February 16, 2005
Reality Sets In
It was the first day of spring traing for the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post has the story.
For nearly five months, ever since Major League Baseball announced the Montreal Expos would be relocated to the District this season, the Nationals, at least as viewed locally, had been a team in concept only -- made up, as best anyone could ascertain, of a business staff, a front office staff, a couple of trailers, a logo, a roster of "players." But no faces or voices or stories to tell.
That all changed Tuesday, as the Nationals opened their first spring training camp on a glorious Florida morning. On the day pitchers and catchers reported to camp, players entered the home clubhouse at Space Coast Stadium with huge duffel bags slung over their shoulders (many of them emblazoned with the old Expos logo) and greeted each other with handshakes and hugs.
Re: The Washington Nationals
Baseball in Washington!!!!
It's really a dream come true.
The first game of the season, the President gets to throw out the first ball, and we've already had an editorial from David Brooks complaining he can't get good seats because of all the Important People in Washington who have reserved seats close to the action.
The Eastern Division NL now makes geographic sense with Phila, Wash, NY counterbalancing Atl & Fla to the South. Eventually the NL should realighn and bring Pittsburgh back to the NL East along these lines;
NL East;
Phila
NY Mets
Pitts Pirates
Wash Nat'ls
Fla Marlins
NL Central
Astros
Cubs
Cards
Atl Braves
Milw Brewers
NL West (same)
This realignment would really do a lot to re-introduce the traditional Pittsburgh-Philly rivalry, and develop a Pitts-Wash and Pitts-NY rivalry.
--ajk
And the Reds?
I'll take just about any realignment, so long as it gets rid of the pathetic 5-6-5 : 5-5-4 set up. Move Colorado and Arizona to the AL West, and Texas and Houston to the NL West. You can still flip Pitt and Atlanta if you want to.
Good to see baseball back in Washington.
