The Washington Nationals are off this Memorial Day and that makes no sense
There are some sports that go hand and hand with a holiday. For example, the NFL owns Thanksgiving, and the NBA owns Christmas. While the MLB goes all out for July 4th, they are missing an opportunity to own another holiday. Major League Baseball is making no effort to own Memorial Day, and that is quite strange.
At a bare minimum, all 30 teams should be playing on this holiday. Instead there are six teams off, including the Washington Nationals. For a holiday honoring our fallen soldiers, it is odd to have the team from the Nations Capital not playing. The team that has our troops in attendance every game, and who’s fans give them a big round of applause every game. They are not playing.
There are also no National TV games today. Rob Manfred has made a point of trying to grow the game over the last few years, but he is dropping the ball here. This is a day where Manfred should be pulling out all the stops, running an ESPN doubleheader. Instead, he is treating this like just another day of the season which is a shame.
The MLB is about ignorant. Not a single nationally televised game (not counting MLB network) on a national holiday when they have no competition. They should be running at minimum at triple header on FOX or ESPN at 12, 4 and 8. MLB needs to take over these summer holidays pic.twitter.com/UGoHarRzbv
— Eric Sisson (@ESisson7) May 26, 2025
Memorial Day is a great fit for the MLB. Baseball is America’s National Pastime, and a sport where our hero’s are respected at the ballpark every night. It is also a landmark in the season.
After Memorial Day, we enter the summer grind, and it is not “early” in the season anymore. It is a turning point of the MLB campaign. We are now in it for the long haul, contenders are being established and frauds are being sniffed out. It is time for the boys of summer to play some ball.
It is the perfect way to market the game. However, the MLB has decided to treat it like just another day on the calendar. The Washington Nationals, who always get a matinee game on July 4th are not even playing today. That is just a major oversight by the MLB. Fans are fed up that the MLB is not taking this opportunity to market their game.
Here’s my yearly tweet about this: The first Summer holiday of the season, and there are still too many MLB teams off today. I’ve said this many times… Every team should be playing on Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. Embrace the Summer holidays.
— Courtney Finnicum (@courtney883) May 26, 2025
What makes it even more frustrating is that the MLB has figured out a lot of the hard stuff. The pitch clock was a risk, but it has been a massive success. It is so much more enjoyable to go to a game these days, knowing that it will not be a three plus hour slog. Nowadays, if a game is three hours, that usually means it is a crazy game that is worth your time, like the Nationals 8-7 extra inning win over the Braves I went to.
The pitch clock helped the MLB solve one of their most existential problems. However, they need to be able to do the easy stuff. Putting a spotlight on your game and their stars during summer holidays like Memorial Day should be easy. These players would be so proud to play in the spotlight on such a special day. They would embrace it and show the world why this game is so great.
There should never be another Memorial Day where the Washington Nationals are not playing. It is time for the MLB to own Memorial Day the way the NFL owns Thanksgiving. Memorial Day is the start of summer, and baseball owns the summer. The MLB needs to rise to the occasion.