

The Nats Punch at Duffy's Irish Pub is served in pint glasses, which are about the same size as your average gnome. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post)

As all Nationals fans know, the team can clinch the National League East with a win over the Atlanta Braves tonight.

This is a time of celebration at Duffy's Irish Pub, the best Nationals bar in D.C. I stopped in last night and the Nats were on most of the TVs, with MASN's play-by-play blasting through the room. Monday Night Football was limited to a pair of TVs, silently playing in the front. Nats fans outnumbered Eagles fans and were far more vocal, cheering loudly for every run and stolen base – and even louder when Drew Storen replaced Rafael Soriano in the ninth inning.

Tonight, Duffy's is planning a division-clinching party that involves free hot dogs during the game, free Jameson shots to everyone wearing Nats gear when the team wins, and $5 pint glasses of Nats Punch, a sweet, potent jungle juice-style concoction that pub owner Andy Duffy created. He describes the drink as a "secret recipe," but I can tell you it contains two kinds of rum, fruit juice and a touch of whiskey, and it goes down very easily.

If, by some miracle, Atlanta beats Tanner Roark tonight, the Nats can clinch with a win in Atlanta on Wednesday, and Duffy's will offer all the same specials for that game. (Wednesday is also the annual Halfway to St. Patrick's Day party at Duffy's, with $5 Guinness and $10 all-you-can-eat corned beef and cabbage from 5-10 p.m., so fans would get all those deals as well.) If the Nats go into a skid and lose both games in Atlanta, the specials will be offered during the four-game series against the Marlins, which starts Thursday.

After the division title is decided, Duffy's will continue serving the Nats Punch for $7 per glass for the rest of the season, and showing Nationals games with sound Monday through Wednesday, on Saturday afternoons and on Sundays whenever they don't collide with Green Bay Packers games. (Green Bay fans have been packing Duffy's to capacity for years, but if MLB postseason games overlap, the Nationals will probably win, Duffy says.)

Duffy's Irish Pub, 2106 Vermont Ave. NW. 202-265-3413.