Retired Numbers - Washington Nationals

 Happy 4th of July! So to celebrate America's 250th birthday, let's cover the team that calls the capital their home.

The history of Washington baseball is a bit complicated. Currently the third different franchise is active, who are a relocated team that used to be based in Canada. When the Montreal Expos moved to DC, they left behind their retired numbers. The original Washington franchise (the current Twins) took their history with them, which included titles and potential retired numbers (Killebrew did play for DC before their move west, though the vast body of work he put in was as a Twin), though they did leave the name "Nationals" behind. It's all a bit complicated.

All you need to know is the Washington Nationals as we know them were born during the twilight of MLB Showdown and never got a proper set. Heck, when the 2005 Showdown base set was released (based on 2004 season) neither the Expos or Nationals receive any representation. 20 years later, the team was able to slowly gain traction and get themselves some notable teams and players, including their World Series title in 2019. As it stands, having to start over with retired numbers, their list is expectedly short.

#11 - Ryan Zimmerman

When the Nationals took part in their first MLB draft, they had the #4 pick overall and used it on Zimmerman. By the end of that season, Ryan made his debut and proceeded to be apart of the team every season as he quickly became the cornerstone. Without any Expo in his past, he was able to be embraced as Mr. National, the city's pure superstar. 2009 was his banner year, where he was an all star and won both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger. He'd add a 2nd Silver Slugger in 2010 and return to the all star team in 2017. Age and injury was catching up with Zim in 2019, but he was still able to help lead the Nationals to their first World Series (in either Montreal or as the Nationals) where he would have the honor of hitting the franchises first World Series homer as the Nats would eventually conquer the Astros in 7 games.