'Awesome Crowd' Gets Apologies From Nationals Skipper After Home Opener

The Washington Nationals returned to the nation's capital for their home opener with a 3-3 record.

Considering they started their season on the road against two division favorites in the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, there weren't a whole lot of people out there who would have expected this group to be .500 when they took the field in front of their fans for the first time.

But a good showing through six games combined with the energy surrounding this new era of Nationals baseball brought a whole lot of people out to the ballpark for Friday's contest against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In fact, official attendance numbers say just over 41,000 people attended.

Unfortunately, Washington couldn't take down the two-time defending World Series champions. Miles Mikolas was shelled for a club record 11 earned runs, and despite putting six runs up on the board, the offense couldn't do enough to overcome that. This showing prompted manager Blake Butera to apologize to the fans who came out for the home opener.

Blake Butera Thanked Fans, Also Apologized for What Took Place

Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

"First off I just wanna say, the crowd today, the fan attendance, the noise they were making and how into the game they were, just really appreciate that. It was cool to see. Every seat was full and the guys were pretty fired up to be back home playing in front of an awesome crowd," he said after the game. "Apologize, it was lopsided pretty early there. But just wanted to say thank you to the fans."

Just about everyone knew this was going to be a tough set for the Nationals. On paper, they are completely outmatched by the Dodgers in virtually every area on the roster. But after taking two out of the three from the Cubs and then almost doing the same against the Phillies, there was some hope that they could be competitive this weekend.

There's still a chance that could happen. They're scheduled to face Roki Sasaki in the finale on Sunday, and he has not looked good this spring. Taking even one game against Los Angeles in front of the home crowd in Washington would be a solid start to this homestand before they welcome the St. Louis Cardinals into town starting Monday.

Keeping the fanbase engaged throughout the season is something the Nationals haven't done in a long time. Last year, they averaged an attendance just shy of 24,000 people, which was 22nd in the league. They haven't been in the top half since 2018 when they were 11th in attendance.

Hopefully this group full of young stars can start getting fans to return to the ballpark. And based on what was seen for the home opener, there are plenty of people in the nation's capital interested in doing that. But it will be up to the team to keep them coming back to more games.