Baseball finally returned to Washington, DC 34 years after the Senators left for Texas, as the wayward Montreal Expos still without an owner moved to the Nation's capital. Immediately after unveiling their logo, Nationals apparel became one of the hottest sellers as baseball starved fans on the Potomac swiped it up, as plans for a new ballpark that is scheduled to open in 2008 were announced, while MLB sought bidders for permanent ownership in Washington.

The Nationals would start the season on the road playing their first nine games and compiling a 5-4 record, including an April 6th game in which Brad Wilkerson delivered a cycle in the Nationals first win against the Philadelphia Phillies. On April 14th, baseball finally returned to Nation's Capital as President George W.

Bush keeping with an old Presidential tradition threw out the first pitch as the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 at RFK Stadium, the former home of the Senators. The Nationals would go on to compile a respectable 13-11 record at the end of the first month.

The Nationals would remain hot over the next two months and led the National League Eastern Division by five and a half games over the Atlanta Braves entering the 4th of July with a record of 51-30. However, hosting the New York Mets for a four-game series, the Nationals began to sputter as the Mets took three-of-four games as the Nats went into the second half losing five-of-seven at RFK Stadium to division opponents.

After the break, the Nationals struggles continued as their grip on first place quickly slipped away, as, by the time they entered a three-game series with the Braves in Atlanta, the lead was gone. The Nats would be swept in the series and would never see first place again.

The Nationals continued to struggle in August as they ended losing a total 24-of 32-games over five weeks ending on August 11th. The Nationals would stop the sinking with a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies to keep them in the Wild Card Race as all five National League East teams had .

500 or better records and were in thick of the playoff chase heading into September. However, the Nats would quickly fall off in the race as they began to slip further in the NL East Standings as a three-game sweep at the hands of the Mets dropped them to .

500 and into last place where they would post an 81-81 record. Among the individual highlights for the first year, Nationals was Chad Cordero, who won the National League Fireman Award with 47 saves, while Livan Hernandez led the team with a 15-10 record.

At the plate, homers were scarce in cavernous RFK Stadium as Jose Guillen led the team with 24 homers and 76 RBI.