This is a list of seasons completed by the Washington Nationals, originally known as the Montreal Expos, professional baseball franchise; they have played in the National League from their inception in 1969. They are an American professional baseball team that has been based in Washington, D.C. since . The Nationals are a member of Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League Eastern Division. Since the 2008 season, the Nationals have played in Nationals Park; from 2005 through , the team played in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
As the Expos, the team had just fourteen of their 36 seasons finish with a winning record. The Expos made the postseason for the only time in 1981 as champions of the second half of the strike-shortened season. They then met the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1981 National League Division Series, defeating them in five games. They faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981 National League Championship Series but lost in five games. The 1994 team was 74–40 at the time of the league-wide strike that killed the season, with their winning percentage of .649 still being a team record. The Expos played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as expansion team in through , with the majority of that time (1977–2004) spent in Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Dissatisfaction with the stadium resulted in their relocation to Washington in 2005.
While the Nationals had a losing record in six of their first seven seasons, the team eventually came together in 2012 under the talent of players such as rookie Bryce Harper and pitcher Stephen Strasburg to win their first NL East title in 2012 and bring playoff baseball back to Washington for the first time since 1933. In the 2012 National League Division Series, the Nationals were one out away from winning Game 5 against the St. Louis Cardinals before they rallied to defeat and eliminate the Nationals. From 2012 to 2017, the Nationals would win the NL East four times but lost in the NLDS each time, with three of them going the full five games. In 2019, the Nationals had won just 19 of their first 50 games but managed to reach the postseason with a 93–69 record as the second Wild Card team in the NL. They defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card Game for their first win in a winner-take-all postseason game since moving to Washington. They upset the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS that went the full five games before sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. With the win in their 51st season as a franchise, it ended the longest drought for a team's first pennant in MLB history. In the 2019 World Series, led by Strasburg, Max Scherzer and Juan Soto, the Nationals rallied from a 3–2 series deficit by winning the last two games on the road, with Howie Kendrick hitting a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of Game 7 to give Washington their first World Series championship, with Strasberg being named World Series MVP. Since the end of 2019, the Nationals have not reached the postseason, finishing fifth in the NL East in four of the last seven seasons from 2020 to 2026 and fourth in the other three.
The following takes into account both teams, as all Montreal records were carried with the franchise when it moved to Washington.
Table Key National League Division SeriesNational League Championship SeriesMost Valuable Player AwardCy Young AwardRookie of the Year AwardManager of the Year AwardComeback Player of the Year AwardWorld Series Most Valuable Player Award
Season-by-season results World Series champions †National League champions *Division champions ^Wild card berth(–present) ¤ SeasonLevelLeagueDivisionFinishWinsLossesWin%GBPostseasonAwardsMontreal Expos1969MLBNLEast6th52110.321481970MLBNLEast6th7389.45116Carl Morton (ROY)1971MLBNLEast5th7190.44125½1972MLBNLEast5th7086.44926½1973MLBNLEast4th7983.4883½1974MLBNLEast4th7982.4918½1975MLBNLEast5th7587.46317½1976MLBNLEast6th55107.340461977MLBNLEast5th7587.46326Andre Dawson (ROY)1978MLBNLEast4th7686.469141979MLBNLEast2nd9565.59421980MLBNLEast2nd9072.55611981MLBNLEast ^3rd3025.5454Won NLDS (Phillies) 3–2Lost NLCS (Dodgers) 3–21st3023.566—1982MLBNLEast3rd8676.53161983MLBNLEast3rd8280.50681984MLBNLEast5th7883.484181985MLBNLEast3rd8477.52216½Jeff Reardon (RMA)1986MLBNLEast4th7883.48429½1987MLBNLEast3rd9171.5624Buck Rodgers (MOY)1988MLBNLEast3rd8181.500201989MLBNLEast4th8181.500121990MLBNLEast3rd8577.525101991MLBNLEast6th7190.44126½1992MLBNLEast2nd8775.53791993MLBNLEast2nd9468.58031994MLBNLEast1st7440.649—Postseason cancelledFelipe Alou (MOY)1995MLBNLEast5th6678.458241996MLBNLEast2nd8874.54381997MLBNLEast4th7884.48123Pedro Martínez (CYA, PCA) 1998MLBNLEast4th6597.401411999MLBNLEast4th6894.420352000MLBNLEast4th6795.414282001MLBNLEast5th6894.420202002MLBNLEast2nd8379.512192003MLBNLEast4th8379.512182004MLBNLEast5th6795.41429Washington Nationals2005MLBNLEast5th8181.5009Chad Cordero (RMA)2006MLBNLEast5th7191.438262007MLBNLEast4th7389.45116Dmitri Young (CPOY)2008MLBNLEast5th59102.36632½2009MLBNLEast5th59103.364342010MLBNLEast5th6993.426282011MLBNLEast3rd8081.49721½2012MLBNLEast ^1st9864.605— Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–2Davey Johnson (MOY)Bryce Harper (ROY) 2013MLBNLEast2nd8676.531102014MLBNLEast ^1st9666.593— Lost NLDS (Giants) 3–1Matt Williams (MOY)espn.go.com "Matt Williams named NL's top skipper"2015MLBNLEast2nd8379.5127Bryce Harper (MVP)2016MLBNLEast ^1st9567.586—Lost NLDS (Dodgers) 3–2Max Scherzer (CYA)2017MLBNLEast ^1st9765.599—Lost NLDS (Cubs) 3–2Max Scherzer (CYA)2018MLBNLEast2nd8280.50682019MLB †NL *East2nd ¤9369.5744 Won NLWC (Brewers) Won NLDS (Dodgers) 3–2 Won NLCS (Cardinals) 4–0 Won World Series (Astros) 4–3 †Stephen Strasburg (WS MVP)2020MLBNLEast4th2634.43392021MLBNLEast5th6597.40123½2022MLBNLEast5th55107.340462023MLBNLEast5th7191.438332024MLBNLEast4th7191.438242025MLBNLEast5th6696.407302026MLBNLEast4th7785.47517
All-time records TotalsWinsLossesWin%27552943All-time Montreal Expos regular season record (1969–2004) 55All-time Montreal Expos postseason record (1969–2004)27602948All-time combined Montreal Expos regular and postseason record (1969–2004)16531807All-time Washington Nationals regular season record (2005–2026)1917All-time Washington Nationals postseason record (2005–2026)16721824All-time combined Washington Nationals regular and postseason record (2005–2026)44084750All-time combined franchise regular season record (1969–2026)2422All-time combined franchise postseason record (1969–2026)44324772All-time combined franchise regular and postseason record (1969–2026)
Record by decade The following table describes the Expos′ (1969–2004) and Nationals′ (2005–2025) combined regular-season won–lost record by decade.
Decade Wins Losses Win % 1960s 52 110 1970s 748 862 1980s 811 752 1990s 776 777 2000s 711 908 2010s 879 740 2020s 431 601 All-time 44084750 These statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com's Washington Nationals History & Encyclopedia, and are current as of September 27, 2026.
Postseason appearances YearWild Card Game/SeriesLDSLCSWorld Series1981colspan=2 (Won NL East)Philadelphia PhilliesLos Angeles Dodgers2012colspan=2 (Won NL East)St. Louis Cardinals2014colspan=2 (Won NL East)San Francisco Giants2016colspan=2 (Won NL East)Los Angeles Dodgers2017colspan=2 (Won NL East)Chicago Cubs2019colspan=2 Los Angeles DodgersSt. Louis CardinalsHouston Astros
Post-season record by year The Nationals have made the postseason six times in their history, with their first being in 1981 (as the Expos) and the most recent being in 2019.
YearFinishRoundOpponentResultNL East Champions (second half)NLDSPhiladelphia PhilliesWon32NLCSLos Angeles DodgersLost23NL East ChampionsNLDSSt. Louis CardinalsLost23NL East ChampionsNLDSSan Francisco GiantsLost13NL East ChampionsNLDSLos Angeles DodgersLost23NL East ChampionsNLDSChicago CubsLost23World Series ChampionsWild Card GameMilwaukee BrewersWon10NLDSLos Angeles DodgersWon32NLCSSt. Louis CardinalsWon40World SeriesHouston AstrosWon436Totals5–52422
Footnotes The 1972 Major League Baseball strike forced the cancellation of the first seven games (thirteen game-days) of the season. The 1981 Major League Baseball strike caused the season to split into two halves. This caused Major League Baseball to hold the Divisional Series so that the first- and second-half champions could play each other to determine playoff spots for the NLCS and World Series. As such, the Expos finished one-half game ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals in the second half of the 1981 season. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season on August 11, as well as cancelling the entire postseason. While Montreal was leading by six games ahead of the second-place Atlanta Braves at the beginning of the strike, no team was officially awarded any division titles. PCA-PI stands for Players' Choice Award for Outstanding Pitcher in the National League. RMA stands for the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award.
References