The Nationals have no regrets regarding their decision to shut down Stephen Strasburg early this past season with the playoffs looming.

"I was one of the five guys who were basically the reason everybody started [counting pitches and innings]. It was after what happened to us that everybody started to change," Washington pitching coach Steve McCatty said.

"Stephen and I had a lot of talks about this, and I just gave him my perspective. He was not happy. I knew that. But I said, 'Hey, I've gone through this with an injury and I played with it and it probably cost me my career when I should have done the right thing and taken the time off. But I didn't.' So if I'm a little more guarded when something happens to these guys and I have to say something and talk to them and get mad when I explain something to them or be stubborn on my stance towards it, I'll do it.

"It was for his best interest. It was for the Nationals' best interest. It just got blown out of proportion so much because of the national coverage and who he is. We had everyone hootin' and hollerin' at us and telling us what we should do. But, no doubt in my mind, it was the right thing."

The Nationals had the best regular-season record in baseball, but lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS.

"Those are the unknowns. It's hard to respond to [those who say] with Strasburg we would have won the World Series," Mike Rizzo said. "Whenever you take a great player off your roster, it doesn't give you as good a chance to perform as if you would have had him. We would have been a better team with Strasburg in the rotation. I agree with that. But we made a decision for the betterment of the franchise and the ballclub and the player. And we stuck to it. There's not much more I can say than that other than that. I think Stephen's going to be better for it."