It was a special year for some D.C. sports teams.
The Commanders took center stage on and off the field. Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin continued his assault on Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record, and the Washington Spirit proved once again that they are a force to be reckoned with in the NWSL.
As 2025 comes to a close, WTOP takes a look back at the top five stories in D.C. sports, starting with Number 5.
1/5
As the Washington Spirit players walked off the field a year ago in Kansas City falling to Orlando 1-0 and just short of a National Women’s Soccer League Championship, the players knew what it would take to get back to the big game.
This season, they dealt with a number of injuries, including star Trinity Rodman being sidelined for over a month. The Spirit fought through adversity and repeated their second-place finish en route to the playoffs.
In the quarterfinals, the Spirit advanced 3-1 on penalty kicks over No. 7 seed Racing Louisville.
In front of over 19,000 fans at Audi Field, the Spirit left little doubt in a 2-0 semifinal win over Portland. It was Washington’s first playoff shutout since 2021 and it secured a second consecutive trip to the NWSL Championship.
The Spirit faced Gotham FC in the title game, looking for championship number two for D.C. while playing in its fourth title game in franchise history.
However, it was not meant to be. The Spirit suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss, coming up just short for the second straight year.
2/5
The 2025 Washington Nationals season saw a change in leadership and direction of the franchise for the first time in years, hiring 35-year-old Paul Toboni as president of baseball operations and 33-year-old Blake Butera as the youngest manager in the majors since the 1970s.
The youth movement came after Mike Rizzo and Dave Martinez were both fired on July 6, with the Nationals sitting at 37-53 after a month in which they went 7-19, including an 11-game losing streak.
(If you want a candidate for game of the year, look no further than June 19 when James Wood hit two home runs, including a game-winning, two-run walk-off to beat the Rockies and end the losing streak.)
Rizzo was in his 17th year as head of baseball operations, during which the team won the NL East title in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017, leading up to the World Series title in 2019.
Martinez was the longest tenured field manager in team history, being hired on Oct. 30, 2017. He compiled a 500-622 record, including the first World Series.
3/5
On April 6, Capitals great Alex Ovechkin became the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL history.
Ovi scored on the power play feed from Tom Wilson to notch career goal No. 895, passing the once-untouchable record held by the great Wayne Gretzky. He beat goaltender Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders at 7:26 of the second period, setting off a celebration that saw Ovi go into a full-extension slide across the ice.
The 39-year-old captain was joined by Gretzky, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis and Ovechkin’s family on the ice for the ceremony.
The Capitals would lose the game to the Islanders 4-1, but the chase was complete. Ovi is No. 1.
4/5
On the field, led by Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels, the Washington Commanders took the NFL by surprise en route to a 12-win season and a trip through the playoffs all the way to the NFC Championship game.
Not only did Washington go to Tampa Bay and win the wild-card round game on a last-second field goal, but the Burgundy and Gold went on the road the following week to top-seed Detroit and dismantled the Lions. That set the stage for the first NFC championship game appearance for Washington since January 1992 — also the last time the team won the Super Bowl.
The game in Philadelphia didn’t go Washington’s way, as the Commanders lost 55-23. However, Daniels cemented himself as Washington’s franchise quarterback and the foundation for the future as laid out by general manager Adam Peters and the rest of the front office.
The excitement was high for another run in 2025, but that wasn’t meant to be. Despite the disappointing season, Commanders fans can still look at the start of the year as a big bright spot for the franchise.
5/5
While the trip to the NFC championship game kicked off 2025 on the right foot for the Commanders, the good vibes went to the next level in April when D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Commanders owner Josh Harris announced that they had reached a deal to bring the Burgundy and Gold back to the RFK Stadium site.
On April 27, they announced a new $3.7 billion stadium and entertainment complex deal for the site, to be completed by 2030. In the past, Harris consistently said that RFK was the “spiritual home” of the franchise, and his goal was to get back there.
In September, the D.C. Council made it official with a vote of 11-2 to approve the RFK Stadium Project. The Commanders will be returning to the site it called home for more than three decades and a place where a multitude of memorable moments in franchise history took place.
“Today is a historic day for D.C., the Commanders organization, and our fans,” Harris said in a statement at the time of the announcement. “With the Council’s approval, we can now move forward on the transformative RFK project that will bring lasting economic growth for our city…We are deeply grateful for the warm return to the District and the center of the DMV, and look forward to officially bringing the team back to its spiritual home in 2030.”
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