Maybe this hasn’t been the most exciting offseason for Nationals fans who hoped their team would return to making the kind of free agent splashes they used to make when they were annual contenders. But here’s some news that should make even the most disgruntled of fans smile: Pitchers and catchers report in eight days.

Yes, we’ve reached the home stretch of the winter. Spring training officially begins Feb. 12, at which point whatever roster the Nats have assembled will begin to prepare for the 2025 season. (Don’t be surprised if that roster changes over the course of six weeks in Florida, given how many holes still remain and how many free agents are still unsigned.)

This will be the Nationals’ 21st spring training all-time, and wow how mindboggling is that sentence. And it will be their ninth spring training in West Palm Beach, their home away from home since 2017 after a long stay in lonely Viera.

There are things about West Palm Beach that are better than Viera: The facility, the proximity to other teams, an airport that’s only 15 minutes away, lots of stuff to do in your free time. And, frankly, there are a few things that are worse than old Space Coast Stadium: More that separates you from the players, higher prices. But overall, it’s still a great experience, as most anyone who has been there will tell you.

If you haven’t been before – or if you haven’t been in a while – consider this your official fan’s guide to Nats spring training. We’ll break it into two parts. Tomorrow, we’ll focus on West Palm Beach and the surrounding area. Today, we’ll talk about the complex and what you can expect from a baseball standpoint.

So you want to go to Nationals spring training. You know they train in West Palm Beach, Fla. And if you read yesterday's article, you know what to expect when you arrive at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. But you may not know what to do or where to go the rest of your time in town. Well, you're in luck. Because today we present Part 2 of our annual fans' guide to spring training. This time, we'll focus on everything other than baseball. First, you need to decide how you're going to...

It's Super Bowl Week, which means a lot to a lot of people but to baseball fans means something particularly meaningful: Spring training is fast approaching. Yes, once the Chiefs or the 49ers hoist the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night, baseball season officially will be right around the corner. Nationals pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 12, a mere 16 days from now. And there's a decent chance many of you are making plans to report to West Palm Beach yourselves to enjoy the Nationals'...

OK, you've made the decision to head to spring training in West Palm Beach. You've picked out your dates to watch the Nationals, whether for the mid-February morning workouts or the late March Grapefruit League final tune-ups. You know where to best position yourself to get autographs. But you don't know how to get to West Palm Beach yet. Or where to stay. Or what to eat or do when you're not at the ballpark. You're in luck, because you're reading Part 2 of our annual Fans' Guide to...

We don't know yet where Bryce Harper will be reporting for spring training, but we do know when the Nationals will be reporting for spring training, with or without their longtime slugger. The club officially announced key spring dates Tuesday, with pitchers and catchers set to report to West Palm Beach on Feb. 13 (with their first workout the following day) and position players set to report on Feb. 18 (with the first full-squad workout the day after that). The Grapefruit League opener...