The last time Nats were this good, the world was very different
While seven years isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, it is an eternity in the sports world, especially if you are a Washington Nationals fan.
It has been seven long years (at the end of this season) since the Nats won the World Series. It has been seven long years since the team had a regular pitching rotation featuring Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez that was the envy of the league. It's been seven years since Juan Soto was hitting cleanup behind Anthony Rendon.
And seven years since the Washington Nationals were at least three games over .500.
The Nats beat the Kansas City Royals Monday, 7-3, putting the team one win away from winning its fourth consecutive series and its ninth series win out of its last 11.
At the start of the season, FanGraphs predicted that the Nats would finish with a 63-99 record and projected that they would be the third-worst team in the league in 2026. At 38-35 and nearing the halfway point of the season, the team would have to have an epic collapse and go 25-64 the rest of the way to meet FanGraphs expectations.
Not bad for a team with an anemic payroll (ranked 27th in the league, according to Spotrac), a new manager and a new front office.
A lot has changed for long-suffering Nats fans since that magical 2019 season. The team started off 19-31 that season and were looking like sellers heading into the summer All-Star season before completely turning the ship around and going all the way.
Let's hop in the time machine and remember what that year was like.
What the world was like the last time the Nats were three games over .500
Back in 2019, everyone seemed to know the Houston Astros or New York Yankees would be representing the American League in the World Series, which the All-Star Game roster reflects.
Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez and first baseman DJ LeMahieu were named starters while second baseman Gleyber Torres and closer Aroldis Chapman came off the bench.
Meanwhile, the Astros had three starters, including third baseman Alex Bregman, and outfielders George Springer and Michael Brantley. Gerrit Cole and Ryan Pressly also took the mound for the American League.
The Nats were represented by Max Scherzer and Anthony Rendon, but rookie slugger Juan Soto, still a relative unknown around the league, was left off.
Off the field, "hot girl summer" became the catchphrase of the season due to a Megan Thee Stallion song. The last season of Game of Thrones disappointed everyone, with a Starbucks cup accidentally appearing in the final cut of a scene encapsulating just how little the showrunners cared.
Avengers: Endgame went on to break every box office record known to man. Lil Nas X released his ubiquitous "Old Town Road" single. Beyoncé performed at Coachella
A social media trend convinced about 150 people to show up to Area 51 and storm the top-secret military facility. And astronomers released the first actual image of a black hole.
This was all pre-Covid, of course, so inevitably the world would change drastically in the weeks and months after the Nats won their first title.
While some things have changed from that era, Endgame is now the second-highest-grossing film of all time behind the Avatar sequel; other things have remained the same, like that last season of Game of Thrones still being an embarrassment to prestige television.
With the Nats three games above .500 and (potentially) climbing, it's helpful to remember those good times, even if the intervening years have been hell to endure.
Related: CJ Abrams is on the cusp of doing something no Nat has ever done
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 11:07 AM.