What the Nationals are thankful for this year

There's a lot of reason to be upset with the world right now, but - believe it or not - there's a lot more reason to be happy. I often remind myself of this. There's way more good than bad in the world, way more good people than bad people. We only hear about the bad stuff more.

And so on this Thanksgiving, it seems like the right time to remind ourselves of the good things in our lives. So I called up a bunch of Nationals players and other club personnel and asked them to share what they're thankful for today. (Editor's note: This is totally, 100 percent true and not at all some annual shtick of mine to try to fill out a Thanksgiving blog post.)

Enjoy ...

MAX SCHERZER: For being a three-time Cy Young Award winner, but more importantly for the anticipation of being a first-time father.

STEPHEN STRASBURG: For the stick of dynamite he used to blow up the tired narrative of his career thanks to a brilliant postseason performance.

GIO GONZALEZ: For the ability to throw with his left hand, to make 30 starts every single regular season and be paid for that and not what he does in the postseason.

TANNER ROARK: For the comfort of knowing not one single person can blame him at all for the Nationals' latest playoff exit.

BRYCE HARPER: For knee ligaments that apparently are made of flexible steel.

RYAN ZIMMERMAN: For the ability to start hitting a baseball in the air again, and the ability to stay healthy through an entire season again.

DANIEL MURPHY: For (hopefully) a knee doctor who knows what he's doing and will allow him to take the field on opening day with no physical issues.

ANTHONY RENDON: For an offseason that won't require any interviews with reporters.

MATT WIETERS: For player options. And Scott Boras.

MICHAEL A. TAYLOR: For a team that gave him a third opportunity and everything that transpired after that.

JAYSON WERTH: For picking the right team seven years ago when everyone else thought he was crazy.

SEAN DOOLITTLE: For an opportunity to anchor an elite team's bullpen for years.

RYAN MADSON: For electric-doohicky-thingamabobs that save pitching careers.

SHAWN KELLEY: For three-year contracts.

DAVE MARTINEZ: For being given the keys to a Lamborghini after many years sitting in the passenger's seat learning from Joe Maddon how to drive one.

MIKE RIZZO: For signing Scherzer instead of Jordan Zimmermann, for having Billy Beane's cell number on speed dial and for having (for the first time in his career) a whole lot of leverage when it comes to his own employment situation.

TED LERNER: For never having to worry about job security.

NATIONALS FANS: For having a hometown club that has reached the postseason four times in six years after not having one capable of doing that in more than eight decades. And reason to hope success in October will come one of these years.

MARK ZUCKERMAN: For having the best, most insightful, most respectful (usually) readers a baseball writer could ever ask for, and for the opportunity to continue serving those readers.

Happy Thanksgiving!