NL East
Two Phillies — Jim Bunning on Father’s Day 1964 and Roy Halladay in 2010 — have thrown perfect games. The current Washington Nationals franchise also has a perfect game in its history, although Dennis Martinez delivered it in 1991 for the team then known as the Montreal Expos.
That leaves the Braves, Marlins and Mets still in search.
Mets: In July of 1969, with his Mets struggling to run down the division-leading Chicago Cubs, Tom Seaver took the mound against the Cubs at Shea Stadium. He was dominant, striking out 11 and retiring the first 25 batters he faced.
Then with one out in the ninth inning of a 4-0 Mets lead, light-hitting Jim Qualls somehow managed to slip a base hit into left-center to break up the perfect games. Seaver retired the final two Cubs to complete the one-hit shutout.
Braves: Given all the great pitching those 1990s Braves teams had, it may seem unlikely that to find the closest any Brave has ever come to perfection you have to go back more than half a century. On Aug. 18, 1960, Milwaukee Braves pitcher Lou Burdette started against the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium and pitched a no-hitter.
The only blemish on Burdette’s line came with one out in the fifth inning when Phillies outfielder Tony Gonzalez wore a Burdette fastball and was given first. The next batter, Lee Walls, promptly grounded into a double play and Burdette retired the final 12 Phillies batters without incident.
That gave him a no-hitter during which he faced the minimum 27 batters, but not quite a perfect games.
Marlins: The Marlins were on their way to a World Series victory in June of 1997 when their ace, Kevin Brown, faced the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. Powered by a seven-run seventh, the Marlins won 9-0 and Brown retired the first 23 batters he faced. Then with two out in the eighth, Brown hit Marvin Bernard, who became San Francisco’s first and only baserunner of the afternoon.