On October 31, 2013, the Nationals signed Matt Williams, previously the third base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, as the new manager, replacing the retiring Davey Johnson.

[4] The next day brought the signing of veteran outfielder Nate McLouth from the Baltimore Orioles,[5] and on December 19, 2013, the Nationals sold Corey Brown to Oakland.

[2] On February 13, 2014, the Nationals traded Nathan Karns to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for José Lobatón, Felipe Rivero and Drew Vettleson.

[8] The Nationals held their 2014 spring training in Viera, Florida, with home games played at Space Coast Stadium.

[9] Young infielder Zach Walters hit at a .379 clip in 29 AB in his quest to make the Opening Day roster.

[10] In the battle for the position of Opening Day second baseman, Anthony Rendon had 13 H, 6 RBI, and a .289 average,[11] while Danny Espinosa hit only .226 in 53 AB.

[12] For the most part, the pitchers were solid throughout the spring, posting a 3.68 ERA and allowing only 11 HR[13] (compared with the 28 hit by the Nationals[14]).

Doug Fister, acquired in an offseason trade with the Detroit Tigers was only able to get through 5.1 innings this spring, struggling with inflammation in his elbow and a strained lateral muscle.

[15] On March 19, the Nationals announced that for the third straight season, Stephen Strasburg would be the Opening Day starting pitcher.

On March 31, the Nationals began the regular season at Citi Field against the New York Mets, winning 9–7 in 10 innings.

The winning pitcher was Nationals reliever Aaron Barrett, who made his Major League debut with a perfect 9th inning, striking out two Mets.

[17] During the game, catcher Wilson Ramos suffered an injury to his left hand and was removed in the 7th inning, replaced by José Lobatón.

Much of the victory was due to the weakness of the Mets bullpen, who combined to surrender 12 of the 22 runs the Nats scored in the series.

On the 11th, Denard Span collided with Braves second baseman Dan Uggla on the basepaths and was subsequently put on the 7-day concussion disabled list.

[30] On the 18th, they optioned Treinen back to AAA Syracuse and called up left-hander Xavier Cedeño, citing a desire to give Treinen time to work up to being a starting pitcher,[31] and on the 19th they reinstated Denard Span from the 7-day concussion disabled list, optioning Souza back to Syracuse.

[35] They went on to split the series with the Padres,[36] but Bryce Harper injured his left thumb on April 25; the injury was initially believed to be a jammed thumb,[37] but was later reevaluated as a sprain, forcing the Nationals to put Harper on the 15-day disabled list and again call up Steven Souza from AAA Syracuse.

[40] The Nationals also optioned starter Taylor Jordan to AAA Syracuse, calling up right-handed reliever Ryan Mattheus; the Nats had sufficient off-days that they believed they could go with a four-man rotation until Doug Fister's projected return on May 6.

[48][49][b] It was also only the fifth no-hitter in major-league baseball history pitched in the last game of the regular season; coincidentally, the last time it had happened was when Henderson Álvarez, the starting pitcher for Miami in Zimmermann's no-hitter, pitched one against the Detroit Tigers on September 29, 2013, in Miami's final game of the previous season.

Rendon's runs scored total was the highest for any individual player in the National League during the regular season.

During 2014, Ian Desmond became the fourth shortstop in Major League Baseball history to have at least 20 home runs and at least 20 stolen bases in three separate seasons.

[58] Desmond and Rendon became the first shortstop-third baseman duo to win the Silver Slugger Award in the same season since Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter did it with the New York Yankees in 2008.