How do 2017 Nationals avoid another odd-year regression?

No matter what happens from this point forward, the Nationals will enter the 2017 season with lofty expectations, both internally and externally. A 95-win team from the previous year will be expected to win again, considered among the favorites to come out of the National League.

Whether they can live up to those expectations remains to be seen, but if the last half-decade is a sign of things to come, they better be careful not to simply assume all will be well in 2017.

Each of the previous two times the Nationals won their division, they opened the season expected to win again, yet stumbled out of the gates and never fully recovered.

After going 98-64 in 2012 and adding Denard Span, Dan Haren and Rafael Soriano to the roster, the 2013 Nationals went 13-14 in April, hovered around or even below the .500 mark for much of the summer and even with a late push could only finish 86-76, out of the playoffs.

They bounced back to go 96-66 in 2014 and win another division crown, then had huge expectations entering 2015 after signing Max Scherzer to a record contract. But they again stumbled early, going 10-13 in April and finished a pedestrian 83-79, seven games back of the Mets and out of the playoffs.

So forgive anyone who is worried even a little bit about the Nationals entering 2017, on the heels of a 95-67 season and with expectations high once again.

How, then, do the Nats avoid repeating history, of letting their postseason disappointment from October linger into the following April and beyond, digging themselves into an early hole they struggle to escape?

"I don't think that's lingering at all, actually," manager Dusty Baker said over the weekend. "I just think that's how it's come out and how it's appeared. (In 2015), they had a bunch of injuries. That's different than them coming out flat. I'm not worried about my teams coming out flat because I prepare them. I don't worry about negative thoughts or negative occurrences. I just want to build on where we were, instead of going backwards worrying about anything."

The 2015 Nationals indeed were banged-up at the start of the season. Span, Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth all opened the year on the disabled list and all needed time upon returning to get themselves going for real.

So if the 2017 Nationals can stay reasonably healthy coming out of spring training, they should be in a better position. And Baker believes they will be healthier because of the work he expects his players to put in before they even arrive in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"I believe the better shape you're in, the better your chances are," the manager said. "The better shape that you are in during the winter, the stronger your mind is. Because there are some days where you don't feel like working out. 'It's too cold out.' Or, 'I don't feel like today.' Or, 'I'll do it tomorrow.'

"But see, that's synonymous to the season. There are some days you don't feel like playing, but you have to find some kind of way to muster yourself into a thought process you feel like playing. I asked Larry Doby this years ago. I asked him: 'When do you get ready for the season?' I thought spring training. He told me you get ready for spring training in the offseason. You get your mind right. Your mind will take you a long, long, long ways."

Baker does have the track record to suggest he knows what he's doing and he knows how to start a season on a positive note. Sixteen of the last 18 teams he managed posted a winning record in April.

That guarantees nothing come April 2017, but make no mistake: These Nationals don't expect to regress into the every-other-year pattern their predecessors established.

"We've got a good team that won 95 games last year," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "I think we're a better team this year, that will go into this season better than we did last year. We feel that we're a confident group with a good team, a deep roster. And we plan on having a really successful year this season. Our goal is to defend the National League East title, go to the playoffs, and then our ultimate goal always is to win the World Series."