A Weekend of Divisional Matchups in the National League

This weekend divisional rivals in the National League are playing important early-season series which will help separate the contenders from the pretenders.

The horses have broken cleanly from the gate. A few of the favorites have stumbled a bit but everyone is still bunched near the rail. This weekend, six weekend matchups in the National League will help to sort out the traffic a bit and show us who may be ready to take the lead into the first turn.

In the NL East, the Phillies travel to Washington to take on the Nationals and the Mets travel to Florida to play the Marlins. The NL Central has the Brewers in Cincinnati to face the Reds, and the Pirates are in the Windy City to meet the Cubs. Finally in the West, the Rockies go to San Francisco against the Giants and the Diamondbacks visit the Dodgers.

The Eastern Division

Last weekend, the Philadelphia Phillies took a series from the Nationals at home after losing 14 of 19 games to Washington in 2016. The Phillies are currently 3-6 and trail the first place New York Mets by 3 1/2 games. Losing any more ground to the Mets and the Nationals this early in the race may put the Philadelphia too far back in the pack to stay involved in the East race. Washington stands at 5-4 and trails New York by 1 1/2 games. It’s early but the Nats need to keep in touch with New York.

Stephen Strasburg (1-0, 3.21 ERA) takes the mound against Aaron Nola (1-0, 4.50 ERA). On Sunday, Strasburg went seven innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs to the Phillies in Philadelphia as the Phils beat the Nats 4-3 on a walk-off single by Cesar Hernandez. On Saturday, Nola was the recipient of a 12-run first inning against the Nationals and got the win by going six innings while surrendering seven hits and three earned runs. He also struck out seven and walked two. Trea Turner of the Nationals remains sidelined on the DL due to a hamstring strain along with his primary replacement Stephen Drew.

The balance of the series will see Tanner Roark (2-0, 4.09 ERA) vs. Jeremy Hellickson (1-0, 0.90 ERA) on Saturday and Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 0.69 ERA) vs. Jerad Eickhoff (0-1, 1.98 ERA) on Sunday. The winner of the series will continue to move with the pack in the NL East.

The Mets take their stable of starting pitching to Miami after losing two out of three to the Marlins in New York last week. The Mets are out in front in the East and would love to begin to distance themselves from the pack. They are riding a five-game winning streak as they enter the weekend. The Marlins (4-5) and stand 2 1/2 games back of the Mets in the East. A repeat of their series win in New York would go a long way toward making them a serious contender in the East.

New York begins the series with their ace Noah Syndergaard (1-0, 0.69 ERA) against Edinson Volquez (0-1, 3.27 ERA). The Mets then send Jacob deGrom (0 – 0, 1.50) to the hill on Saturday against a pitcher to be named. They will be followed by a Sunday matchup of Matt Harvey (2-0, 2.92 ERA) for New York vs. Dan Straily (1-1, 7.56 ERA).

The Central Division

In the Central, the Brewers and Reds play in Cincinnati to see who will remain in touch with the Cubs. Both clubs are off to surprising starts. Milwaukee has played .500 ball for 10 games while Cincinnati is 7-3.

The series begins with a pitching matchup of Tommy Milone (0-0, 9.00) for the Brewers and Scott Feldman (1-1, 2.53) for the Reds. On Saturday Milwaukee sends Zach Davies (0-2, 10.61) to the mound while Cincinnati counters with lefty Brandon Finnegan (1-0, 1.00). Wily Peralta (2-0, 2.45) will close the series for the Brewers on Sunday while the Reds have yet to name a starter.

Also in the Central, the Chicago Cubs host the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs are the class of the entire National League and will be a tough matchup for the Pirates. But if the Pirates have any hope of hanging near the top of the NL Central they need to find a way to win at least one game this weekend and possibly two.

In an attempt to hang in, Pittsburgh hands the ball to Gerrit Cole (0-1, 6.55) today against Kyle Hendricks (1-0, 6.00). They will be followed by Tyler Glasnow (0-1, 27.00) vs. Jake Arrieta (2-0, 2.08) on Saturday. Jameson Taillon (0-0, 1.38) and Jon Lester (0-0, 1.64) will go on Sunday. These pitching matchups show the gap that exists between these two franchises today. The Cubs should be able to push forward this weekend and possibly pass the Reds.

The West Division

In the West, the Colorado Rockies (7-4) visit the San Francisco Giants (4-7). This is a big series in that the Rockies need to show that they really are a contender while the Giants need to get back closer to the pack. If not, the Giants may be so far behind they have no realistic chance of competing. It’s early, but being four or five games back is much different than being behind by two games. That is the difference between winning and losing this series for the Giants.

Colorado begins with Tyler Anderson (1-1, 8.44) on the mound opposing Johnny Cueto (2-0, 4.50) for San Francisco. Saturday brings a matchup between Tyler Chatwood (0-2, 6.35) for the Rockies and Matt Moore (1-1, 2.70) for the Giants. The series concludes with Antonio Senzatela (1-0, 1.50) against Jeff Samardzija (0-2, 6.75).

In another NL West battle, the Arizona Diamondbacks (7-3) invade Dodger Stadium to play the Dodgers (5-5). The Diamondbacks are hitting well now and hope to continue their hot streak against L.A.

The series begins with a marquee matchup between Zack Greinke (1-0, 2.31) for Arizona and Clayton Kershaw (1-1, 3.46) for the Dodgers. On Saturday the Diamondbacks send Patrick Corbin (1-1, 1.80) to the hill against Kenta Maeda (1-1, 6.30). Sunday they will be followed by Taijuan Walker (1-1, 4.91) against a pitcher to be named for the Dodgers. If Arizona wants to stay atop the NL West they must find a way to win this series.

Next: Twins vs. White Sox Weekend Preview

Staying in Touch with the Lead

It’s early but all the games in a season count the same. Right now the teams are bunched together but soon the division races will begin to take shape. These six division series will go a long way toward identifying the contenders and the pretenders. Just like a horse race, the bunch begins to spread out and the cream begins to rise to the top. Let the battles begin!

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