List of Washington Nationals seasons

This is a list of seasons completed by the Washington Nationals, originally known as the Montreal Expos, professional baseball franchise; they have played in the National League from their inception in 1969. They 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. 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 (1977–2004) 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.

Table Key

NLDS	National League Division Series
NLCS	National League Championship Series
MVP	Most Valuable Player Award
CYA	Cy Young Award
ROY	Rookie of the Year Award
MOY	Manager of the Year Award
CB POY	Comeback Player of the Year Award
WS MVP	World Series Most Valuable Player Award

Season-by-season results

World Series champions †	National League champions *	Division champions ^	Wild card berth (1994–present) ¤

Season	Level	League	Division	Finish	Wins	Losses	Win%	GB	Post-season	Awards
Montreal Expos
1969	MLB	NL	East	6th	52	110	.321	48
1970	MLB	NL	East	6th	73	89	.451	16		Carl Morton (ROY)^[1]
1971	MLB	NL	East	5th	71	90	.441	25½
1972^[a]	MLB	NL	East	5th	70	86	.449	26½
1973	MLB	NL	East	4th	79	83	.488	3½
1974	MLB	NL	East	4th	79	82	.491	8½
1975	MLB	NL	East	5th	75	87	.463	17½
1976	MLB	NL	East	6th	55	107	.340	46
1977	MLB	NL	East	5th	75	87	.463	26		Andre Dawson (ROY)^[1]
1978	MLB	NL	East	4th	76	86	.469	14
1979	MLB	NL	East	2nd	95	65	.594	2
1980	MLB	NL	East	2nd	90	72	.556	1
1981^[b]	MLB	NL	East ^	3rd	30	25	.545	4	Won NLDS (Phillies) 3–2 Lost NLCS (Dodgers) 3–2^[2]
1981^[b]	MLB	NL	East ^	1st	30	23	.566	—	Won NLDS (Phillies) 3–2 Lost NLCS (Dodgers) 3–2^[2]
1982	MLB	NL	East	3rd	86	76	.531	6
1983	MLB	NL	East	3rd	82	80	.506	8
1984	MLB	NL	East	5th	78	83	.484	18
1985	MLB	NL	East	3rd	84	77	.522	16½		Jeff Reardon (RMA)^e
1986	MLB	NL	East	4th	78	83	.484	29½
1987	MLB	NL	East	3rd	91	71	.562	4		Buck Rodgers (MOY)^[3]
1988	MLB	NL	East	3rd	81	81	.500	20
1989	MLB	NL	East	4th	81	81	.500	12
1990	MLB	NL	East	3rd	85	77	.525	10
1991	MLB	NL	East	6th	71	90	.441	26½
1992	MLB	NL	East	2nd	87	75	.537	9
1993	MLB	NL	East	2nd	94	68	.580	3
1994	MLB	NL	East	1st^[c]	74	40	.649	—	Season cancelled	Felipe Alou (MOY)^[3]
1995	MLB	NL	East	5th	66	78	.458	24
1996	MLB	NL	East	2nd	88	74	.543	8
1997	MLB	NL	East	4th	78	84	.481	23		Pedro Martínez (CYA, PCA) ^d ^[4]
1998	MLB	NL	East	4th	65	97	.401	41
1999	MLB	NL	East	4th	68	94	.420	35
2000	MLB	NL	East	4th	67	95	.414	28
2001	MLB	NL	East	5th	68	94	.420	20
2002	MLB	NL	East	2nd	83	79	.512	19
2003	MLB	NL	East	4th	83	79	.512	18
2004	MLB	NL	East	5th	67	95	.414	29
Washington Nationals
2005	MLB	NL	East	5th	81	81	.500	9		Chad Cordero (RMA)^e
2006	MLB	NL	East	5th	71	91	.438	26
2007	MLB	NL	East	4th	73	89	.451	16		Dmitri Young (CPOY)^[5]
2008	MLB	NL	East	5th	59	102	.366	32½
2009	MLB	NL	East	5th	59	103	.364	34
2010	MLB	NL	East	5th	69	93	.426	28
2011	MLB	NL	East	3rd	80	81	.497	21½
2012	MLB	NL	East ^	1st	98	64	.605	—	Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–2	Davey Johnson (MOY)^[3] Bryce Harper (ROY)^[1]
2013	MLB	NL	East	2nd	86	76	.531	10
2014	MLB	NL	East ^	1st	96	66	.593	—	Lost NLDS (Giants) 3–1	Matt Williams (MOY)^[6]
2015	MLB	NL	East	2nd	83	79	.512	7		Bryce Harper (MVP)
2016	MLB	NL	East ^	1st	95	67	.586	—	Lost NLDS (Dodgers) 3–2	Max Scherzer (CYA)^[7]
2017	MLB	NL	East ^	1st	97	65	.599	—	Lost NLDS (Cubs) 3–2	Max Scherzer (CYA) ^[8]
2018	MLB	NL	East	2nd	82	80	.506	8
2019	MLB †	NL *	East	2nd ¤	93	69	.574	4	Won NLWC (Brewers) Won NLDS (Dodgers) 3–2 Won NLCS (Cardinals) 4–0 Won World Series (Astros) 4–3 †	Stephen Strasburg (WS MVP)
2020	MLB	NL	East	4th	26	34	.433	9
2021	MLB	NL	East	5th	65	97	.401	23½
2022	MLB	NL	East	5th	55	107	.340	46
2023	MLB	NL	East	5th	71	91	.438	33

All-time records

Wins	Losses	Win%
2755	2943	.484	All-time Montreal Expos regular season record (1969–2004)
5	5	.500	All-time Montreal Expos postseason record (1969–2004)
2760	2948	.484	All-time combined Montreal Expos regular and postseason record (1969–2004)
1439	1535	.484	All-time Washington Nationals regular season record (2005–2023)
19	17	.528	All-time Washington Nationals postseason record (2005–2023)
1458	1552	.484	All-time combined Washington Nationals regular and postseason record (2005–2023)
4194	4478	.484	All-time combined franchise regular season record (1969–2023)
24	22	.522	All-time combined franchise postseason record (1969–2023)
4218	4500	.484	All-time combined franchise regular and postseason record (1969–2023)

Record by decade

The following table describes the Expos′ (1969–2004) and Nationals′ (2005–2023) combined regular-season won–lost record by decade.

Decade	Wins	Losses	Win %
1960s	52	110	.321
1970s	748	862	.465
1980s	811	752	.519
1990s	776	777	.500
2000s	711	908	.439
2010s	879	740	.543
2020s	217	329	.397
All-time	4194	4478	.484

These statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com's Washington Nationals History & Encyclopedia, and are current as of October 1, 2023.^[9]

Postseason appearances

Year	Wild Card Game/Series	LDS		LCS		World Series
1981	None (Won NL East)	Philadelphia Phillies	W (3–2)	Los Angeles Dodgers	L (2–3)
2012	None (Won NL East)	St. Louis Cardinals	L (2–3)
2014	None (Won NL East)	San Francisco Giants	L (1–3)
2016	None (Won NL East)	Los Angeles Dodgers	L (2–3)
2017	None (Won NL East)	Chicago Cubs	L (2–3)
2019	Milwaukee Brewers W	Los Angeles Dodgers	W (3–2)	St. Louis Cardinals	W (4–0)	Houston Astros	W (4–3)

Post-season record by year

The Nationals have made the postseason six times in their history, with their first being in 1981 (as the Expos) and the most recent being in 2019.

Year	Finish	Round	Opponent	Result
1981	NL East Champions (second half)	NLDS	Philadelphia Phillies	Won	3	2
1981	NL East Champions (second half)	NLCS	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lost	2	3
2012	NL East Champions	NLDS	St. Louis Cardinals	Lost	2	3
2014	NL East Champions	NLDS	San Francisco Giants	Lost	1	3
2016	NL East Champions	NLDS	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lost	2	3
2017	NL East Champions	NLDS	Chicago Cubs	Lost	2	3
2019	World Series Champions	Wild Card Game	Milwaukee Brewers	Won	1	0
		NLDS	Los Angeles Dodgers	Won	3	2
		NLCS	St. Louis Cardinals	Won	4	0
		World Series	Houston Astros	Won	4	3
6	Totals			5–5	24	22

Footnotes

^a The 1972 Major League Baseball strike forced the cancellation of the first seven games (thirteen game-days) of the season.^[10]
^b 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.^[11] As such, the Expos finished one-half game ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals in the second half of the 1981 season.
^c The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season on August 11, as well as cancelling the entire postseason. While Montreal was leading by six games ahead of the second-place Atlanta Braves at the beginning of the strike, no team was officially awarded any division titles.^[12]
^d PCA-PI stands for Players' Choice Award for Outstanding Pitcher in the National League.
^e RMA stands for the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award.

References

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