Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
9 questions No timer
49 free Washington Nationals trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Washington Nationals trivia quiz covers a franchise with two lives: the Montreal Expos, born at Expo 67 with Rusty Staub, Youppi! and the heartbreak of the 1994 strike, and the Nationals, who brought baseball back to the capital in 2005. There are questions on the contraction vote and the Loria-Henry ownership shuffle, why the club is not called the Senators, RFK Stadium and Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg's 14-strikeout debut, Bryce Harper's unanimous MVP, Max Scherzer's contract, the four NLDS exits, Juan Soto's trade, and the 19-31 team that won the 2019 World Series without winning a home game. Nationals Park, the Racing Presidents and Teddy's long losing streak, the cherry-blossom City Connect uniforms, the MASN television saga and the ownership changes get their own questions too. Easy questions suit any Nats fan; the hard ones are for people who remember which mascot got ejected first. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before moving to Washington in 2005, the franchise played in which city?
Montreal
The franchise played in Montreal as the Expos from 1969 to 2004, the first Major League team based in Canada, before relocating to Washington.
Q 02Who was the Expos' first manager, in 1969?
Gene Mauch
Gene Mauch was the Expos' first manager, running the club from its 1969 debut through the 1975 season.
Q 03In which season did the Expos post the best record in the majors?
1994
The 1994 Expos were 74-40, the best record in the majors, when the strike ended the season in August and cancelled the World Series; a fire sale followed.
Q 04In November 2001 MLB owners voted 28-2 to eliminate the Expos and which other team?
Minnesota Twins
A Metrodome lease injunction saved the Twins, and the 2002 labour deal banned contraction until 2006.
Q 05Which owner sold the Expos to MLB in 2002 in a deal that let him buy the Florida Marlins?
Jeffrey Loria
Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball for $120 million in February 2002 and used the proceeds to buy the Marlins from John Henry, who then bought the Red Sox.
Q 06The Nationals are the eighth major league franchise in Washington and the first since which year?
1971
The expansion Senators played their last Washington season in 1971 before moving to Arlington, Texas, as the Rangers, leaving the capital without a team until 2005.
Q 07Which owner cast the lone vote against moving the Expos to Washington in December 2004?
Peter Angelos of the Orioles
Peter Angelos of the Orioles objected to a team in his market; as compensation MLB gave him control of the new club's television rights.
Q 08Why did District politicians object to reviving the name 'Senators' for the new team?
D.C. has no voting representation in Congress
D.C. has no voting representation in Congress, so Mayor Anthony Williams and other District politicians felt 'Senators' would mock the city's lack of its own senators; 'Nationals' was chosen instead.
Q 09Mayor Anthony Williams wanted the new team named in honour of which Negro league club?
Homestead Grays
The Homestead Grays, though based near Pittsburgh, played many 1940s home games at Washington's Griffith Stadium; Mayor Williams favoured 'Grays' before 'Nationals' was chosen.
Q 10The Nationals played their first three seasons in Washington at which venue?
RFK
RFK Stadium, the multipurpose bowl that had been the expansion Senators' home for a decade, hosted the Nationals from 2005 until Nationals Park opened in 2008.
Q 11The Nationals' first draft pick, in 2005, was which University of Virginia third baseman?
Ryan Zimmerman
He spent his entire career with the club and became the first National to have his number retired, in 2022.
Q 12Which U.S. president threw out the first pitch at the first game at Nationals Park in March 2008?
George W. Bush
George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch on March 30, 2008, and the Nationals won the park's first game on a ninth-inning walk-off homer against Atlanta.
Q 13Nationals Park was the first major U.S. sports stadium to earn what distinction?
LEED green-building certification
Q 21The Nationals began 2019 with what record before their turnaround?
19-31
Washington was 19-31 on May 23, 2019, then went 74-38 the rest of the way to finish 93-69 and reach the postseason as a wild card.
Q 22The Nationals beat which team 4-3 in the 2019 NL Wild Card Game?
Milwaukee Brewers
Washington beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 when Juan Soto's bases-loaded single in the eighth skipped past right fielder Trent Grisham, scoring three runs.
Q 23The Nationals defeated which team in the 2019 World Series?
Houston Astros
It was the first World Series in which the road team won every game.
Nationals Park became the first major professional stadium in the United States to earn LEED green-building certification, at Silver level, when it opened in 2008 beside the Anacostia River.
Q 14The Nationals used the first overall draft pick in 2009 and 2010 on which two players?
Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper
Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper went first overall in 2009 and 2010 respectively, after the Nationals finished last in consecutive seasons; both became faces of the franchise.
Q 15How many batters did the Nationals' 2009 No. 1 pick strike out in his 2010 MLB debut?
14
The 2009 top pick struck out 14 Pirates without a walk in his debut on June 8, 2010, a Nationals-era record; he needed Tommy John surgery before the season was out.
Q 16Bryce Harper was drafted as a catcher after leaving high school early to enrol where?
College of Southern Nevada
Harper earned his GED and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada, a junior college, where he won the 2010 Golden Spikes Award at 17, a year after Sports Illustrated dubbed him 'Baseball's Chosen One'.
Q 17Bryce Harper became the youngest unanimous NL MVP in which season?
2015
In 2015 Harper hit 42 homers with a .330 average, becoming the youngest unanimous MVP at 23; the Nationals still missed the playoffs and manager Matt Williams was fired.
Q 18After the 2018 season Bryce Harper left the Nationals to sign with which division rival?
Philadelphia Phillies
His 13-year, $330M deal was briefly the richest in North American sports; the Nats won the World Series without him.
Q 19The Nationals won their first division title in which season?
2012
The 2012 Nationals went 98-64 for the club's first NL East title, then lost the NLDS when St. Louis scored four runs with two outs in the ninth of Game 5.
Q 20Max Scherzer's 2015 free-agent contract with Washington was worth how much over seven years?
$210 million
Scherzer's seven-year, $210 million deal, signed that January, was followed by two Cy Youngs as a National and a Game 7 start in the 2019 World Series before a 2021 trade to the Dodgers.
Q 24What was unprecedented about the 2019 World Series?
The road team won all seven games
The road team won all seven games, a first in World Series history; the visitors outscored the hosts 49-14 across the Series.
Q 25Who was named MVP of the 2019 World Series?
Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg won both his starts in the Series and was named MVP; he re-signed for $245 million, but injuries limited him to 31 innings under the deal.
Q 26Whose two-run homer off the foul pole gave the Nationals the lead for good in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series?
Howie Kendrick
Howie Kendrick's two-run homer off the right-field foul pole in the seventh inning of Game 7 put Washington ahead 3-2; he had also hit a tenth-inning grand slam in NLDS Game 5.
Q 27The 2019 Nationals went 5-0 in postseason elimination games, and all five wins had what in common?
They were come-from-behind victories
Each was a comeback: they were come-from-behind victories in the Wild Card Game, NLDS Games 4 and 5, and World Series Games 6 and 7, a postseason first.
Q 28The Nationals traded Juan Soto to San Diego in 2022 after he rejected an extension offer worth how much?
$440 million
Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension in July 2022 and was dealt to the Padres days later; in December 2024 he signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets.
Q 29Which two players from the Soto trade became Nationals cornerstones, one an All-Star in 2024?
CJ Abrams and James Wood
CJ Abrams and James Wood both arrived in the August 2022 Soto trade; Abrams was an All-Star in 2024, the season Wood made his debut.
Q 30Which manager led the Nationals to the 2019 title and was fired in July 2025?
Dave Martinez
Dave Martinez managed the club from 2018, winning the 2019 World Series, until he and general manager Mike Rizzo were dismissed on the same day in July 2025.