Several fans were unable to watch the Opening Day win over the Chicago Cubs as president of baseball operations Jason Sinnarajah addressed the issue on Friday night
Fresh off the Opening Day win, the Washington Nationals return to action on Saturday afternoon in game two against the Chicago Cubs with Miles Mikolas set to make his regular season debut. Whether fans will be able to watch is the question.
After months of speculation, the Washington Nationals pulled the trigger on the out in the contract to leave MASN midway through the offseason, instead becoming the latest team to partner with MLB TV. It marked an expected and understandable development given MASN, the Nationals and the Orioles resolved their 2025 dispute to set the stage for a divorce this year. But how Washington would navigate the change for fans to be able to watch by Opening Day was the next question, and the franchise elected to wait until the morning of first pitch to announce finalized plans - that didn't even come to fruition.
Several customers of Verizon Fios TV noted that despite buying the new Nationals TV package, they were unable to watch Thursday's win with some told they would have to buy a new, more expensive package while others were told the channel was simply unavailable. And in an effort to resolve the ongoing issue, president of business operations Jason Sinnarajah released a letter on Friday night noting several ways for fans to look into resolving.
That included checking whether a new cable box is needed "to access our channel." Via a letter released to fans, Sinnarajah also noted that, "Verizon Fios carries Nationals.TV but on a different tier than you may have accessed our games on in 2025."
"If you are told that Nationals.TV isn't available on those platforms, it's simply not true. However, it may require a change to your cable or satellite package," Sinnarajah added.
It's an embarrassing hiccup for a Nationals team shifting under new management with an emphasis on building the fan experience, highlighted by several gameday enhancements whether cheaper beer options or improved ticketing efficiency. But watching the team? That's a basic, day one question that should have been addressed well before Opening Day to avoid an embarrassing blunder.
Whether it actually materializes into a resolution for fans to tune in on Saturday and Sunday will be the next question with Washington, part of an undefeated NL East to start the 2026 regular season, looking to stay hot just like they did to open spring training. First pitch is set for 2:20 PM.