Stephen Strasburg sees a silver lining in the Nationals losing in the playoffs in 2012:

“The biggest thing is that we’re not satisfied,” he said. “Strange as it may sound, I think we got the right amount of exposure to the playoffs. And it would be one thing if we ran through it and it came easy to us. Unfortunately it didn’t, and that’s only going to make us stronger in the long run.”

The team did not rest of their laurels in the off-season, which sometimes happens when a team wins everything.