Photo by philliefan99

Ever since February the Washington Nationals have been trying just about everything to ensure that this weekend’s three-game homestand against the Philadelphia Phillies isn’t, you know, attended by more Phillies fans than Nats fans. (Hey, it’s happened before.) With the games set to start tonight, they’re getting help from every quarter—including the D.C. government.

Yesterday various members of the D.C. Council started offering free tickets to Sunday evening’s game. Councilmembers Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) all took to Twitter to offer up the tickets to the first takers. Ward 3 residents seemed quickest to jump—not long after first tweeting that they’d have the tickets available, Cheh’s office started putting people on a waiting list.

Every council office similarly got tickets; one staffer told us each office received 70 tickets to hand out. (For 12 councilmembers, that’s 840 tickets.) The tickets aren’t great—mostly outfield seats—but hey, they’re free. (They usually sell in the mid-$20 range.)

Mayor Vince Gray isn’t one to be left out—he formally declared the May 4-6 weekend “Natitude Weekend” (no, really) and asked called upon “all residents to of this great city to join me in celebrating the return of baseball to the nation’s capital.” His office also got in on giving away free tickets, though no spokesperson was available to tell us exactly how many. (UPDATE, 10:15 a.m.: Mayoral spokesman Pedro Ribeiro just let us know that they got 100 tickets for students, teachers, volunteers, local non-profits and charity organizations.)

The free tickets are but a last part of the team’s months-long “Take Back the Park” campaign. In February, the team started offering pre-sale tickets to D.C., Maryland and Virginia residents, prompting a formal complaint from Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.). Just last week, they upped the ante—buy two tickets for any of the weekend’s games, and you’d get two tickets to another game of the team’s choosing.

All the council freebies are for Sunday’s game, which will be the first nationally televised game for the Nats—and the first time the team has appeared on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” since 2008. For that much attention, the Nats certainly wouldn’t want an empty stadium—renamed “Natitude Park,” reports the D.C. Sports Bog—much less one full of Phillies fans. The Post reports today that attendance at Nats Park has left much to be desired so far—through 12 games this season, the Nats game in 21st in the league in terms of how many people came to watch their games.

At this point, going to one of the three games isn’t a choice—it’s your civic duty.