Stephen Strasburg made his Washington Nationals and major league debut on June 8, 2010, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. During his debut, Strasburg struck out every batter in the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup at least once and was the first pitcher in baseball history to strike out at least eleven batters without issuing any walks in his pro-debut. Strasburg not only picked up the win in his debut, pitching seven innings, allowing only two earned runs, no walks, and had 14 strikeouts, which set a Washington Nationals team record.

Only two months later, on August 27, the Nationals announced that Strasburg had a torn ulnar collateral ligament, which required season-ending Tommy John surgery, which then needed about 12 to 18 months of rehabilitation and that's where the inning limit for the 2012 season placed.

Throughout the 2012 season, the focus would be on the development of Strasburg and on the innings limit that the team would place on Strasburg. In a February 20, 2012, Washington Post article written by Adam Kilgore, Nationals GM Manager Mike said "Nationals will not manipulate Strasburg's pitching schedule in order to extend his season, letting him pitch every fifth game from the start of the regular season until he hits roughly 160 innings, and then ending his season... Even if it means playing in October without their best pitcher, Rizzo does not want to sacrifice Strasburg's development." Rizzo went on to describe the strategy and how the team didn't want to sacrifice Stephen's development "He's a young pitcher that's still learning how to pitch in the big leagues," Rizzo went on to say "I think it's unfair for him to get him ramped up in spring training, start the season on a regular rotation, then shut him down or skip him. We're going to make him comfortable – regular rotation, regular rest. I think we're deep enough that we can do that. We want to give him the best opportunity to get him into the rhythm of being a major league pitcher."

Another important milestone that happened during the 2012 season was Bryce Harper debuting for the Washington Nationals.

The Debut of #34: Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper was drafted by the Nationals in 2010 as the first overall selection that year. On August 26, 2010, Harper was introduced by the Washington Nationals and agreed to a 5-year contract worth $9.9 million, including a $6.25 million signing bonus. The sucess of Haper's pick was felt right away when he became the first tennager to steal home plate since 1964. Harper's first major league homerun on May 14, 2012 against San Diego Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer, and therefore became the youngest player to homer in the major league since 1998, and was named National Leauge Rookie of the Month for May. Even though the Nationals would loose the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals, Harper got his first posteason homerun in Game 5 of the series and had a batting adverage of .130 for the postseason. Harper would finish the 2012 season becoming the National League Rookie of the Year getting 112 votes, 16 of them first-place votes beating out both Wade Miley of Arizona and Todd Frazier.