As baseball remains in hiatus due to the coronavirus, we continue simulating games for the 2020 MLB season. Here are the results for April 2-4.
The experts thought any of several teams in the NL East might have possessed the ability to be dominant this season.
In our 2020 National League simulation, one of them has.
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The Philadelphia Phillies barged into Milwaukee and crushed the Brewers in a three-game weekend series, in the process running their record to 9-1.
In the ultra-competitive division, that’s already good for a 3 and one-half game advantage over the runner-up Atlanta Braves.
Sweeps were kind of a thing in the NL Central. In addition to the calamity that befell Milwaukee, Cincinnati swept a three-game series in Pittsburgh and St. Louis took all three of its home games from visiting Baltimore.
The weekend results left St. Louis one game ahead of the runner-up Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, and Arizona one game ahead of San Diego in the NL West.
The Dodgers, prohibitive divisional and league favorites, continued to wander through the early portion of the season. They lost two of three in San Francisco and fell to .500 at 5-5 for the year.
The defending World Champion Washington Nationals lost two games of their three-game home opener series against the New York Mets.
The Phillies’ dominance is being led by Zach Wheeler, their off-season free-agent pickup. Wheeler ran his season-opening scoreless innings streak to 15 with six three-hit innings Friday against the Brewers.
Cincinnati’s Trevor Bauer, St. Louis’ Jack Flaherty and San Diego Dinelson Lamet are all going almost as well. Each has allowed just one earned run to date.
Los Angeles Dodger third baseman Justin Turner is out front in the batting race at .469, ahead of Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds (424) and San Diego’s Eric Hosmer (.415).
Arizona’s Starling Marte has 15 RBIs in his team’s first 10 games.