Then Washington spiraled out of the playoff race and Papelbon — who I actually described as a “goofball at heart”! — put his hands around Bryce Harper’s neck during an altercation in the Nationals dugout…on fan appreciation day. There was no way, I thought then, that Papelbon would be back on the team in 2016.

Which brings us to Thursday’s home opener at Nationals Park, where Papelbon, still rocking the curly W, will be introduced alongside his Nationals teammates. After Papelbon struck out A.J. Pierzynski to earn his second save in as many games to start the season on Wednesday in Atlanta, MASN play-by-play man Bob Carpenter offered some advice. “Nats fans: Be nice to him when they introduce him on Thursday,” he said.

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Ha!

There will be cheers for Papelbon on Thursday, but there will also be a lot of boos, just as there were on Friday night when he came on in the ninth inning to close out Washington’s exhibition game win over the Twins.

Booing is harmless and it feels great, so if you’re dead-set on giving Papelbon an earful, I won’t begrudge you for booing your face off. But if you’re on the fence about how to respond to Papelbon, please consider these reasons to, well, be nice to the guy.

He apologized.

“I think that with what happened last year, I was in the wrong,” Papelbon said the first day he addressed members of the media at spring training in February. “Should have never went down that way, and I understand that. I had a lot of time this offseason to reflect on that.”

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Papelbon also mentioned that he had apologized to Harper and his teammates, and took the opportunity to apologize to the fans, coaches and “everyone included.” Later, he reportedly blasted Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” in the clubhouse. Come on, that’s funny.

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Bryce Harper is over it.

In February, Harper told 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier that last year’s incident was all in the past. “I want him to go out there and save 60 games, try to win a Cy Young and do everything he can to help this team win,” Harper said. So far, so good. Papelbon is on pace to save 162 games, which would probably earn him some serious Cy Young consideration. That’s not a bad consolation prize for someone who lost the vote for this year’s fan-choice bobblehead.

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His teammates still love him.

“I know the personnel of the players better than anybody,” Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo recently told Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier on 106.7 The Fan. “So if there was a problem with the personnel, if there was a problem with character on the ballclub, if there was a cancer in the clubhouse, we have shown in the past that we cut that out and get rid of it really, really quickly. If I thought that was the case with Jonathan Papelbon, he would be gone. I do not feel that’s the case. His teammates in Boston and Philadelphia, and here in Washington, love the guy. He’s a great teammate. He’s one of those guys that, when he’s on your team, you love him, when he’s on the other team, you hate him.”

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“What else would Rizzo say?!” you’re thinking. “He’s the one who thought it was a brilliant idea to trade for Papelbon in the first place.”

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“I love him,” Gio Gonzalez told ESPN’s Eddie Matz in February. “I love him for the fact that he wants to tell you the truth. He doesn’t beat around the bush and he comes at you the right way. He wants the best for you, and he’s gonna bust your tail to make sure you become the ultimate ballplayer. The littlest thing in the world means the biggest thing to him.”

Don’t be like Mets fans…or Phillies fans.

Mets fans booed everyone from Ruben Tejada to the team’s head trainer during pregame introductions at Citi Field on Opening Day last year. The Mets would go on to win the National League, of course, but that’s beside the point. You know who else took great joy in booing Papelbon? Phillies fans, and why would you want to share anything in common with them?

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Again, I’m not telling you not to boo, whether only for one day to get it out of your system, or every time Papelbon takes the mound for as long as he’s a National. Boo to your heart’s content, or cheer, or do what season ticket holder Mark Strattner, who has attended almost every Nationals home game since 2005, plans to do, which is nothing at all.

“I have decided I will not boo, but I will not applaud,” Strattner told me Wednesday. “If Bryce Harper has moved on, I will make an effort. I’m not happy, but I will make an effort and we’ll see what happens. God help him if he blows his first save at home.”