Photo by Kevin H.

As if we needed any more evidence that the Washington Nationals are far from D.C.’s most popular professional sports team, the Washington Business Journal reports today that new ratings information indicates that “D.C. is the only TV market in the country where a team from another city gets better ratings than the hometown team.” Yes, apparently an average of 16,000 D.C. households tuned into Orioles games on MASN this season, compared with 14,000 who watched the Nats. That’s a rough slap in the face for the Nationals, though a MASN rep trots out that old canard that the D.C.-Baltimore area is “really one large mega-market.”

Of course, what’s not mentioned in the BizJo story is that at least these numbers represent an increase in TV viewership for the Nats. Last year, the team only recorded an average of 9,000 households per game.