The Washington Nationals have been an MLB franchise for 20 years, relocating to Washington D.C. in 2005 after debuting as the Montreal Expos in 1969. Let’s review the past two decades and analyze the five greatest players in Nats history.
The Nationals won the 2019 World Series against the Houston Astros after making the postseason as a Wild Card team, leaning on some big-time names on the mound and at the plate. It’s worth noting that Washington won its first and only league pennant in the same calendar year after superstar slugger Bryce Harper left the team for a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Despite Harper’s absence in 2019, he’s one of the five greatest players to ever wear a Nationals uniform. Debuting at 19 years old in 2012, Harper holds franchise single-season records in WAR (9.7), Offensive WAR (9.1), runs created (161), and several other metrics.
Washington has had an elite pitcher on the mound as well. Max Scherzer, a right-handed pitcher, helped the Nationals win the 2019 World Series, going 3-0 as a starter in the playoffs with a 2.40 ERA. He also started in Game 7, giving up two total runs.
Scherzer recorded 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in 2019, which is the best single-season mark of any Nationals pitcher. Pedro Martinez still leads the team in WAR for Pitchers (9.0) and ERA (1.9), but that occurred in 1997, eight years before the team moved from Montreal to Washington to rebrand as the Nationals.
The 2025 Washington Nationals are a far cry from that 2019 roster. Currently, the Nationals sit fifth in the NL East and staring at last place again. The team is 3-7 SU in their last ten games played, losing three consecutive games due to a -95 run differential.
Despite the team’s struggles this season, there are still a lot of ways to bet on the Nationals. By claiming the Fanatics Sportsbook promo code, new customers can Bet and Get up to $1,000 in No Sweat Bets, qualifying for a great opportunity to convert bonus bets into cash following the MLB All-Star break.
Place a bonus bet on the team’s best hitter, James Wood, in the Home Run betting market at +300 odds or longer. Or, bet the run total over in most games, since Washington’s one of only three teams to allow more than 500 runs in 2025.
Let’s finish evaluating the top five players in Washington Nationals history. We’ve already covered Harper and Scherzer, while Martinez doesn’t technically count since he played for the Expos. Juan Soto, Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon are the final three players who deserve to be labeled “great” based on their production in Washington.
Soto still holds the team record in several single-season metrics. In 2020, Soto set the franchise record with a .351 batting average, which has yet to be topped. The Dominican native also holds current records in On-Base percentage (.490), Slugging percentage (.695) and OPS (1.185), which all occurred in 2020.
Turner is sixth in Nationals’ single-season batting average (.335), 10th in slugging percentage (.588) and ninth in OPS (.981). He achieved all of these feats in 2020 alongside Soto, one year after winning the World Series.
Rendon was a huge factor at the plate during Washington’s storyback season. He finished that year ranked eighth in WAR for a position player (7.3), sixth in Offensive WAR (6.7) and fifth in slugging percentage at .598. Also tied fourth with a 1.010 OPS and fourth for runs created (139) to lead the Nationals in 2019.
In summary, Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon are the five greatest players in Washington Nationals history.
