As we all know, the eagerly awaited Opening Day on April 1st is coming our way in less than 2 weeks. No April Fool’s Day joke!  That’s when the smell of the hot dogs and lemonade fill the air on Half Street. When the Nats hit a home run, the submarine horn’s sound waves will travel so far President Obama will ask, “What is that noise?”

Last year, our Nation’s Capital had our first winning season. This year, we are coming back with a more powerful lineup.  Here is a list of 50 things I love about Opening Day!

1. Um, baseball begins!!!
2. The beginning of every day MASN HD broadcasts so I can watch the games
3. The family DVR will stop recording my parents’ shows
4. Memories of the 2012 season will be played on the jumbotron
5. The beer and peanut men shouting PEAANUUUTS! BEEEEEER! sound basebally to me
6. The high pop fly getting lost in the starry night of DC
7. Maybe seeing Barack Obama throw out the first pitch
8. The addition of President Taft to the President’s Race
9. After always losing, Teddy’s a winning racer now (like Vannelope in Wreck-It Ralph)
10. The third-inning welcome home to the troops is very patriotic 
11. “Thunderstruck” by AC-DC sounds like it’s already a blowout game
12. TheNationalsArchive.com is opening!
13. Sometimes missing school for games
14. Pups in the Park is always fun to watch on TV (or maybe actually to go)
15. I love collectible promo items, especially bobbleheads
16. Lots of new things to write about on MattsBats.com (sometimes it’s very hard thinking of topics for posts during the offseason)
17. Chipper Jones and Martin Prado are not Braves anymore; Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonafacio, Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and Josh Johnson are not Marlins anymore; R.A. Dickey is not a Met anymore; etc.
18. We play the Triple-A Miami Marlins on Opening Day and for the first series, so we should start the season with a sweep
19. Spring and summer officially begin
20. We actually play games that count
21. We have the best rotation in the MLB
22. Same as #21, but with lineup
23. Quick Pitch is on MLB Network. It is my main score source for games I can’t stay up to watch
24. We can finally forget about October 12, 2012
25. I have high hopes that one Presidents Race will feature the Harlem Shake
26. On the dance cam, they should also play the Harlem Shake so we can watch people freak out
27. We’re now season ticket holders!
28. Easy Division (like what’s 4 divided by 2)
29. The Cardinals still have Lance Lynn, so we know Jayson Werth can take him deep when it counts…
30. The taste of Ben’s Chili Bowl, Shake Shack, Blue Smoke, Flippin Pizza…
31. “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack”
32. Matt’s Bats and the Nats’ bats will both be hot
33. The NatMobile trivia questions on Twitter
34. More podcasts from my favorites like Nationals101, Red Porch Report and Citizens of Natstown
35. Outfield spells “WSH” what is the Nats’ three-letter code
36. Scoring the games in my new scorebook
37. Inside Pitches
38. Welcoming Denard Span, Dan Haren, and Rafael Soriano to Nats Park
39. Welcoming back Wilson Ramos
40. The only time I can bug my parents for a soda and actually get it
41. My baseball practice begins the next day
42. Spring Break!!!!
43. The possibility of them announcing the 2017 All-Star Game coming to DC 
44. Talk of the season: Can we beat the Dodgers in the NLCS?
45. Lots and lots of cheering Nats fans at each game
46. Des-pinosa to LaRoche for a 6-4-3 double play!
47. Analyzing stats
48. Getting the chance to meet more followers at “tweet-ups”
49. Baseball almost every day until at least September
50. Charlie Slowes saying, “Bang! Zoom! go the fireworks! Another Curly W is in the books!”