The Washington Nationals announced their 2018 schedule on Tuesday, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, revealing an 81-game home slate that will begin on April 5 at Nationals Park. After celebrating Opening Day in Cincinnati on March 29 and kicking off the 2018 season with a six-game road trip to the Queen City and Atlanta, the Nationals will mark the 85th home opener in D.C. since 1901 with a tilt against their divisional foe, the New York Mets.
Nationals Park will open its gates for 11 homestands next year, five of which will span eight games or more, including three separate 10-game stays, and feature 14 weekend series. The home schedule will be highlighted by visits from the American League East in Interleague play. The Nationals will welcome the New York Yankees (May 15-16), Tampa Bay Rays (June 5-6), Baltimore Orioles (June 19-21), and Boston Red Sox (July 2-4).
The Nationals will celebrate with holiday crowds twice in 2018, first with the annual Fourth of July contest, as the Boston Red Sox visit the nation's capital for the nation's birthday. Washington will also play the host on Labor Day, welcoming the Milwaukee Brewers over Labor Day weekend and the St. Louis Cardinals on the holiday itself.
Weekends at Nationals Park will feature visits from the New York Mets (April 5-8, Sept. 20-23), Colorado Rockies (April 12-15), Arizona Diamondbacks (April 27-29), Philadelphia Phillies (May 4-6, June 22-24), Los Angeles Dodgers (May 18-20), San Francisco Giants (June 8-10), Miami Marlins (July 5-8, Aug. 17-19), Atlanta Braves (July 20-22), Cincinnati Reds (Aug. 2-5), Milwaukee Brewers (Aug. 31-Sept. 2), and Chicago Cubs (Sept. 6-9).
With July highlighted by the 89th Midsummer Classic, which will be played at Nationals Park on Tuesday, July 17th, April (14 games), May (14), August (15) and September (16) will be the busiest months at Nationals Park.
The Nationals' road slate features three West Coast swings, starting with an L.A.-San Francisco visit in April (Mets, April 16-18; Dodgers, April 20-22; Giants April 23-25). They will then travel to San Diego (May 7-9) and Arizona (May 10-13) in May, and to Colorado Sept. 28-30. Interleague play also sprinkles the road schedule with visits to Yankee Stadium (June 12-13), the Rogers Centre in Toronto (June 15-17), and Tropicana Field in Tampa (June 25-26) on the docket.
The annual Beltway Series with the Baltimore Orioles will be expanded this year as Washington plays the AL East in Interleague Play, featuring three games (as opposed to two) in each club's park. The Orioles will revive the rivalry first with a three-game set that starts on Memorial Day at Camden Yards (May 28-30), and Washington will play host at Nationals Park in June (19-21) to conclude the series.
Twenty-seven of the Nationals' final 40 games will come against divisional foes. The Nationals will have all of their visits from the National League West teams completed by June 10, and an entire homestand in September (Aug. 31-Sept.9) featuring exclusively the National League Central (Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs). The Nationals will conclude the 2018 home slate with a six-game homestand against the Mets and Marlins (Sept. 20-26), and will finish out the regular season with the aforementioned three-game road trip to Colorado.