The NL East is one of the toughest divisions in all of baseball. It includes last year’s NL champions, the Philidelphia Phillies, the powerhouse Atlanta Braves, and the Steve Cohen-financed and stacked New York Mets. The Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals are not real contenders at this point, but with Miami’s pitching and the young talent for the Nationals, they can sneak up and wreak havoc on even the best of teams.
In the vein of two truths and one lie, let us take a look at some developments and opinions that will stay around to the end of the year along with one that won’t age well. Let’s start with a truth about who will win the competitive division.
Truth: The Atlanta Braves will win the NL East again in 2023
Death, taxes, and the Atlanta Braves winning the NL East. The latter has been true the past five seasons, and a remarkable 17 out of the last 28 years.
Last year, the Braves streaked across the finish line with a 101-61 record, highlighted by their last weekend of the regular season sweep of their rival, New York Mets. By gaining control of the tiebreaker with the sweep, the Braves were able to clinch yet another division title despite holding the same record as the Mets.
This year it shouldn’t come down to the last weekend of the season to determine who wins the NL East. Besides, the Braves don’t play the Mets after August 23 this year. I guess that the drama of last year was just too much for the baseball schedulers to handle two seasons in a row. The Braves do play the Phillies six times in mid-September but will finish the season with seven games against the Nationals and three at home against the Chicago Cubs.
In no way am I saying that the Mets and/or the Phillies won’t get a Wild Card spot, because both of those clubs have excellent teams. But as far as the division winner, it is going to be the Braves again. With the likes of a healthy Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Spencer Strider, and Bryce Elder to name a few, the Braves are poised for big things in 2023.