| Baltimore Orioles – Washington Nationals | |
|---|---|
| History | |
| First meeting | May 19, 2006 |
| Last meeting | June 19, 2011 |
| Next meeting | 2012 |
| Number of meetings | 36 |
| Regular season series | 19-17, Orioles |
| Largest victory | 17-5, Nationals (May 20, 2011) |
| Current streak | |
| Longest Orioles win streak | 3 |
| Longest Nationals win streak | 4 |
The Beltway Series (promoted by the Nationals as The Battle of the Beltways) is the name of the interleague series played between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles. The series name is taken from the two beltway highways, the Baltimore Beltway and the Capital Beltway, that service Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It marked the first time the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area had two Major League Baseball franchises since the folding of the first Washington Senators franchise and the departure of the subsequent two franchises of the same name to Minnesota to become the Twins and the second to Texas to become the Rangers. The Beltway Series is expected to become a regular rivalry series in Major League Baseball.
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The teams did not meet in the Nationals' inaugural 2005 season due to the MLB schedule not having been adjusted in time to accommodate the series (that year the Nationals played their Expos-era traditional Canadian rivalry series with the Toronto Blue Jays), although they did play each other three times during spring training. The March 5th, 2005 spring training game marked the first Baltimore/Washington baseball contest since Sept. 10th, 1971 when the Senators played the Orioles.[1]
During spring training in 2006, the Nationals and Orioles played each other in Washington on March 31 and in Baltimore on April 1. The first match up of the rivalry took place on May 19, 2006 during the 2006 regular season, the Orioles won at RFK Stadium. This marked first time in 35 years that the Orioles played a regular-season game in Washington, as they played the Washington Senators, another team in the American League annually from 1954 to 1960. The Orioles continued that rivalry with the new Washington Senators from 1961 to 1971.
The first Beltway Series game ever played at Oriole Park at Camden Yards was held on June 23, 2006 and was watched by 48,331 fans, one of the largest crowds at OPACY that season.[2]
The two teams split the season series 3-3 with each team winning two games at home and one on the road.
The Orioles and Nationals played six times again in 2007, with the Nationals taking the season series 4 games to 2.
The Orioles and Nationals played their final exhibition game of 2008 at the new Nationals Park, the first MLB action to take place in the park. The Nationals won 3–0.
During the 2008 regular season the teams met in Baltimore on the weekend of May 16–18. Baltimore won the first two games of the series and Washington won the final game. They met again in D.C. the weekend of June 27–29. In this series, the Nationals took two out of three games, including an exciting final game in which second baseman Ronnie Belliard hit a walkoff home run to win the game. The series attracted 115,133 fans, one of the largest series turnouts of the year at Nationals Park.
The 2009 season featured the Orioles first ever Beltway series win.
During the regular season of this year, the Orioles met the Nationals in D.C. on May 22–24. The Orioles were able to take the first two games from the Nationals, while the Nationals won the final game, allowing them to divert the sweep at home. The weekend of June 26–28 had the Nationals traveling to Baltimore to face the Orioles. The Orioles were able to take the first two games of the series, while the Nationals took the final game of the series. The Orioles won the overall series four games to two.
The 2010 season featured two installments of the Beltway Series; the Nationals hosted the first (21–23 May) at Nationals Park and won 2 of the 3 games (3-5, 7-6, 4-3). The Orioles swept the Nationals at Camden Yards approximately one month later (25–27 June), winning each game on a late-inning rally (7-6, 6-5, 4-3). The Orioles won the overall series four games to two.
In 2011, The Nats started the series off with a jolt. They scored a franhise record 17 runs on 19 hits with 6 homeruns to beat the Orioles 17-5.
Former Oriole second baseman and World Series champion Davey Johnson was announced in late June as the manager of the Nationals.
Although this rivalry is new, many Nationals fans already feel strongly about it. Peter Angelos, the owner of the Orioles, opposed the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. on the grounds that it would harm the Orioles financially, contending that the Orioles alone had a legal right to the Baltimore-Washington market. In the four full seasons since the Expos moved to D.C. the Nationals have drawn 9,127,252 fans to the ballpark and the Orioles have drawn 8,892,951 fans to the ballpark.
The Nationals were a larger draw in 2005, the Orioles were a larger draw in 2006 (drawing exactly 100 more fans that year) and in 2007 the Orioles were a larger draw by nearly 200,000 fans.[3] In 2008 the momentum swung back the Nationals way, with the Nationals outdrawing the Orioles by over 370,000 fans, mostly due in part to their then- new ballpark.[3]
Interestingly, the original Washington Senators were well-established in the Baltimore/Washington market for over fifty years before the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore to become the present-day Orioles.
Instrumental in that move was the leadership of the Griffith family—then the owners of the Washington Senators.
The dispute with Angelos over the move was resolved when the Orioles were granted the right to broadcast Nationals games on their new television network, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. However, the deal was struck only days before the beginning of the 2005 season and many DC-area fans did not receive the new network for some time and were unable to watch most games. Furthermore, it has been reported that Angelos and the Orioles hold majority ownership in the network, which has led some Nationals fans to contend that the channel exhibits a bias in covering the Orioles compared to the Nationals (such as displaying the scores of Beltway Series games as "Orioles vs. Washington" as opposed to "Orioles vs. Nationals"). Furthermore, the Orioles had hand sleeve of their jersey's changed from "Baltimore" to "Orioles" in 1972 after D.C. last lost their baseball team. In the 2009 season, the Orioles will change their hand sleeve back to "Baltimore" on their away jerseys.
The tradition of yelling "O!" during the line "Oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave" in the Star Spangled Banner is a Baltimore Orioles tradition. Over the years it became a staple of Washington, DC area sporting events. The chant has had controversy in the past and the usage of the "O!" chant at Nationals games has reignited such controversy.[4][5]
| Team | World Series Titles | League Pennants | Division Titles | Wild Card Berths | Playoff Appearances | World Series Appearances | All-time Regular Season Record | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | 3 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4,651–4,445 | .511 |
| Washington Nationals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3,167–3,502 | .475 |
| Combined | 3 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 11,246–12,461 | .474 |
Note: Numbers include the Montreal Expos and St. Louis Browns.
| Orioles wins | Nationals wins | Orioles runs | Nationals runs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | 16 | 14 | 128 | 119 |
| Year | Series Winner | Orioles W | Nationals W | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Tie | 3 | 3 | |
| 2007 | Nationals | 2 | 4 | First Nats' Beltway Series win, Nats' last year at RFK Stadium |
| 2008 | Tie | 3 | 3 | Nationals Park opens |
| 2009 | Orioles | 4 | 2 | First Os' Beltway Series win |
| 2010 | Orioles | 4 | 2 | |
| 2011 | Tie | 3 | 3 | |
| Overall | Orioles (2-1-3) | 19 | 17 |
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