National League East, The Division to Watch

As we all know, baseball is a thinking mans sport. Some find it boring, some find it exciting, some understand the strategy, and some just go to the game to be outside to pay for over priced snacks and souvenirs. As we have talked about before, offense sells tickets but defense wins game. So let’s focus on the Mets, Phillies, and the Braves.

Free Agent Transactions

Mets pick up Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer, and Starling Marte.

Phillies pick up Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber.

Braves pick up Matt Olsen and Kenley Jansen.

So how does all of this wrap up together? Each team has a significant amount of fire power. The Mets have Alonso, Lindor, and Marte. The Phillies have Realmuto, Gregorius, Hoskins, Harper, Castellanos, and Schwarber. The Braves, having won the Fall Classic last season, bring back Albies, Riley, Acuna Jr., Rosario, and add Olsen. There is no reason why these three teams couldn’t put up 3 to 5 runs a night. Now the next question is… can they pitch?

Perfection On Paper

On paper, you would say that the Mets have the advantage with DeGrom, Bassitt, and Scherzer. The Mets remind me a lot of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, with Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, who won the World Series beating the defending champions, the New York Yankees. Let’s not put it past the Braves with Max Fried and Charlie Morton or the Phillies who have Zach Wheeler. The way the current schedules line up, you play your division more than outside of the division which leads anybody to believe it could be anybody’s race.

Breaking it down prior to the start of the regular season, on paper, the Mets look like they can pitch but the Phillies look like they have the most fire power. Last season, the Braves looked amazing on paper and then the injury bug hit, but they got hot at the right time and pushed through to make the playoffs, and ultimately won it all. The key to winning this race, with the expanded playoffs beginning this season, is not only pitching, but who stays the healthiest. With a 162 game season, it takes its’ tear on everyone’s body. Trying to fit all of the games in, starting a week late, forces teams to play double headers, which are now back to 9 innings per game. So how would the Mets look, for example, if DeGrom or Scherzer go down for two to four weeks? Or, how would the Phillies look if Harper or Castellanos go down for the same amount of time? And of course, you always have the question mark of how does Acuna return? And how does Olsen take playing in a new league, a new division, and to a new home town crowd (even though he is from Atlanta)?

Don’t Take Your Eyes Off

So my conclusion tells us that it is going to be some great baseball to watch in the National League East. Although, ESPN Sunday night game of the week will always be the Red Sox and Yankees, the National League East is truly the division that a baseball enthusiast should not take their eyes off of watching. Be sure to listen to the future podcast, that will drop on April 5th, with a number of Top Fan Rivalry guests in the Clubhouse, where we will be giving the predictions of who will win each division.

Contributed by Bill Perkins, TFR