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The Washington Nationals didn't live up to expectations last season, failing even to make the playoffs after many prognosticators, from Sports Illustrated to The Washington Post, picked the team to go to the World Series.

And yet this past Sunday, at least three dozen fans sporting Nationals jerseys and caps spent a sunny afternoon inside Duffy's Irish Pub, where every television was showing the Nationals against the Cardinals and the play-by-play came from all speakers. It may have been a meaningless spring training game, but there was loud applause for every run and inning-ending out.

"People say Washington's not a baseball town," said manager Andrew Duffy, looking around at the crowd. "This is people coming out [to watch spring training]. It's not like 40 people happened to be in the bar and the game was on."

Of course, there was a reason for all those curly W's: Duffy's will televise a half-dozen spring training games this month with full sound, and anyone wearing a Nats jersey or cap gets half-price wings while they're watching. Once the regular season is underway, there will be a different special during games, Duffy says. "We do something different every year" for fans wearing Nats gear, he says. In the past, that has included free shots for every Bryce Harper stolen base, or paying Jayson Werth's batting average for a 16-ounce PBR tallboy. (It was $2.17 at one point during Werth's disappointing 2011 season.)

For Nats fans, it's a relief to be back watching spring training at Duffy's, the city's best Nationals bar, which was closed for most of 2015. Duffy, the former owner, shuttered his namesake bar in November 2014 amid rising debts. After new investors took control of the business, Duffy's reopened in September.

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The changes to the pub have been modest: There's a new game room with pinball machines and corn hole, and a wall of ceramic mugs that regulars purchased for $45 as part of the Kickstarter campaign to reopen Duffy's. There are about 25 left, Duffy says.

One thing that hasn't changed at the reopened Duffy's: the legendary wings, which taste even better if you're watching a Nats game, when a dozen of the dry-rubbed Chesapeake wings costs just $7.

Opening day for the Nationals is April 4, in Atlanta, but Duffy's will host its "opening night" party April 6, with beer specials (in addition to the usual $5 imperial pints of Guinness at happy hour), and a team of Clydesdale horses outside the bar from 6 to 8 p.m. for photos, to mark Budweiser's takeover of the beer stands at Nationals Park.

But that's almost four weeks away. There are plenty of games to watch in the meantime.

Spring Training and Exhibition Games at Duffy's

Thursday, March 10 vs. Houston at 5:05 p.m.
Sunday, March 13 vs. St. Louis at 1:05 p.m.
Saturday, March 19 vs. NY Mets at 1:05 p.m.
Wednesday, March 23 vs. NY Yankees at 5:05 p.m.
Sunday, March 27 vs. Atlanta at 1:05 p.m.
Friday, April 1 vs. Minnesota at 6:05 p.m.
Saturday, April 2 vs. Minnesota at 12:05 p.m.

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