The
Washington Nationals are an American professional
baseball franchise based in
Washington, D.C. They are members of the
National League (NL)
East Division in
Major League Baseball (MLB). The team began playing in as an
expansion team
An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...
in
Montreal,
Quebec, then known as the
Montreal Expos. There have been 18 different
managers in the franchise's history. The team has played its home games at the
Nationals Park since 2008. The Nationals are owned by
Ted Lerner, with
Mike Rizzo
Michael Rizzo, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer from New York City, active since the early 1990s. He is well known for working with various artists such as Jennifer Green and Sun, all of whom scored hits on both '' Billboard's Ho ...
as their
general manager.
The Expos' first manager was
Gene Mauch
Gene William Mauch (November 18, 1925 – August 8, 2005) was an American professional baseball player and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers (, ), Pittsburgh Pirates (), Chicago Cubs ...
, who managed for six seasons.
Felipe Alou
Felipe Rojas Alou (born May 12, 1935) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder, first baseman, and manager. He managed the Montreal Expos (1992–2001) and the San Francisco Giants (2003–2006). The first Dominican to play regularly in the ...
is the franchise's all-time leader in regular season games managed (1,408) and regular season game wins (691).
Jim Fanning is the only Expos manager to have gone into the
post-season
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
.
Buck Rodgers and Alou are the only managers to have won the
NL Manager of the Year Award with the Expos, in and respectively.
Karl Kuehl,
Jim Fanning, and
Tom Runnells have all spent their entire MLB managing careers with the Expos/Nationals.
After
Manny Acta was fired during the season,
Jim Riggleman
James David Riggleman (born November 9, 1952) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) manager and bench coach who coached with several teams between 1989 and 2019. He is currently the manager for the Billings Mustangs of the independent ...
, the bench coach, was named interim manager to replace him, and was promoted to the position full-time for the season.
After Riggleman resigned during the season and
John McLaren ran the team for three games as an interim manager, the team hired veteran manager
Davey Johnson, who had previously served as an advisor to Rizzo. Johnson led the team to the
National League East title and the franchise's first playoff berth since moving to Washington and was 2012's NL Manager of the Year, but the team did not advance past the
2012 National League Division Series
The 2012 National League Division Series were two best-of-five game series to determine the participating teams in the 2012 National League Championship Series. The three divisional winners and a fourth team—the winner of a one-game Wild Card ...
. Johnson retired after the season.
Matt Williams took over in , leading the team to another National League East title that season, and was 2014 NL Manager of the Year, but the team did not advance past the
2014 NLDS
The National League Division Series was two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2014 National League Championship Series. The Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and St. Louis Cardinals (seeded 1–3 base ...
, and Williams was fired after an unsuccessful second year in .
Dusty Baker managed the team in and , leading Washington to consecutive National League East titles, but the team did not advance beyond the NLDS in either season and Baker's contract was not renewed after the 2017 season. The Nationals hired
Dave Martinez in October 2017 to take the helm in ; along with leading the team to its first
World Series championship, Martinez has the most victories as a manager since the team moved to Washington.
Key
Managers
''Notes: Managers from 1969 through 2004 are of the Montreal Expos; those from 2005 to the present are of the Washington Nationals. Statistics are correct as of the end of the
2021 Major League Baseball season
The 2021 Major League Baseball season began on April 1, while the regular season ended on October 3. The postseason began on October 5. The World Series then began on October 26 and ended on November 2 with the Atlanta Braves defeating the Houston ...
.''
Image:Felipe Alou.jpg, Felipe Alou
Felipe Rojas Alou (born May 12, 1935) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder, first baseman, and manager. He managed the Montreal Expos (1992–2001) and the San Francisco Giants (2003–2006). The first Dominican to play regularly in the ...
(right), shown with the San Francisco Giants, managed ten seasons with the Expos.
Image:Manny Acta.JPG, Manny Acta was the manager of the Nationals from 2007 to 2009.
File:Jim Riggleman 2008.jpg, Jim Riggleman was named the interim manager of the Nationals in 2009, took over the position on a permanent basis before the 2010 season, and resigned in 2011.
File:John McLaren 2011.jpg, John McLaren managed the Nationals for three games in 2011.
File:Davey Johnson Nationals.jpg, Davey Johnson managed the Nationals from 2011 to 2013.
File:Matt Williams (19613632042) (cropped).jpg, Matt Williams managed the Nationals from 2014 to 2015.
File:Dusty Baker talking before game.JPG, Dusty Baker, managed the Nationals from 2016 to 2017.
Notes
* A running total of the number of managers of the Expos/Nationals. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms as a manager is only counted once.
*
Frank Robinson was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in 1982 as a player, but was never inducted into the Hall of Fame as a manager.
References
;General
*
*
;Specific
{{Montreal Expos
Washington Nationals
Managers
Washington Nationals managers
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball franchise based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the National League (NL) East Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). The team began playing in as an expansion team in Montr ...