Top 50 Washington Nationals
The Nation’s Capital of Washington D.C. may have seen a World Series Championship but it was not from the current incarnation of their team, the Washington Nationals.The Nationals originally began in French Canada as the Montreal Expos in 1969, a team that finally made the MLB playoffs in 1981. In 1994, prior to the MLB strike, they had the best record in the game, but as imagined they would not have the opportunity to compete for the World Series.
The franchise would relocate to the Washington D.C. area, marking the third time that America's capital hosted a baseball team. After making the playoffs multiple times, the Nationals finally won their first World Series in 2019.
Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
This list is updated up until the end of the 2024 Season.
The first player on this list who played for “both the Expos and the Nationals”, Livan Hernandez had his best regular seasons for this franchise. A World Series MVP with the Marlins in 1997, Hernandez would become a two-time All-Star and a bona fide innings eater for the Expos/Nationals, and had a 70-72 record with 840 Strikeouts for the team.
Prior to becoming a superstar and MVP in Colorado, Larry Walker was a very good player with the Montreal Expos who would become the only Canadian to win the franchise’s MVP award. Walker would make an All-Star Game, and win two Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger as an Expo. Following the 1994 season which was shut down due to a lockout, the Expos held a firesale, with Walker being traded to Colorado. With Montreal, Walker had 99 Home Runs with 666 Hits, and in 2019, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Spending his first six seasons of his MLB career with the Montreal Expos, Javier Vazquez was a good power pitcher who struck out 200 batters twice as an Expo. Vazquez never quite lived up to his billing as he gave up far too many hits, but was a better than most starting pitchers during his tenure in Montreal. He had a 64-68 Record with 1,076 Strikeouts with the Expos.
Rusty Staub (Le Grande Orange) was an original Montreal Expo and had such great popularity over those three seasons he played there (though he did come back for a cup of coffee late in his career) that the team retired his number. Staub would be an All-Star those three years and would put up an On Base Percentage over .400 as an Expo.
After seven years in Baseball; five with Pittsburgh, and two with the Dodgers, Bob Bailey became an original Montreal Expo, when the expansion team purchased his contract.Bailey was a good hitter who would three times exceed twenty Home Runs in a season and actually topped over 1.000 in OPS during the 1970 campaign. He had 791 Hits for Montreal, 118 of which were Home Runs.
Rondell White spent the 1990’s with the Montreal Expos organization and was a productive Outfielder who nearly accumulated 20 for his Expos bWAR. White would have two seasons where he eclipsed the .300 Batting Average in Montreal and had over 100 Home Runs there.
Bryn Smith spent the majority of his career as a starting pitcher with the Montreal Expos. He would finish his career with Montreal with a 81-71 record and his best season saw him go 18 and 5 with a 1.052 WHIP in 1985.
Ron Fairly played for the Los Angeles Dodgers for nearly 12 Seasons, before he was traded to the Montreal Expos during their expansion season.It was a good acquisition for the Expos, who needed a veteran who had won at the highest level, and Fairly still could get on base often via the Walk. In 1973, Fairley went to his first All-Star Game, and with the Expos, he had 86 Home Runs and an OBP of .381 over his five-and-a-half years in Montreal.
A three-time Silver Slugger, Ian Desmond spent his first seven years with the Washington Nationals. Desmond would record three 20/20 seasons as a National and was an All-Star in 2012. WIth Washington, Desmond had 110 Home Runs with 917 Hits
An elite reliever for a few seasons with the Montreal Expos, Jeff Reardon would go to two All-Star Games as an Expo, and he led the National League in Saves in 1985. That season he would win the NL Rolaids Relief Award and would tally 152 Saves in Montreal.
An All-Star in 1977, Ellis Valentine would win the Gold Glove the following year and for a time was known as having the most powerful throwing arms in the game. Valentine could hit too as he had three straight seasons hitting more than 20 Home Runs. An Expos until he was traded during the 1981 Season, Valentine belted 95 Home Runs with 676 Hits.
Warren Cromartie would spend a great deal of his baseball career in Japan, but in North America, “Crow” was known for his time with the Montreal Expos, where he would play eight seasons and accumulate 1,104 Hits with a Batting Average of .281.
Like Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga would find himself a major star with the Colorado Rockies, but it as a Montreal Expo where he first proved he was a better than average Major League Baseball player. “The Big Cat” was an All-Star in 1988 and would lead the NL in Hits (184) and Doubles (42) that year. Throw in a Silver Slugger and two Gold Gloves, and it is easy to see why the Expos fans were upset to lose another budding star, when they knew would not be able to afford him. Galarraga had 906 Hits, 115 Home Runs and…
Jeff Fassero did not debut until he was 28 and two years later he worked his way into the Expos starting rotation. Fassero would finish ninth in Cy Young voting in 1996 and overall as an Expo had a 58 and 48 Record with 750 Strikeouts and an ERA of 3.20.
The runner-up for the 1980 National League Rookie of the Year, Bill Gullickson had an underappreciated career as a Starting Pitcher. Gullickson would lead the NL in FIP in 1981 (2.11) and in BB/9 (1.5) in 1984, but this was at a time when those stats were not exactly understood…or even known!
The son of former star Felipe Alou (and his manager with the Expos) Moises Alou began his successful career in Major League Baseball (save for two games in Pittsburgh) with the Montreal Expos. Alou was an All-Star in the strike-shortened 1994 season where he batted .339 and was also named a Silver Slugger while finishing third in MVP voting. Alou would also have a pair of 20 Home Run seasons for the Expos.
Blessed with a lot of hair and a good bat, Jayson Werth became a very popular player with the Washington Nationals. Twice as a National, Werth has hit over .300 and also has collected over 20 Home Runs in three different seasons. The popular player would finish 13th and 18th respectively in MVP voting in 2013 and 2014. He would have 781 Hits with 109 Home Runs with Washington.
Tanner Roark's first seven seasons in the Majors were with the Washington Nationals where he was predominately been used late in the starting rotation. and has produced for the Nats a solid run. In Roarke's second season (2014), he would go 15-10 with an eighth place finish in WHIP (1.092). He regressed in 2015 and was demoted to the bullpen for a spell, but he came back in 2016 with his best season in Washington with 16 Wins, a sub 3.00 ERA, and was tenth in Cy Young voting. His last two seasons were not as good, but he remained as…
Larry Parrish had a solid run (1974-81) with the Montreal Expos as a starting Third Basemen. Parrish was an All-Star in 1979, a season where he had career-highs in Home Runs (30), Batting Average (.307), Slugging Percentage (.551), and OPS (.909). He would finish fourth in MVP voting that year. Parrish helped the Expos make the 1981 Playoffs, but that was where it ended for him in Montreal, as he was traded to Texas afterward. With Montreal, Parrish had 896 Hits and 100 Home Runs.