The Nationals Followed the Capitals’ Blueprint for a Championship Party Crawl

The Commissioner’s Trophy, sadly, does not make for an ideal drinking vessel, but that hasn’t stopped the Washington Nationals from putting forth a championship-level drinking performance on par with their pro sports peers on the Capitals. While it’s too cold outside for the Nats to go drunkenly prancing through the fountains in Georgetown like Alex Ovechkin did in 2018, the World Series champions borrowed several pages from the hard-partying playbook of their Stanley Cup-winning counterparts this weekend in D.C.

Last night, reliever Sean Doolittle posted a tweet that included a picture of himself holding a resilient Commissioner’s Trophy above the ice at a Capitals game in which he and his teammates were honored for bringing the World Series title to D.C. In his message, Doolittle credited the 2018 Stanley Cup champions for teaching D.C.’s pro baseball franchise how to realize its title-winning aspirations.

With their rowdy behavior in a box at the game and their bar-hopping itinerary over the past two days, the Nats showed they’ve also taken a few cues from the Caps on how to plan a proper party circuit.

On Friday, the eve of the team’s championship parade down Constitution Avenue, the Nationals sipped (OK chugged) Champagne at Cafe Milano, the nearly 30-year-old power dining spot in Georgetown known for its comfort in handling VIPs from political and sports spheres. A Facebook video from Dolci Gelati chef Gianluigi Dellaccio, who has outposts at Nationals Park, shows ace Max Scherzer popping a bottle from Dom Perignon’s Luminous collection.

Then the party continued to nationally recognized Heist lounge in Dupont, another celebrity hangout that has hosted names like crooner Adam Levine and triple threat Jamie Foxx.

After that it was on to Echostage, the industrial-style music venue in Northeast, to take in a Tiësto show that raged on beyond 1 a.m. The Dutch DJ invited the team on stage to replicate their dugout dancing.

When the Capitals celebrated with the Stanley Cup last year, they hit Cafe Milano and Heist in D.C. and poured beer from the trophy into Tiësto’s mouth during a late night in Las Vegas.

But the Champagne kept flowing at Saturday’s parade, and the Nats did their best to meet the heavy drinking standard of their hockey playing buddies at the Caps’ 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Sunday.

Adam Eaton chugged a beer through his hockey jersey a la T.J. Oshie, and a handful of the baseball players capped off the night with a shirtless Zamboni ride.

• The Nationals, fresh off their World Series parade, kept the party going at a Capitals game [WaPo]
• Tracking the Caps: Where did the Stanley Cup go on Alex Ovechkin’s wild weekend bender? [WaPo]
• How D.C. Chefs, Fans, and Restaurants Supported the Nationals’ World Series Run [EDC]