Nationals announce 2019 schedule

The Washington Nationals - in conjunction with Major League Baseball - announced their 2019 schedule on Wednesday. The 15th season of Nationals baseball will commence with an Opening Day matchup against the New York Mets at Nationals Park on March 28th, marking the earliest start of the season in Nationals history (2005-present). Washington's initial homestand will feature three games against the Mets before welcoming the Philadelphia Phillies for two games, April 2nd and 3rd.

Nationals Park will host 13 homestands next season, with two extending beyond nine games. The Nationals will host 13 weekend series and will celebrate with holiday crowds three times in 2019. The Marlins will visit Nationals Park for both Memorial Day (May 27th) and the annual Fourth of July game at Nationals Park. Finally, the Nationals will welcome the New York Mets on Labor Day (Sept. 2nd).

Interleague play will match the Nationals up with American League Central. The Nationals will welcome the Chicago White Sox (June 4th-5th), Kansas City Royals (July 5th-7th) and Cleveland Indians (Sept. 27th-29th) to Nationals Park. They will travel to face the Chicago White Sox (June 10th-11th), Detroit Tigers (June 28th-30th) and Minnesota Twins (Sept. 10th-12th). Washington's visit to Minnesota in September will mark the Nationals' first visit to Target Field, which opened in 2010.

The annual Beltway Series with the Baltimore Orioles will renew on July 16th-17th at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the Orioles will visit Nationals Park Aug. 27th-28th.

The Nationals will make three visits to the West Coast, starting with a four-game series at the Los Angeles Dodgers May 9th-12th, a series that will cap a 10-game road trip that will take Washington from Philadelphia (May 3rd-5th) to Milwaukee (May 6th-8th) before ending in Los Angeles. The Nationals will travel to San Diego from June 6th-9th and will finish their West Coast slate with a six-game road trip to Arizona (Aug. 2nd-4th) and San Francisco (Aug. 5th-7th).

Twenty of Washington's final 29 games will come against divisional foes and they will conclude the 2019 regular season schedule with a seven-game homestand against the Philadelphia Phillies (Sept. 23rd-26th) and Cleveland Indians (Sept. 27th-29th).