The decisions for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado were the ones that dragged on all offseason, garnering many of the headlines.

Patrick Corbin made his free-agency call much quicker in early December. The lefty, who pitched the first six years of his career with the Diamondbacks, somewhat surprisingly chose the Nationals over the Yankees and Phillies. Corbin is thus far proving worth the six years and $140 million the Nationals gave him with his most important start coming Thursday in Game 1 of NLDS against the Dodgers and Walker Buehler.

“It’s everything I expected,” Corbin told NJ.com in the celebratory Nationals clubhouse, following the team’s 4-3 comeback win over the Brewers in NL wild-card game.

“They want to win. They get players.”

Corbin’s decision altered the offseason for the other two teams he visited, but ultimately passed on. The Phillies ended up signing Harper and faltered to an 81-81 season. The Yankees, who had already acquired James Paxton in a trade with the Mariners, settled for re-signing J.A. Happ, who has failed to replicate the incredible success (7-0, 2.69 ERA) he had last season after he was traded to the Yankees at the deadline.

The Yankees thrived despite an inconsistent rotation all season and cruised to 103 wins and the AL East crown. Will that continue in the postseason? Paxton is pitching the best he has all season and Luis Severino was mostly sharp in three September starts after missing most of the season with shoulder issues.

Those two will top a starting rotation that is also expected to include Masahiro Tanaka and Chad Green as an opener. If the Yankees follow through with that plan, Happ will be used out of the bullpen against the Twins in the ALDS.

Corbin, who said the Yankees and Phillies were unwilling to go up to six years in contract talks, gets the ball in Game 1 in Los Angeles after Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg were used in the win over Milwaukee.

Corbin, 30, has not been far behind the Nationals’ top two starters this season, pitching to a 3.25 ERA over 202 innings.

“[Corbin’s been] a great complement to our big two right-handers,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN last week. “We feel comfortable rolling any one of those guys out there. It’s a luxury that few teams have, and we’re lucky enough to be able to run three quality No. 1 type of starters out.”