While I’m always up for a baseball game, when I visited Washington this past summer, it was with some mixed emotions of heading to five Nationals games. You see, when my Expos were taken away from me, they were in essence handed to Washington to become their new team. And while time can erase a lot, I’m never sure of where I stand on this baseball team that now claims franchise records of the team I used to cheer for. Putting that all aside, I bought some tickets, and shortly after arriving in DC, I threw on my trusty Montreal Expos hat and headed for Nationals Park.

Just through the gate, I bumped into this guy, who gave me a presidential welcome for my first Nationals game.

I found my seat along the first base line and settled in for the first of five baseball games in Washington. Night one was a treat with this seat and top pitcher Stephen Strasburg getting the start for the Nats. He threw six strong innings, and the home team blew the game open with eight runs in the seventh to cruise to an 11-1 win over Colorado.

Two nights later I was back at the park, taking up residence in the club level seating along the third base side. The game was delayed due to an intense thunderstorm that passed through DC. I was glad to have the club level seat as the accommodations were much better here than elsewhere in the park while waiting out the rain delay. The Nats made it 2-0 on my trip with a 2-0 win behind a strong Patrick Corbin start.

Friday night resulted in a change of visiting teams. The Los Angeles Dodgers were in town and were already cruising to a playoff spot. The Nationals had started a playoff push after a dreadful start to the season so this weekend series was looking like a potential playoff matchup (and one that actually did occur when the teams met again in October). A perfect summer night and two outstanding teams gave me a wonderful evening of baseball. I was in a great mood well before first pitch!

My upper deck ticket behind home was a great seat for the night. The pitchers were outstanding – Ryu for the Dodgers mixed pitches and speeds that kept the Nats off balance, and Sanchez for the Nationals, after escaping a rough first inning, retired 20 batters in a row. The game was tense from start to finish. The Dodgers jumped ahead with a three run home run in the 8th, and it took the Dodgers closer 34 pitches to kill a bases loaded rally in the bottom of the 9th by the Nats to secure a 4-2 win. You really couldn’t script a much better night of baseball.

One of the things I loved about these games in Washington was all of the Expos clothing on the other fans. I stopped to talk to just about everyone I saw wearing my team’s logo and colours, and all were happy to meet a “true” Expos fan and chat about how great it would be to see Montreal get a team again.

I was conflicted by some of this – most of these people were wearing Expos gear as a result of a recent “Expos day” game where the Nationals embraced their history and wore throw-back jerseys, served Montreal-themed food at the concessions, and even did announcements in French. But as a fan of a team that used to exist and might someday exist again, I guess I’ll welcome everyone to our bandwagon.

I think even this guy would vote for the return of the Expos (the guy on the left, that is… you all know where I stand on the matter).

For the Saturday afternoon game, I was way up in the upper deck and luckily in the shade on a smoking hot 34C day. I traded in my Expos hat for my Expos t-shirt. I think that Expos logo is the best in all of sports.

Even from this elevated perch, the view isn’t too bad. In front of 40,000 fans, the Dodgers turned a close game into a rout with a four run seventh inning on their way to a 9-3 win.

The series finale on Sunday was important for the Nationals in their chase for a playoff spot after losing a couple of games in a row. They got a strong seven inning start from Strasburg (I was very happy to get to see him twice on my visit!) and pounded away at the Dodgers bullpen (something they would do again to them in the playoffs in October) on their way to an 11-4 win to pick up a game in the wildcard playoff race.

I enjoyed the games thoroughly, loved Nationals Park as a place to watch baseball, and took much joy in talking to so many people about my Expos. I still left there conflicted with the Nats appropriation of all things Expos, but hope they’ll be generous in returning the franchise records and retired numbers when we get our team back in a few years!