Washington Nationals are the new team to beat, could be NL East powerhouse

Fourth in a series that looks at NL East teams.

ONE OUT AWAY from playing in their first championship series in franchise history - since moving to Washington, that is - the Nationals were on the receiving end of a punch to the gut from the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Just as Phillies fans cringe when they hear the names Cody Ross, Brian Wilson and Chris Carpenter, Nats fans don't want to remember Daniel Descalso, Pete Kozma or Carlos Beltran.

After taking a six-run lead in the final game of the NL Division Series, the Nationals suffered an embarrassing loss on their home field to put an otherwise memorable 2012 season to rest.

But one small defeat does not encapsulate the giant leap Washington took as a franchise last summer. Less than 2 years from being mocked for signing Jayson Werth to a $126 million contract, the Nats established themselves as one of baseball's best franchises.

They weren't just a winning team for the first time since they left Montreal, and not just a 1-year wonder that happened to have more wins than any other club in baseball. They saw the foundation of their franchise come to fruition, the first chapter of what looks like a very bright future.

Bryce Harper's rookie season was simply a small taste for what's to come in his big-league career. At the age of 19 he hit 22 home runs and showed a tenacity on the bases that was reminiscent of a young Chase Utley.

Fellow first-overall pick Stephen Strasburg rebounded from Tommy John surgery and re-established himself as one of the top five most talented pitchers in the game.

The decision to shut down Strasburg, who turns 25 in July, probably cost the Nationals a chance to advance further in the postseason in 2012. But that's history now, and he should be better for it in 2013.

Teams that experience success for the first time can go in varying directions in the year that follows.

After making it into the playoffs for the first time in 14 years in 2007, the Phillies won the World Series a year later. Cincinnati, after its first winning season in 11 years in 2010, was swept out of the playoffs by the Phils and finished with a losing record the next season, but won its division again in 2012.

The Nationals, at least on paper, appear to be a franchise that's more likely to follow the Phillies' path. There's just too much talent to see them taking a step back before they can continue to move forward.

Washington's management surely didn't sit idly this winter.

Although the Braves made the division's biggest splashes in adding the Brothers Upton, the Nationals solidified what was already a team strength. They added closer Rafael Soriano and righthander Dan Haren to a pitching staff that led the National League in ERA.

Haren, a 32-year-old, three-time All-Star, replaces Edwin Jackson in the rotation. Soriano, the latest Scott Boras client to strike it rich in Washington, heads a bullpen that already has two closer-tested relievers in Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard.

Like the Phils and Braves, the Nationals also have a new centerfielder. Rather than opening the vault for yet another Boras client (Michael Bourn), Washington made like the Phils and traded for one from Minnesota, swapping top pitching prospect Alex Meyer for Denard Span.

With Span, Harper and Werth, the Nats have a defensive outfield that will surely be the envy of their division neighbors in South Philly.

In adding Span and re-signing Adam LaRoche, who hit 33 home runs with 100 RBI last season, the odd man out of Washington's first base-outfield situation was Michael Morse. Morse was dealt to Seattle; Washington shouldn't miss his bat as long as LaRoche continues to produce.

Washington, however, might miss Sean Burnett, Tom Gorzelanny and Mike Gonzalez, a trio of lefthanded relievers who signed elsewhere as free agents this winter. While the trio of Clippard, Storen and Soriano is a formidable one in the 'pen, the Nats would surely like a lefty to attack the Ryan Howards and Chase Utleys of the National League.

Final verdict: With a rotation led by Strasburg and two others who sported sub-3.00 ERAs last season in Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann, and a lineup fueled by franchise third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, the Nats are the team to beat in the division.

Perhaps the scarier news for Phillies fans: The core group of Zimmerman, Harper, catcher Wilson Ramos, middle infielders Danny Espinosa and Ian Desmond, and pitchers Strasburg and Gonzalez all are under 30 years old. The Nats could be the team to beat for a while.