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Baltimore Orioles: Three Reasons To Cheer The Washington Nationals In The World Series

By Jesse Morrison

BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 28: Fans hold up signs during the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 28, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. MLB players across the league are wearing special uniforms to commemorate Memorial Day.(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 28: Fans hold up signs during the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 28, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. MLB players across the league are wearing special uniforms to commemorate Memorial Day.(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – SEPTEMBER 22: A general view during the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 22, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros begin their battle for the 2019 World Series title on Tuesday night. Who are Baltimore Orioles fans cheering for? Contributor Jesse Morrison says it’s ok to root for the Nationals.

While the Baltimore Orioles are the focus here at Birds Watcher, the other team in the DMV, the Washington Nationals, have all the magic right now as they qualified for their first World Series in franchise history last week.

To the outsider unfamiliar with the Beltway Series, one may be flabbergasted to think an Orioles fan would cheer for the Nationals in the World Series, knowing how Cubs fans and White Sox fans act toward each other as well as Yankees fans and Mets fans.

However, it is perfectly ok for Baltimore Orioles fans to root on the Nationals in this year’s World Series and here are the reasons why.

The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles are not rivals.

While people may think the Nationals and Orioles are rivals just as the Cubs vs. White Sox, A’s vs. Giants and Yankees vs. Mets interleague matchups are, the proximity of the teams to each other is not close enough for it to be a crosstown rivalry.

While being approximately 40 minutes apart, Baltimore and Washington are not the same city, obviously.  I even believe a lot of Oriole fans, just like my family, were excited when the Montreal Expos franchise moved to D.C. and believed there should be a baseball team in our nation’s capital.

Sure, the Nationals have stolen away fans from the Orioles but those fans were not true O’s fans if they jumped ship so quickly. The Nationals aren’t a terrible go-to National League team for any Oriole fan looking to find one. The Nats play just down the road from Baltimore and their fans have never done anything to anger Orioles fans. Their fanbase is just sort of there. An article on WUSA9.com quoted Orioles fans as saying “they have always considered games with the Nationals more like neighbors coming over for a beer.”

Orioles fans should root for the Nationals to beat the Astros just like we root for our best friend in life, celebrating his or her achievements even if it does not benefit us but because we close to that person.

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