NL East monthly check-up: Braves, Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Nationals

May 28, 2023; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider (99) pitches Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
May 28, 2023; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider (99) pitches Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
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With May almost in the books, it’s not too surprising to see the Atlanta Braves still in the driver’s seat in the NL East. The rest of this division just can’t seem to catch up, or get out of their own way long enough to make any significant gains.

It is, however, somewhat shocking to see that the Braves are hovering around just .500 for the month. With a 14-13 record through May games, the Braves haven’t been able to put any real distance between themselves and the rest of pack, and it doesn’t help matters that Max Fried and Kyle Wright have spent more time on the injured list than the mound. Fried hasn’t pitched since May 5, but at least has started working out with an eye towards throwing soon, while Wright on the other hand is on the 60-day IL, with no return timeline in sight.

Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder have taken the wheel for the Braves and pitched pretty well. The team is 8-3 in games that they have started this month. Strider struck out 57 batters in his 33.2 innings and leads all of Major League Baseball with 106 strikeouts on the season. Elder allowed just six earned runs across his five starts, and you can see how important these two are this staff. It doesn’t take a math major to figure out out that Atlanta was 6-10 with any other starting pitcher on the mound this month, and stats like that aren’t going to lead to sustained success. If a healthy Max Fried can get back on the bump and return to form, it changes the complexion of this Braves team as a whole, and gives them a trio of starting pitchers you’re not going to be to happy about seeing in a playoff series.

Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna led the team with nine homers a piece, while Ronald Acuña Jr. chipped in seven of his own. In fact, the Braves as a team continue to smack the cover off the ball, and their 49 team home runs over the last 30 days trails only the Yankees’ 50 for the most in baseball. Austin Riley is also starting to heat up, and is riding a nice little 12-game hitting streak to close out the month. Batting .344 with a 1.002 OPS in his last 16 games, he has four dingers and 10 RBI in that same span and, along with the rest of the bats in this lineup, should help keep the Braves treading water until they figure out that pitching situation.

After the Atlanta Braves, what has been happening in the NL East?

May 18, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Eury Perez (39) delivers a pitch against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
May 18, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Eury Perez (39) delivers a pitch against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports /

The Miami Marlins were 14-13 in May, and crept past the New York Mets for second place in the division. Just 4.0 games behind Atlanta, the Fish just refuse to go away. Jorge Soler had probably his best month ever, batting .284 with 12 homers and 25 RBI in 25 games. Nine of those dingers came against left-handed pitching, and Soler is just crushing lefties this year, hitting .370 with a 1.453 OPS in 46 at-bats.

Even with all of those heroics, the Marlins were still in the bottom 10 in team home runs for the month, and bottom eight in runs scored. Injuries to Jazz Chisholm and Jesus Sanchez kept them out of the lineup for most of the month, and definitely contributed to those numbers, but this team has struggled to score all season. They are 27th in the league in runs scored on the year, and it is pretty impressive that they were able to win 28 games so far. While Chisholm is probably out for a couple more weeks, Sanchez should be back with the team any day now and hopefully is able to pick up where he left off. In the seven games leading up to his hamstring injury, Sanchez was hitting .455 with a 1.455 OPS, and swinging a stick like that could help kick start this offense.

The real strength of the Marlins, however, are these starting pitchers. I know it’s been a rocky road so far with a lot of ups and a lot of downs and Sandy Alcantara isn’t exactly throwing like we’re used to, but, at just 27 years old, he’s the senior member of this rotation. Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, and Edwad Carbrera are all just 25, with Garrett and Cabrera still a couple years away from arbitration. Luzardo will get paid this fall for sure, and hopefully the perpetually stingy Marlins can figure out a way to keep him, because with 20-year-old Eury Perez now in the fold as well, this could be one the most dominant rotations in baseball. These kids are still developing and learning how to pitch, and they all have such great stuff, it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch.

May 26, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer (21) pitches in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
May 26, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer (21) pitches in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /

The New York Mets entered the month with the golden gift of 12 straight games against the Tigers, Rockies, Reds, and Nationals. They were three and a half back from Atlanta at that point, and while I don’t think anyone forsaw the Braves just treading water, there was a nice opportunity with that schedule to maybe catch up to them or perhaps even take over first place. Well, the Mets went 4-8 over those 12 games, played .500 ball themselves the rest of the way, and slipped into third place. Same ol’ Mets. This is going to be a hotly contested division all season long, and if New York can’t get out of its own way, then the highest payrolled team in the league is going to be playing golf this fall instead of playoff games.

Max Scherzer, except for one little hiccup against Detroit on May 3, has been pretty good lately. He’s allowed just two earned runs over his last three starts and the Mets were 3-1 with him on the bump this month. Kodai Senga was pretty impressive as well, and looks like he’s really starting to figure things out. Senga threw 6.0 innings and allowed just one earned run, with 12 strikeouts, in an extra-inning win versus Tampa Bay on the 17th, and tossed another gem later in the month, this time against the Phillies, throwing 7.0 innings of one hit ball, with nine punchouts. New York managed to win three of his starts this month and in all, per Gary Cohen of SNY, the Mets are 14-0 when their starting pitcher throws at least 6.0 innings this season.

Pete Alonso clobbered 10 homers this month, including seven in his last 13 games, and leads the league with 20 on the season. He is also third in RBI, with 46, and, along with Francisco Lindor, they have 86 between them. They are the muscles that make this lineup move. There are tough outs throughout this batting order, but these guys are RBI machines. Omar Narvaez was supposed to be this team’s primary catcher this year, but he hit the shelf early with a calf injury and the Mets have since handed the keys to home to 21-year-old Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez has really come into his own, especially this past month. He’s pretty solid defensively, with a nice arm behind the dish, but I know a couple of Mets fans who have been waiting for that bat to come around. Well, over his last nine games Alvarez is hitting .353 with a 1.258 OPS, and has five homers and 13 RBI to go along with all that great behind the plate stuff. This kid is a sharp shooter with upper management written all over him.

May 21, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Josiah Gray (40) throws to the Detroit Tigers during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
May 21, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Josiah Gray (40) throws to the Detroit Tigers during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

The Philadelphia Phillies were 11-15 this month. The Washington Nationals were 13-15. Neither one of those records are very good, but they’re also not too far off from how the rest of the division performed either. I am, however, more impressed by the Nats.

Philadelphia is coming off of a World Series appearance (kudos, great job), signed a couple of big bucks free agents, completely retooled their bullpen, were supposed to push for the division, and … nothing. Sure, Bryce Harper hasn’t played to his full capabilities, starting the year on the IL, but Kyle Schwarber is hitting .166 on the season and .119 on the month. That’s a slump if I ever saw one, seven home runs or not, that’s not a productive at-bat. Trea Turner is a career .298 hitter who’s batting .240 with a .285 OBP. This isnt to say it’s all on Schwarber, Harper, and Turner, it’s tough to say what the problem in Philly is, but they are still only 6.5 games behind the Braves. It’s only just June, and there is still a long road ahead. I hope they can turn it around because there isn’t a bigger Bryce Harper fan than me. He carried my fantasy team for years, but this version of the Phillies has been pretty disappointing so far.

The Nationals, on the other hand feature two of my favorite young pitchers, a few sneaky bullpen arms, and a nice group of up and coming talented players in their starting nine. The Nats were 0-6 when Mackenzie Gore took the mound this month, but that’s not to say that he didn’t try. Gore surrendered just 14 earned runs in those six starts, and he struck out 39 batters across 31 innings. Josiah Gray started five games, and Washington won three of them. He’s having a little trouble getting batters to chase, as he issued 18 walks in his 27 frames, but he also struck out 20 batters, and allowed just nine earned runs. Kyle Finnegan had a nice month and, despite one bad outing against Arizona, he was able to collect six saves while striking out 12 batters in 10 May frames.

Washington, as a team, does not hit a ton of homers (29th in the league), and struggles to score runs (22nd). They don’t get on base a lot (21st), and they dont really run when they do (27th in steals), but they are fifth in team average, and ninth in OBP. Second baseman Luis Garcia hit .299 for month, including a 6-for-6 effort against Kansas City on the 26th, and Lane Thomas had a great month as well, hitting .316 with eight homers, and is usually a nice sneaky option for your DFS lineup.

Maybe I’m just a fan of the underdog, but I’m more bullish on Washington right now, and holding out hope for Philly.

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