What's new at Nationals Park for the 2025 season
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It's Opening Day for the Washington Nationals' 2025 season, and Nats fans have many new things to eat, do and see.
Why it matters: Nationals Park is all about baseball, but the team is upping its stadium experience to appeal to a wide swath of visitors — families, music fans and anyone looking for a good time.
State of play: Opening Day against the Phillies at 4:05pm goes big with the Budweiser Clydesdales, a flyover, live music, face painters and a ceremonial first pitch by Hall of Fame sportswriter Thomas Boswell — plus free t-shirts for the first 20,000 fans.
- The teams will rendezvous on Saturday (4:05pm) and Sunday (1:35pm).
What's new: Cheap seats, fun eats and more.
💰 Deeper discounts: Stadiums get spendy, but the Nats are offering deep discounts this season to get fans in the ballpark.
- Cheap $5 tickets for D.C. residents are now offered online for select games — a big boost from the box office-only days. The limit is 4 tickets per game, and 4 games per transaction.
- Happy hour is cheap again: a $5 "value menu" offered Tuesdays now includes beer as well as food (hot dogs, nachos etc.). On any day, happy hour runs from gates-open to first pitch, with select 12-ounce beers for $5 and hard seltzers for $6 at the Change-Up bar, Budweiser Terrace and Ultra Loft.
- On Tuesdays, all tickets start at $12, and parking is $14.
- The kids-eat-free promo (under 12) will return later this season.
😋 Fun fare: The Nats added 11 new local vendors to its growing list of 40-plus DMV businesses. A few highlights include:
- Cotton & Reed (Section 109): The Union Market rum distillery will mix tropical cocktails like strawberry daiquiris and Dark 'n' Stormies.
- Electric Cool-Aid (Sections 102 and 147): Boozy slushies, courtesy of Shaw's "frozen bar."
- Lucky Danger (Section 238): Chef Tim Ma's popular American-Chinese takeout gets its place at the park for dumplings, lo mein and orange chicken bites.
- Phowheels (Section 140): Vietnamese street eats from the OG food truck include banh mi, egg rolls and Vietnamese tacos.
Plus, a new Change-Up Food Hall (formerly the Budweiser Brew House) features rotating stands and themes based on visiting teams (e.g., Phillies-style cheesesteak nachos) and "players picks," like "Zimms ribs," a nod to now-retired #11.
🎁 Giveaways: Fan freebies are themed around the Nationals' season-long 20th-anniversary celebration (#NATS20), like a replica commemorative World Series ring (April 4) and 2005 replica jersey (April 5).
🎸 More concerts, festivals and theme nights
- Music and baseball fans can look forward to the Nats Summer Concert Series, where the postgame show is included in the ticket. Acts include O.A.R. (May 9) and Ja Rule/Ashanti (Aug 29).
- Big-name musicians are also visiting on non-game nights, including Shakira (May 31) and Billy Joel and Sting (Sept.. 5) and the Lumineers (Sept. 6).
- Food and drink festivals like DC Beer Fest are back (April 12).
- The wildly popular Savannah Bananas are coming (June 27-28).
- The Nats continue to celebrate diverse communities through Heritage Days and popular theme days like Night Out, which recognizes the LGBTQ+ community (June 5).
Also, the return of wildly popular Animal Days for dogs — who are thrilled to be there — and cats, who're not allowed in for obvious reasons.