Division or NL Wild Card:
While the Phillies faithful believe the Braves are a solid team, Atlanta also has shortcomings. To illustrate, their pitching has flaws in the five-man staff and at the back end of the pen. However, their fans think the offense will score enough runs –despite Austin Riley‘s decline– and compensate for these deficiencies.
Riley’s monthly production: (Stats through July 17)
- May: 15 Gms., 59 AB, .356 Avg., 7 HR, 20 RBI and a 1.143 OPS.
- June: 28 Gms., 106 AB, .226 Avg., 7 HR, 17 RBI and a .778 OPS.
- July: 12 Gms., 44 AB, .159 Avg., 2 HR, 6 RBI and a .520 OPS.
They used a six-man rotation to finish 2018 but have five hurlers this season. Of those five, rookie Max Fried had produced a solid April but has struggled since: seven poor outings out of his last 15. So far, Mike Soroka (10-1, 2.24 ERA) has fired 96 1/3 innings after 56 1/3 frames in ’18: 200 innings?
A previously demoted A.J. Minter with a 3.65 ERA since his reactivation and closer Luke Jackson with his six blown saves would make Philly fans beg for Hector Neris. Basically, Jackson needs a two-run lead because he allows an earned run during many opportunities. Translation: Atlanta should acquire two relievers.
Even though the Nationals have a solid offense, defense and five-man staff, in the pen they can only rely on closer Sean Doolittle. Often, their manager must get every out he can from a starter via higher pitch counts to avoid exposing the relievers. Despite that, they provably are on a run of 31-12 after a 19-31 start.
While the Braves and Nats have relief-corps question marks, the Fightins’ difficulties are due to eight injured hurlers. But they have David Robertson returning by July’s end, and his reactivation will be a major addition. Realistically, an improved pen will favor the good guys for the second wild card.
The Phils are 50-47, the Milwaukee Brewers are 50-47, the St. Louis Cardinals are 48-46, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are 49-47. Other than Milwaukee, the others haven’t surpassed .500 by much to date.