Rachel Levitin: Nats have come a long way to earn second NL East crown in three years

Well, that answers that. The Nationals are officially the National League East champions for the second time in three years after clinching that spot at Turner Field in Atlanta on Tuesday night. What a ride it's been thus far. To think that just two years ago, a perennial cellar-dweller clinched its first division title and has continued to make its visible imprint upon the major league landscape since then. Sure, the success of the 2014 squad can be attributed to many within the current organization and lineup. From the higher-ups like general manager Mike Rizzo to the one-game-at-a-time laser-focused manager, Matt Williams, to a hot-hitting Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth to the young yet versatile defenseman and two-hole hitter Anthony Rendon... and that's not to mention the rest of this incredibly talented roster. Notice I didn't mention the likes of the first-round draft pick phenoms, including Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper yet. There's a reason. Those two are, of course, major pieces of the puzzle that made a successful run at the NL East title a reality in 2014. However, I think it's important to look back and see what not only brought those players to the current iteration of the Nationals lineup, but also to look back and see how this team got to where it is today. I still remember being in-house at Nationals Park for the lowest-attended game in September 2010. Those were different times for baseball in Washington. Harper was selected in the draft that year and Strasburg joined the pitching rotation in June before having to exit later that summer due to injury and his eventual surgery. But if it weren't for the (for lack of a better term) "dark days" in which the Nats were more so a punchline in baseball than they were a winner, last night's victory would not taste as sweet. The Nationals, along with the help of an ever-chipper Davey Johnson, tapped into their potential in 2012. Once then-manager Jim Riggleman resigned and Johnson took over (first in the interim and then for the 2012 season), I think that's where the real shift occurred. Johnson made use of his entire baseball career and channeled all he knew unto his players upon assuming the role of manager. Looking back, Washington's short-lived playoff run wasn't as much a failed opportunity as it was a learning experience. Sure, fans and players would love a World Series title, but those things come in due time pending hard work, perseverance, experience, and a little bit of luck. That's why 2013 stung so much. "World Series or bust" - that was the tag for the 2013 season. The Nats failed to make the playoffs that year, but Johnson's impact was still felt. The team maintained its hunger and carried it over to 2014. Now that there's no denying Washington is in fact the 2014 NL East champion, it's time for this established squad, who was marred with growing pains on both the player and manager side this year, to continue demonstrating unto the greater baseball populous that it's able to adapt to its surrounding and find ways to win. Rachel Levitin blogs about the Nationals for We Love DC. Follow her on Twitter: @RHLevitin. She will be sharing her observations about baseball in the nation's capital as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.