Nationals' Dave Martinez Becomes Third Manager to Reach Franchise Milestone

When the Washington Nationals beat the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, they broke a tie.

That tie was for their manager Dave Martinez. That victory allowed him to clear 500 wins for his managerial career, all with the Nationals.

The win broke his tie with the legendary Gene Mauch, who won 499 games with the franchise. Of course, the Nationals weren’t always the Nationals, and that’s where Martinez’s feat twists and turns.  

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Before it moved to Washington, the franchise was the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 2004. The Nationals played their first season in D.C. in 2005, and it celebrates its 20th anniversary in the nation’s capital this season.

When it comes to managerial victories with only the Nationals, no one comes close to Martinez, who is in his eighth season with the franchise after he succeeded Dusty Baker following the 2017 campaign.

Davey Johnson is the closest among managers that exclusively wore a Nationals uniform. He went 224-183 from 2011-13.

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But Martinez has a way to go before he can be considered the franchise’s all-time leader in managerial wins. He’s almost a lock to claim second by himself later this season.

Former Expos manager Buck Rodgers is second on the franchise’s all-time list with a 520-499 record. He managed the franchise for seven seasons from 1985-91.

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Rodgers led some good teams in Montreal, most notably the 1987 team which won 91 games but still finished in third place in the National League East division. But he was fired in 1991 and gave way to the man who would become the franchise’s all-time managerial wins leader — Felipe Alou.

Alou is nearly 200 victories ahead of Martinez. He guided the Expos for 10 years, from 1992-2001. He went 691-717.

He managed, perhaps, the best team in franchise history. After going 94-68 and finishing in second place behind the Atlanta Braves in 1993, the 1994 team was 74-40 and led the National League East Division by six games when a players’ strike stopped the season in August.

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The strike compelled MLB to cancel the rest of the 1994 season, and the World Series was not played for the first time since 1904.

Alou and the Expos had one more winning season in 1996. He was fired in 2001.

There is one area where Martinez can take the franchise lead among managers relatively soon — ejections. Rodgers leads with 17, but Martinez has 15 and nearly half of the season ahead of him.

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