There was a time when the Atlanta Braves saw Tommy Lasorda and Dodger Blue as the One True Enemy. The feeling didn’t last long – the Braves blew a lead and still finished ahead of L.A. in 1982; the next year they blew a lead and stayed behind – and it arose again in the worst-to-first season of 1991. And, for as much as has happened since, the role of rival hasn’t been recast.

The Dodgers faded after ’91, to be replaced by the Reds (’92), the Giants (’93) and – after the Braves moved from the West to the East – the Expos (’94) as principal challengers. The Marlins rose a couple of times, winning the World Series without finishing ahead of the Braves, and the Mets would prove nettlesome around the end of the 20^th Century. Then the Phillies got really good for a really long while, but could we call Braves-Phils a rivalry when the former seldom prevailed?

It has been a long time since the Braves had a real foil, an opponent of more or less equal worth. And it could be that one of the teams in question won’t hold up its end. (A year ago, everyone thought the Miami Marlins would be mighty.) But as of January 2013, you’d have to say the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals have a chance to become to the National League as Yankees-Red Sox has been to American.

The Nationals won 98 games last season, four more than the Braves. The Nationals have the NL’s best young pitcher in Stephen Strasburg and its best young player in Bryce Harper. They head into the new season looking even stronger, having signed starting pitcher Dan Haren and closer Rafael Soriano (ex-Brave), re-upped first baseman Adam LaRoche (ex-Brave) and traded for center fielder Denard Span. The Nats were left with such a surplus that they dispatched Michael Morse, who can hit but doesn’t have a position, to Seattle.

Assuming a full season of Strasburg (no innings cap this time), the Nationals look capable of winning 100 games. The Braves might win 101. They’ve seen and raised Washington, importing not one but two Uptons, and we could keep the hot stove burning long into the night as we ask: Which outfield looks better – Upton, Upton and Heyward or Harper, Span and Werth?

Said Nats manager Davey Johnson (ex-Brave), speaking at the Winter Meetings in Nashville: “World Series or bust – that’s probably the slogan this season.”

Said Braves general manager Frank Wren, speaking Thursday after trading for Justin Upton: “We think this gives us the ability to really compete in the National League.”

No, they’re not the other two teams in the National League. Yes, the Dodgers have loaded up (Zack Greinke to go with Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier and Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez). Yes, the Reds will be good again, and the Cardinals are never bad, and the Giants have won two of the past three World Series, and the Phillies might still have something left. But as of January 2013, the NL’s two best teams appear to be the teams that just finished 1-2 in the NL East.

And the really delicious part is that both teams should be good not just this season – Davey Johnson plans to retire after 2013, by the way – but for a while. This month Keith Law of ESPN Insider ranked the majors’ 25 best players under the age of 25: The Nats had Nos. 2 (Harper) and 5 (Strasburg); the Braves had Nos. 3 (Jason Heyward), 19 (Freddie Freeman), 21 (Andrelton Simmons) and 23 (Craig Kimbrel). And who was No. 1 on Law’s list last year? Justin Upton, who has since turned 25.

To this we say: Hooray. Every sport is better when the home team is good and the visitor is, too. The Dodgers and Giants have been doing this sort of thing since both were based in the five boroughs, and the Cardinals and Cubs have their annual Midwestern merriment, and we know all about Yankees-Bosox because ESPN airs every doggone installment. But now, and maybe for the next half-decade, Braves-Nats could trump all ongoing spats in the Grand Old Game.

In the spring of 2010, when Heyward was launching batting-practice shots that wrecked cars parked beyond the outfield fence and Strasburg was loosing 100-mph lasers, Ben McGrath of the New Yorker quoted an unnamed baseball man as saying: “I think if Heyward were to face Strasburg right now the baseball world would spontaneously combust.”

Heyward’s team will face Strasburg’s team 19 teams in the regular season, and it would serve no purpose for any among us to combust spontaneously in April or June or even September. Because there’s a chance they’ll collide again in October 2013, and we wouldn't want to miss any of that, would we? To paraphrase Rick's words to Louie after Ilsa's plane left Casablanca, this could be the beginning of a beautiful enmity.

Further reading: The Nationals still have the better rotation, according to James Wagner of the Washington Post.