MLB All-Star Game in Nationals Park in 2018?

As if there wasn't enough good news for Nationals fans in the past week-plus with the trade for new second baseman Yunel Escobar, (assuming you liked that?) and the 7-year/$210M deal for Max Scherzer (did that one surprise you?), veteran Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell dropped the following paragraph into his story today on Washington's deal for the top free agent arm on the market this winter:

"[Ted] Lerner, 89, may have even more than Scherzer to be happy about. The MLB All-Star Game almost certainly will come to Nationals Park in 2018. In baseball, one man essentially decides such things: the commissioner. And one man can change his mind. But before Bug Selig retires at the end of this month, people with reason to know tell me Washington will be announced as the 2018 All-Star Game host and that the Nats already have been told. They’re wisely holding their breath and their tongues until it is made public."

Earlier this week, when Bud Selig announced that the city of San Diego, CA would host the 2016 edition of the Midsummer Classic, Washington Post writer James Wagner reported that Nationals Park was under consideration or "on a short list" to land the 2018 All-Star Game since they were ruled out for 2017 due to, "commitments with conventions and events in July 2017."

Wagner quoted MLB spokesman Pat Courtney in the article saying that they would make the, "... announcements for future all-star games in the near future."

Nationals Park just hosted the NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2015, putting on a wonderful show that featured the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals playing on an outdoor rink in the middle of the infield in front of a crowd of 42,832 fans.

Will the Midsummer Classic be the next nationally-televised event in the nation's capital?

All-Star game at Nats Park in 2018. Party at Justin's. (via Boz) http://t.co/bgqUwkrhkn pic.twitter.com/SQAwEIpJNk

— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) January 19, 2015