List of Washington Nationals Opening Day starting pitchers

The Washington Nationals are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Washington, D.C. They play in the National League East division. The team was known as the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 2004. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season,^[1] though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day.^[2] The Nationals have used six different Opening Day starting pitchers in their sixteen seasons. The six starters have a combined Opening Day record of 3 win, 9 losses and 4 no decisions.^[3]^[4]^[5] No decisions are awarded to the starting pitcher if the game is won or lost after the starting pitcher has left the game, or if the starting pitcher does not pitch at least five innings with the lead. The overall Opening Day record of the team is 7–9.

Liván Hernández, who has made a total of four Opening Day starts for the Expos/Nationals franchise.

Max Scherzer holds the franchise record for most Opening Day starts with five. He is 1–3 on Opening Day, with one no decision.

Liván Hernández is the only pitcher to make an Opening Day start for both the Expos and the Nationals.^[3]

As the Washington Nationals, the team played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium from 2005 to 2007; their only home opener there was a 9–2 loss in 2007 by starter John Patterson.^[3] Nationals Park is the team's current field, and it was the site of the team's 2008 season opener, with starting pitcher Odalis Pérez on the mound in a game that the Nationals won 3–2 over the visiting Atlanta Braves.^[6]

Key

Season	Each year is linked to an article about that particular Nationals season.
W	Win
L	Loss
ND (W)	No decision for starter; Nationals won game
ND (L)	No decision for starter; Nationals lost game
Final Score	Game score with Nationals runs listed first
Location	Stadium in bold for home game
Pitcher (#)	Number of appearances as Opening Day starter with the Nationals

Pitchers

Season	Pitcher	Decision	Final score	Opponent	Location	Attendance	Ref(s)^[3]
2005	Liván Hernández	L	4–8	Philadelphia Phillies	Citizens Bank Park	44,080	^[7]
2006	Liván Hernández (2)	L	2–3	New York Mets	Shea Stadium	54,371	^[8]
2007	John Patterson	L	2–9	Florida Marlins	Robert F. Kennedy Stadium	40,389	^[9]^[10]
2008	Odalis Pérez	ND (W)	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Nationals Park	39,389	^[11]
2009	John Lannan	L	6–12	Florida Marlins	Dolphin Stadium	34,323	^[4]
2010	John Lannan (2)	L	1–11	Philadelphia Phillies	Nationals Park	41,290	^[5]
2011	Liván Hernández (3)	L	0–2	Atlanta Braves	Nationals Park	39,055	^[12]
2012	Stephen Strasburg	ND (W)	2–1	Chicago Cubs	Wrigley Field	41,176	^[13]
2013	Stephen Strasburg (2)	W	2–0	Miami Marlins	Nationals Park	45,274	^[14]
2014	Stephen Strasburg (3)	ND (W)	9–7	New York Mets	Citi Field	42,442	^[15]
2015	Max Scherzer	L	1–3	New York Mets	Nationals Park	42,295	^[16]
2016	Max Scherzer (2)	ND (W)	4–3	Atlanta Braves	Turner Field	48,282	^[17]
2017	Stephen Strasburg (4)	W	4–2	Miami Marlins	Nationals Park	42,744	^[18]
2018	Max Scherzer (3)	W	2–0	Cincinnati Reds	Great American Ball Park	43,878	^[19]
2019	Max Scherzer (4)	L	0–2	New York Mets	Nationals Park	42,263	^[20]
2020	Max Scherzer (5)	L	1–4	New York Yankees	Nationals Park	0	^[21]
2021	Max Scherzer (6)	ND (W)	6–5	Atlanta Braves	Nationals Park	4,801	^[22]
2022	Patrick Corbin	L	1–5	New York Mets	Nationals Park	35,052	^[23]
2023	Patrick Corbin (2)	L	2–7	Atlanta Braves	Nationals Park	35,756	^[24]
2024	Josiah Gray	L	2–8	Cincinnati Reds	Great American Ball Park	44,030	^[25]

References

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