Washington Nationals

Nationals Park

Monday, July 2, 2018

After a long day at the National Zoo, Kim, Savannah, Owen and I took the Metro to Nationals Park in the Navy Yard area of DC. We were there that week visiting the US Capitol, but secretly, part of my reason to go to DC was to knock this park off the list.

Of course, when I started this journey of seeing all the ballparks, the Nationals were the Montreal Expos. And that would have been a difficult place to get to. For not too many TV shows from the US film there, and I couldn’t foresee a family trip to Montreal. So it ended up working well that they moved to DC.

We popped up from the Metro station with many other fans and headed to the park on foot. It felt good walking with a large, excited group of fans. You could see that there was a lot of new development around the park. New high-rises and mixed-use buildings. There was still a new excitement in the air, even though it opened 10 years before in 2008. Maybe the excitement had something to do with the team being particularly good in 2018, or the fact that the ballpark would be hosting the All Star Game in two weeks (July 17, 2018). Whatever the reason, it felt good to be going to the game.

But then my excitement wained… There was a massive line to get into the park. Security was extremely tight. We picked the “no bags” line, but it still took us about 30 minutes to get into the park. Locals were complaining about the line too, so maybe this wasn’t normal. (The game was against the Red Sox, so I knew it would be sold out). And even though it seemed we arrived plenty early, the National Anthem began to play as we entered. It wasn’t terrible entering that late, but not as easy as I had hoped. And it ate into our walk-around the park time that I would have liked.

We were first met with some interesting art that was located at the entrance (Pictured at left). Very cool. And then we began to walk around an notice all of the food options. There were many. And they all had clever names. Many of them puns. And I do love a good pun.

We walked by “See You Tater,” (a Tater Tot place) “Haute Dogs,” “Change Up Chicken,” and the Capitol-themed “Steak of the Union.” They also had a Nathan’s Hot Dogs and local favorite Ben’s Chili Bowl. Lots of good choices.

We ended up in a line for one of the gourmet hot dogs. Unfortunately this line was also extremely long and slow like the line to enter. It took me about 2 innings to get the dinner. But it was tasty.

As we walked to our seats, the stadium still felt new, with ample aisle ways, and with a classic steel look. Maybe I felt at little at home… Like a bit of a new Angel Stadium with the green steel trusses, and people wearing red jerseys and t-shirts.

Once in left field, we finally got to sit down and enjoy our food and the game. The Nationals were facing the Red Sox, so the crowd definitely had some Boston fans cheering for the away team. A home run was hit into our section, pretty near us, which gave a moment of excitement. No dice on getting the ball, though. And the Nationals star player, Bryce Harper, also hit a home run in the 8th inning. So that was pretty exciting. And it was a close game all the way to the end. Nevertheless, the Nats lost 4-3.

We left as the game ended and headed toward the Metro Station… But as we approached the entrance, it seemed like thousands of people were already ahead of us. It had already been a long day with our trip to the zoo. And ince our hotel wasn’t too far away, we walked a few blocks and grabbed an Uber to get back to our hotel faster. Good decision.

Overall, I really enjoyed this stadium. The main drawbacks were the large crowds which made it difficult to get in and get food quickly. I guess the lesson here is to get to Nationals park extra early. Because it is a really nice park.

On our way to the park after riding the Metro

Long Security Lines

Cool Art inside the park

View from seats

Admission Ticket

This is a replica ticket from a different game. Ticket was digital, so no ticket was available.