A year ago, Major League Baseball in the District was just a gleam in the eye of boosters like the Washington Baseball Club. There existed in these 10 miles square but a handful of weblogs devoted to the sport, mostly by anchorless amateur sabermetricians who liked to argue for paying attention to OPS and against stealing bases.

Finally, Bud Selig made the long-awaited announcement that Washington would be getting its first baseball team in a generation, and a few future Nats fans set up shop in the blog world. But not until early this year, after all the major hurdles were cleared, did the D.C. blog scene start booming. Today there are at least 20 such blogs operating, and surely more on the way.

With two weeks to go before an as-yet-undetermined someone throws out the first pitch, DCist thought it would be fun to give a rundown of the best of those Nats blogs, in no particular order:

>> First up, we have the tawdrily -- and appropriately -- named Nationals Inquirer:

Name: Basil Tsimpris
Real job: Attorney
Location: Richmond, VA
M.O.: Lengthy, extensively hyper-linked exegeses of Peter Angelos' duplicity, the local media's complicity, and occasional asides on other issues in the sports world. Don't get in his way.
Sample quote: "Well, Peter Angelos hasn't shot himself in the foot in four whole days, which is noteworthy, I suppose. But that doesn't mean his so-very-maganimous offer to allow the Nats to be the undercard on his oh-so-vast television network is being noodled silently by MLB. No siree ... uh ... Pete. Or [MLB president] "Bob" [DuPuy] is just as good, too, actually" (3/18).
What's the MLB team you used to follow? Orioles/Phillies
Have Nats tickets yet? "Individual game tickets, yes; I live too far away to commit to season tickets."
Your 2005 win-loss prediction? 75-87

>> The name of our second blog nods to the awfulness that could be Nationals ball for a few years at least -- Capitol Punishment:

Name: Chris Needham
Real job: Legislative Analyst
Location: Alexandria, VA
M.O.: Several-times-daily roster analysis; recently listed "76 things you probably don't know" about a player who probably won't make the team. Not to mention, a pleasing color scheme.
Sample quote: "There's a list of about 10 things that would need to go right for us to make the playoffs. I'm not counting on many of them. But there's no reason why this team couldn't play .500 baseball (yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm pretending that we don't need to score runs!) And considering everything they've been through, that would be a pretty damn good success" (1/27).
MLB team you used to follow: Yankees
Have Nats tickets yet? "Yeah, I have one of the 20-game plans."
2005 win-loss prediction: ".500 would be a great season. I'll say 75-87 though."


>> You may live in a District of Columbia, but some of us around here live in a District of Baseball (especially if you live outside the District proper, as do all Nats bloggers profiled here today):

Name: Jeff Foust
Real job: Space industry analyst
Location: Rockville, MD
M.O.: Daily-plus round-up of links to news stories, with sidebar aggregators of other top Nats blogs. Best site for staying up-to-date.
Sample quote: "He's no playa: the Times and the Post's blog note that [Nats GM Jim] Bowden has a penchant for wearing track suits and greeting people with the phrase "What up, dog?". The players have dubbed him 'Eminem'; it's a wonder they don't double over in fits of laughter" (2/25).
MLB team you used to follow: Red Sox "I still do; the Nats are my NL team."
Have Nats tickets yet? I bought a 20-game plan, as well as the home opener.
2005 win-loss prediction: 75-87 "A wild guess."


>> A few blogs started before the "Nationals" name was settled on, and are still kicking it old-school. One appears to chronicle the Distinguished Senators:

Name: Ryan Moore
Real job: Editor
Location: College Park, MD
M.O.: Biting commentary on Angelos, Bowden, and his lookalike-contest partners. Much taunting of FOXSports.com weirdo Dayn Perry.
Sample quote: "I'm annoyed with the Washington Times. No, it's any of the Moonie stuff -- I wanted to get mass-married, but my fiance wouldn't let me. Rather, it's that they're putting Peter Angelos propaganda on the front page" (3/23).
MLB team you used to follow: Cardinals
Have Nats tickets yet? "Yes, 20 game plan and April 3 exhibition."
2005 win-loss prediction: 75-86 "One rainout."


>> Arguably the most professional-looking of the Nats blog, and aligned with the Nats' unofficial fan club, named The Nats Fan Club (which makes sense), are the Nat Fanatics:

Name: Ross Feldman (The Nat Fanatic); Lew Sawyer (The Stat Fanatic)
Real job: Principals, MetaLake, LLC
Location: Alexandria, VA; Arlington, VA
M.O.: Updates from the fan club, tidbits from the NatFanatics message board, and plenty of value-added goodness.
Sample quote: "We'll let the rest of the bloggers prattle on about the [still nonexistent] TV deal and [injured pitcher] Tony Armas. We'd prattle too, but we just don't have the time this morning. But not to worry, plenty of time to prattle later!"
MLB team you used to follow: Orioles; Red Sox "And still do!"
Have Nats tickets yet? "Full season!"; "Full season!"
2005 win-loss prediction: 82-80; 82-80


>> Lastly, we come to BallWonk, if not the Thomas Pynchon of the Nats blog scene, then certainly its DeLillo. Or at least its Colin Meloy:

Name: "BallWonk, of course. (My real name ain't hard to find, but what's the fun if I make it easy? Besides, once you reveal your true identity, then all the Lex Luthors and Mister Freezes of the world start kidnapping your girlfriend or poisoning the Smallville water supply or whatnot to get at you, and who needs that?)"
Real job: "Wonk. OK, that's just too facile, even for me. I'm an editor. But a very wonkish editor."
Location: Alexandria, VA
M.O.: Several-times weekly tough love for lackluster outfielders, conflicting appraisals of Bowda/Trader Jim, plus semi-fantastical narratives starring King Angelos I, aka C. Petegomery Angelos, aka Bin Angelos.
Sample quote: "BallWonk learned just how deep he is in the minority on the all-important issue of home or away cap when he showed up in his blue road cap. He was the only one, but took comfort in the wisdom of President Coolidge that one with the law is a majority. The law in question being that very few white men can pull off a red ballcap and still look good" (3/17).
MLB team you used to follow: "I'm a Minnesota Twins fan emeritus."
Have Nats tickets yet? "Oh yeah."
2005 win-loss prediction: "Win some, lose some."