Baseball teams and Washington D.C. have traditionally had very unstable relationships. Although the city has been hosting baseball World Series once in a while, it has never managed to retain a baseball team as its own. Among the founding members of the American League was the original Washington Senators team. It won the World Series in 1924 and until 1960 was based in Washington. Their less than spectacular performance was probably a major factor for relocating themselves in 1961 to Minnesota and there creating a brand new version of their team. However, with just one successful season in its eleven-year career, it turned out worse than the first one.

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Although the second Senators team members, specifically Frank Howard, enjoyed great popularity with Washington people they also left the city to transfer to Texas prior to the 1971 season. Here the team’s name was changed to the Rangers. Washington D.C. itself remained team-less for about thirty years. In 2005, the Montreal Expos were relocated to Washington and became the new adopted team of that city. The move was actually a last minute resort and was necessary to prevent the eventual and final break-up of the Montreal Expos as a franchise.

During the post-1994 trade season things turned from bad to worse for the Expos outfit because after having shown an impressive performance in the previous year, they proceeded to remove all their best players. Outraged and fans soon left their fan base bringing with them much of the popularity and revenues of the team. There was vague talk in baseball circles that the franchise of the team was disputed and this was the reason for things being what they were. As an alternative to outright removing the franchise of the team and dissolving it, the League purchased the Expos and moved them to Washington.

Now the new Washington Nationals they have shown no better performance than the two previous versions of the team in the National League’s Eastern Division. Although losing some and winning some during the initial season, the number of wins have been steadily losing ground to losses until in 2008 and 2009 they registered a spectacular 100-game loss for both years. Although a lot of effort has been dedicated to improving the morale and performance of the team in 2010, the odds against the team getting back into good form are deemed meager.

However things have worked out, at the very least, Washington D.C. has not a baseball team to call its own and the residents are happy for that, notwithstanding the objections of the Baltimore Orioles who initially objected to the Expos. The League granted the Orioles exclusive broadcasting rights for the two teams and peace has been established between the two. The hope is that with time, persistence and the correct line-up of talent, Washington D.C. may be able to rally behind a team that is championship-grade in the future. Although how far away that future is only time will tell.

Author Bio: Ivan Jamison is a big sports fan. You can check out his Washington Nationals Watch or his Los Angeles Dodgers Watch or his New Your Mets Watch

Category: Sports
Keywords: Toroto Blue Jays