The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball franchise based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the National League (NL) East Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). The team began playing in 1969 as an expansion team in Montreal, Quebec, then known as the Montreal Expos. There have been 18 different managers in the franchise's history. The team has played its home games at the Nationals Park since 2008.[1] The Nationals are owned by Ted Lerner, with Mike Rizzo as their general manager.[2]
The Expos' first manager was Gene Mauch, who managed for six seasons.[3] Felipe Alou is the franchise's all-time leader in regular season games managed (1,408) and regular season game wins (691). Jim Fanning is the only Expos manager to have gone into the post-season. Buck Rodgers and Alou are the only managers to have won the NL Manager of the Year Award with the Expos, in 1987 and 1994 respectively.[4] Karl Kuehl, Jim Fanning, and Tom Runnells have all spent their entire MLB managing careers with the Expos/Nationals.[5][6][7] After Manny Acta was fired during the 2009 season, Jim Riggleman, the bench coach, was named interim manager to replace him, and was promoted to the position full-time for the 2010 season.[8] After Riggleman resigned during the 2011 season and John McLaren ran the team for three games as an interim manager, the team hired veteran manager Davey Johnson, who had previously served as an advisor to Rizzo. Johnson led the team to the 2012 National League East title and the franchise's first playoff berth since moving to Washington and was 2012's NL Manager of the Year, but the team did not advance past the 2012 National League Division Series. Johnson retired after the 2013 season. Matt Williams took over in 2014, leading the team to another National League East title that season, and was 2014 NL Manager of the Year, but the team did not advance past the 2014 NLDS, and Williams was fired after an unsuccessful second year in 2015. Dusty Baker managed the team in 2016 and 2017, leading Washington to consecutive National League East titles, but the team did not advance beyond the NLDS in either season and Baker's contract was not renewed after the 2017 season. The Nationals hired Dave Martinez in October 2017 to take the helm in 2018; along with leading the team to its first World Series championship, Martinez has the most victories as a manager since the team moved to Washington.
Key
| # | Number of managers[a] |
| GM | Regular season games managed |
| W | Regular season wins |
| L | Regular season losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| PGM | Playoff games managed |
| PW | Playoff wins |
| PL | Playoff losses |
| * | Spent entire MLB managing career with the Expos/Nationals |
Managers
Notes: Managers from 1969 through 2004 are of the Montreal Expos; those from 2005 to the present are of the Washington Nationals. Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2023 Major League Baseball season.
Felipe Alou (right), shown with the San Francisco Giants, managed ten seasons with the Expos.
Manny Acta was the manager of the Nationals from 2007 to 2009.
Jim Riggleman was named the interim manager of the Nationals in 2009, took over the position on a permanent basis before the 2010 season, and resigned in 2011.
John McLaren managed the Nationals for three games in 2011.
Davey Johnson managed the Nationals from 2011 to 2013.
Matt Williams managed the Nationals from 2014 to 2015.
Dusty Baker, managed the Nationals from 2016 to 2017.
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Notes
- a A running total of the number of managers of the Expos/Nationals. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms as a manager is only counted once.
- b Frank Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 as a player, but was never inducted into the Hall of Fame as a manager.[16]
References
- General
- "Franchise Managers". MLB.com. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- "Washington Nationals year-by-year results". MLB.com. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- Specific