series.

In the bottom of the inning, another old friend, Wilson Ramos, snuck a ball over the right-center field wall and sent Nats Park into a frenzy!

And when viewing the tape back, I can be seen cheering him on as he rounds third base. It was a proud moment making it on live TV.

The game ended with the final score of 1-0. It was the perfect game. A rock-solid pitcher’s duel where each hit and each run are so valuable and precious. And, of course, a Curly W!

Brian Foley, Staff Writer

Even as the Nationals rack up more and more NL East titles, my favorite moment from Nats Park still comes from the first season that kicked off this successful run.

After watching Jayson Werth walk-off the Cardinals the night before in a Cheesecake Factory, my dad and my uncle scrounged up Game 5 tickets for the three of us. I was a senior in high school, and it was my first playoff game in any sport. And the atmosphere was electrifying. Nats Park was overflowing with red on a chilly October night.

I distinctly remember, as the public address announcer told us the TBS broadcast was about to begin, 45,966 fans rose to their feet and started whipping around #Natitude rally towels like there was no tomorrow.

Once the game got going, the crowd only increased its decibel levels with each passing pitch. In the bottom of the first, Werth, the previous night’s hero, stepped in to thunderous applause. Three pitches later, he lined a double down the left field line off St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright, and the Nats were in business.

Bryce Harper – he of a .056 batting average in the postseason to that point – was up next. All he did was drill a triple to the wall in left center, and send an already frenzied crowd to its breaking point. And then Ryan Zimmerman pushed us over the edge with a majestic home run to right center field. 3-0 Washington, and Nats Park had officially transformed into a mosh pit.

Of course, the Nationals eventually stretched the lead to 6-0 before the pitching staff imploded in spectacular fashion. That Game 5 choke job has clouded the franchise for six seasons now, but I still can’t let go of the initial thrill of that early lead. I wasn’t so jaded in 2012, and after that first inning, it seemed like that Nats would never lose again. Let’s hope we can get back to that feeling again someday.

Sam Phillips, Staff Writer

I remember bragging to my friends, I was going to be at the first game ever to take place at Nationals Park. No, not opening day, the exhibition against the Orioles the night before.

It was late March, and my dad and I were in the upper deck on the right field side.

The wind whipped its way through the stadium as it never did through the concourses of RFK, the team’s previous home. I do not remember who pitched. In fact, I don’t really remember who played at all, except Zimmerman of course.

What I remember is the physicality, the feeling of actual quantifiable evidence that DC had a baseball team, a baseball team that has a stadium and, a baseball team that wasn’t leaving. In this moment Washington, a town with some very complicated relationships with its sports teams, let all the disappointment slip away. The city had a new hope for a championship.

That year, they lost 102 games and the team set to take the field for the pre-season exhibition 10 years later is a drastically different one. But I can still feel the hope and pride of that moment and the wind fighting through the bleachers.

Drew Douglas, Site Expert

Sometimes, the greatest joy can stem from near-disaster. For the Nats, this was exactly the case.

Despite Stephen Strasburg’s gem, the Nats dropped game one of the 2017 National League Division Series to the Chicago Cubs. In a five-game series, losing game one made game two a must-win.

The Nats jumped out to an early lead on an Anthony Rendon homer in the first, but Gio Gonzalez promptly allowed a game-tying homer in the second. The Cubs tacked on two more runs on an Anthony Rizzo homer in the fourth, creating a dire situation for the Nats.

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For most of the game, it seemed like the Nats were going to lose game two as well and head into Chicago on the brink of elimination.

However, the bats finally came alive in the eighth. Adam Lind, who came up with clutch hits off the bench all year, got things started with a single. Then, Bryce Harper tied the game with a moonshot into the upper deck off of Carl Edwards.

The season, at least for the time being, was saved.

While the Nats had tied the game, they still needed to regain the lead. Fortunately, they did not wait long to do just that.

Following the Harper homer, Rendon walked and Daniel Murphy singled, bringing Ryan Zimmerman to the plate with the go-ahead run in scoring position. A simple single would likely give the Nats the lead.

In a questionable move, Joe Maddon let the left-handed Mike Montgomery stay in the game to face Zimmerman. The face of the franchise made Maddon and the Cubs pay, sending a high changeup into the flowerbed in left field.

Nationals Park, which was silent heading into the inning, erupted.

Somehow, the Nats managed to put five runs on the board in one inning. Now that they had the lead, Dusty Baker called upon Sean Doolittle to close out the game.

Fresh off of the offensive explosion, “Doooooo” chants rung around Nationals Park. Doolittle dominated in the ninth, locking down the game and tying the series at one game apiece.

Next: Comparing Bryce Harper's hot start to historic 2015 campaign

Although the Nats eventually lost the series in heartbreaking fashion, game two was a whirlwind of emotions and one of the most exciting games in Nationals Park history.

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Washington Nationals: Our staff’s favorite Nationals Park memories