Another new MLB ballpark has been checked off for me, and my trip to Washington DC was a very successful one! I’ll be sharing more content throughout the next couple of days from the trip, so stay tuned for more. I’ll also be going to two more games this weekend, and bringing a brand new ballpark in just the second home game of the teams existence! My next couple of posts won’t be baseball related, but will have things to do in the Washington DC area that I consider must see places for anyone to visit.
With only 3 days to explore DC as much as possible, my original plans were to explore the city before going to the game. Things ended up working out differently, and I recommend not going to a Nationals game and exploring the city in the same day, unless if you only have one day. Things are a lot more spread out than I thought they would be, and there isn’t enough time to do it all, along with a game. I’ll be sharing in a future post what I ended up doing earlier in the day before the Nationals Game.
This was my first time visiting Washington DC, so all I knew about the city was what the map told me. I was able to check off two new states on this trip also in Virginia, and Maryland just across the Potomac River. There are three airports within the vicinity of DC, and I flew into the DCA airport, which is the closest, but flying into Baltimore would be ideal for getting to two ballparks on the same trip. It was very convenient staying in Alexandria, VA, which is only a 15 minute drive to the stadium, even in heavy traffic. I highly recommend renting a car for this trip, or getting very familiar with public transportation. Also, there are things within 30 minutes of the city to see, especially for anyone that likes seeing historic places.
Getting to the ballpark wasn’t bad for a Wednesday evening. It may be busier on weekends with larger crowds, but I also arrived about two hours before the game started. There was a promotion for a cooler bag, but it was an exiting giveaway, which I’ve never heard of before. I’m not sure if all of the Nationals promotions are this way, but I’m assuming it’s because of the clear bag policy that they did the giveaway this way. With the new bag policies at games, the Nationals have lockers outside of the stadium available to rent. They’re around $15 for the game. I parked closer to the stadium, and it was around $30. The layout for parking reminded me a lot of Cleveland when I was there. There were a lot of concessions to choose from at this ballpark, along with a Shake Shack in the stadium. If you go up the stairs behind center field, there are a lot of things to choose from.
The first place Mets were in town against the last place 2019 World Series Champions in this young season, and I couldn’t wait to see this matchup, along with Juan Soto, who’s already and MVP caliber player at just 23 years old. It was amazing to see what he did in 2019, and I’ve always wanted to see him play in person. The Nationals were already down 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning, and he didn’t disappoint in his first at bat.
I got lucky, and caught a Soto home run on camera. From here, the Nationals didn’t look back. They put up 8 runs in the first two innings of the game. That ended up being the final score, as both team’s pitching settled down for the rest of the game. Throughout the game I was able to walk around the stadium, and get some different pictures of the ballpark. I’ll share everything below, as always. Be on the lookout for my next posts from this trip, and make sure to use code APGAMING for $20 off of your first SeatGeek order!
AP Ballparks 