
It's a question that's been asked since before
Nationals Park even opened: when would it get the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the now-standard feather in the cap of all new ballparks?
And today brings the answer, with the
official announcement by new Commissioner Rob Manfred that 2018 will indeed be the year, as has been rumored for months now
That will dovetail nicely with what I hope will be a nice slew of celebrations of the stadium's
10th birthday that year. (And, for the historically minded, this will be the first All-Star Game in DC since 1962.
UPDATE: Make that since 1969. I'm an idjit with poor reading comprehension.)
As for whether by July 2018 there will be more in the block north of the ballpark than just shipping containers and holes in the ground, I can point you to my new
Ballpark District 2.0 map, giving the rundown of the latest plans along Half Street and nearby. Hint: somewhere near the middle of the 2016 season will be a good point to assume that whatever projects are started will be completed by July 2018.
It's going to be a fun three years watching this new little deadline become a focus and target of so many projects and plans in the neighborhood....
And hopefully with this good news we can now dispense with "#DCisReady." Because not everything in life needs to be accompanied by a hashtag.