Reason for optimism: Paul Goldschmidt and Zack Greinke, Yasiel Puig and Clayton Kershaw & Co. have nothing on Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer.
Reason for pessimism: They missed the playoffs despite an MVP year from Harper and Scherzer's career year, and the competition is getting better.
Before I took a fresh look at last year's results this spring, I was under the impression that the Washington Nationals' 2015 campaign was a dumpster fire. After all, not only were the Nats prohibitive favorites to win the NL East, with more than a decent chance to be the only team in that division to finish above .500, but they were betting favorites by World Series futures odds. Yet when the season ended, they not only finished seven games behind the Mets, but also wound up an astounding 14 games back in the wild-card race. So, the logical conclusion is that their season was an epic failure.
After another review, I'm not so sure that is the case.