NL East is Wilder than the West

The Wild Wild … East?

Coming into the season, the NL East seemed like one of the easier divisions to predict in baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies had been to the last two World Series and had added Roy Halladay to bolster the pitching staff.

While the Braves, Marlins and Mets might threaten for the Wild Card, it seemed that nobody would be able to catch Philly.

When the season’s first month came to an end, there wasn’t anything too surprising in the East. Although Philadelphia was in third (behind both the Mets and Nationals), all 5 teams were within 5 games of each other.

Eventually, things started to spread out. The Braves, who ended a nine game losing streak on April 29th, went on a tear once May started.
Riding the bat of Troy Glaus, the Braves surged in May, moving from last place (and five games under .500) to first place (seven games over) in the course of one month. The division was still tight as could be, as all five teams were within 3.5 games of each other.

The next big moment in the NL East was on June 8th, when the number two prospect in all of baseball (according to Baseball America) made his debut with the Washington Nationals. At that time, the Nats were in last, but only six games out of first place.

Strasburg dominated in his debut, but the Nationals (and Marlins)
quickly fell out of the race. By the end of June, the NL East had become a three team race between the division leading Braves, the limping Philadelphia Phillies and the surprising New York Mets.

By the time the All-Star break rolled around, the Braves were sitting on a four game lead over the Mets and the Phillies were lurking just 4.5 back.

The Mets fell off after the break, and it looks like we will get to watch a
two team race between the Braves and Phillies for a berth in the post-season.

Including all games completed through the 14th, the Braves held a slim two game lead over Philadelphia, and both teams had won seven of their past 10.

Both the Phillies and Braves are led by a dominant pitcher. Roy Halladay has been his usual self this year, leading the league in complete games while posting a sparkling 2.24 ERA and 15-8 record.

If you ask me, the reason that the Braves lead the division is that Tim Hudson has outpitched Halladay so far. Huddy is 14-5 with an even more impressive 2.13 ERA, leading the Braves in both categories.

Both teams have dealt with injuries this season. The Phillies have seen Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and now Ryan Howard land on the DL (among others) and the Braves have recently lost Chipper Jones and Kris Medlen for the remainder of 2010.

Going forward, we can look for a tight race between the two rivals. Both teams are terrific at home (the Braves have the best home record in the Majors and the Phillies aren’t far off) and the Braves have a couple more home games left on the schedule.

The race will be more dramatic as the Braves and Phillies play two series in the final two weeks of the season. Should the race come down to the very end, the teams square off in Atlanta to end the regular season during the first three days of October.

While only time will tell which team will win the division, but I would put my money on the Braves at this point. Although Roy Oswalt is a great addition for Philadelphia, the Braves still have the better pitching staff, and I think they will be able to hold off the Phillies in the final week of the year.

Brett Kettyle
Twitter

The Wild Wild … East? August 21, 2010 – Brett Kettyle Coming into the season, the NL East seemed like one of the easier divisions to predict in baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies had been to the last two World Series and had added Roy Halladay to bolster the pitching staff. While the Braves, Marlins and [...]