Since moving to Washington, DC, I’ve been to a lot of baseball games. Even though the Nationals are technically a rival of my favorite team, they’ve been so bad the past few years that it doesn’t feel like there’s actually a rivalry.
Although I normally sit in the 300s section, or occasionally in the outfield, I came across 200-level seats for a price I couldn’t resist.
At Nationals Park, sections 206 to 221 are part of the FIS Championship Club, which includes two bars, free soda fountains, additional concession options, team memorabilia, and most importantly, air conditioning.
Before I purchased the tickets, I wanted to find any review I could of the section, and while I didn’t find a ton of helpful information on the club, I did come across this post titled “The 8 Lamest Parts of Nats Park.”
The post is nine years old and a lot has changed about the area since this post was written, and I thought it would be worth reviewing to see how well this piece has held up.
“8. The hideous statues on the concourse”
Even before this article was written the statues had been moved from the centerfield entrance to the home plate entrance. I’m not sure why this was included in their article.
That being said, I’ve actually never seen these statues. I’ve always come to Nationals Park on the metro, and I’ve almost always entered through the centerfield gate. There is a nice walkway entrance from what I’ve seen on Google Maps Street View, but this has to be the least-utilized gate, so I wonder what the point of even moving these statues was.
While I can’t speak to the aesthetics, I can agree that it is very lame to have statues that no one will see.
“7. The PNC Diamond Club”
This is one of the things I have on my wishlist for attending games, but I think I agree with the poster’s argument. While the amenities are very appealing, it is true: the most premium seats in the park are often unoccupied.
However, I don’t think this is a problem that only the Nationals face. Almost every MLB team has club seats behind home plate, and each team wants to have a good excuse to charge top dollar for those sections.
Is it lame? Yeah, but this is going to be lame nearly everywhere you go.
“6. The President’s Race”
This is one of the best parts of Nationals Park. There’s nothing like watching Teddy come out of the gate looking like he has a chance to finally win, only to get smacked in the face by something and fall flat on his face at the finish line.
“5. The location”
This area has changed a lot since this article was written. Now there are plenty of restaurants and bars in the area. I actually love how Nationals Park isn’t a stadium surrounded by miles of parking lots.
If I go to a Sunday afternoon game with my girlfriend, we’ll often go to one of the nearby coffee shops before we walk over to the stadium.
This is definitely not a lame aspect of the stadium anyway.
“4. The inexcusably shitty sightlines”
No argument from me here. A consequence of the developments around Navy Yard is that the only view you really get is of the new apartment buildings. Being in a city like Washington, DC, and not being able to see any of the landmarks is a bit of a disappointment.
“3. The generic design”
Also something that still holds up. As far as the aesthetics of the ballpark go, this one is very mid at best when compared to other stadiums. Within the stadium, there aren’t many things to do, and the layout of the park is indeed very generic.
“2. Leaving”
I’ve never driven to the park in my eight years of going to Nationals games, and I’ve never felt like it was a pain to leave. In the last year, I think WMATA has done an even better job at running frequent trains to get fans in and out.
I’ve never had to wait more than five minutes to get on a train leaving the stadium, and while it’s packed for a few stops, by the time we get to Gallery Place–Chinatown to transfer to the red line, the train cars have cleared out.
If not for how much Navy Yard has changed in the last two years, this would be the most outdated thing on the list.
“1. The ‘fans’”
I disagree with this point. Although I’m technically a part of the problem, being a fan of another team, I will say that there are plenty of energetic Nationals fans, and I’ve watched more games with this team being bad than it being good.
Once the Nationals are competitive again, I expect the crowd atmosphere to be much stronger than it is now.
Mitchell Barbee graduated from Calvin University with a B.A. in writing in 2021. Originally from Boone, North Carolina, he is currently residing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He enjoys hanging out with the few friends who stayed, wearing grey hoodies, and hoping that he doesn’t get sucked into the nightly wormhole of watching a baseball game.
