Young players like Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes will have another chance to prove themselves high-quality major-league players. Veterans like Austin Kearns and Nick Johnson will either show that they still have value or be shown the door when their contracts expire at season’s end. Manager Manny Acta will earn a contract extension himself or just spend the season as a lame duck — or worse.

“[Last year] is not going to carry over at all,” Acta said. “Because we had a great camp and the guys are healthy. I think if three, four, five guys would have gone down in spring training right away they probably would have brought the same type of feeling that we had last year. But — knock on wood — it’s been good. And we can feel that.”

Nothing demonstrates the Nats’ precarious position more than their starting pitcher for Opening Day. Left-hander John Lannan was pitching in Single-A ball exactly two years ago. Now he’s the anchor of a pitching staff with four starters 25 years old or younger. Not a single one of them — including 22-year-olds Jordan Zimmerman and Shairon Martis — can be considered a sure thing.

Lannan opens against a Marlins team brimming with young talent — one that some prognosticators see as a playoff dark horse. Others think Florida is the one team the Nats could actually leapfrog in the standings.

“I think we’re definitely closer this year than we were last year. A lot of us have played together for a couple of years now,” said third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who — for the first time since 2006 — gets the chance to bat in front of a legitimate cleanup hitter in Adam Dunn. “It’s just a little bit more comfortable. Spring training was a little bit more smooth. I’m ready to start playing.”