NL East Projected Standings
| Team | Win | Loss | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| z-Atlanta | 100 | 62 | — |
| x-Florida | 98 | 64 | 2 |
| NY Mets | 85 | 77 | 15 |
| Philadelphia | 79 | 83 | 21 |
| Washington | 74 | 88 | 26 |
Welcome baseball.
Welcome back to the channel I just changed from; welcome back to everyone else living room.
I adamantly cannot stand watching baseball on TV. It is boring. I adamantly cannot stand watching ESPN during baseball season. It is boring. I adamantly cannot stand watching the Braves run away with another NL East crown. It is boring.
Yet I love baseball.
Maybe it is like a 70-year-old husband loves his wife, but I love baseball. I love its history, its stats, its records. I know its history, its stats, its records.
And I know which teams to watch this upcoming season, but I will not watch them. I’ll just follow them, but I’ll know.
The NL East will be won by the Atlanta Braves as long as Bobby Cox remains manager. He is the best manager in the majors, bar none. He has won the last three NL East titles without the best and possibly without the second best teams in that division. They have won a record 10 straight division titles and 13 in 14 years, with only the Expos winning the 1994 crown since the 1990 season. As stated in the title, they have blown by the feat of UCLA, even if they have not the titles to back it up.
And this year, they get better.
So what if the Marlins and Mets each improved? The Braves have Bobby.
Chipper Jones is still potent. Marcus Giles is still good. Rafael Furcal is a budding star. Mondesi, Jones, and Jordan make a great outfield. The rotation is not too shabby with Tim Hudson as the ace and John Smoltz returning to the rotation at #2. If John Thomson can equal last year’s numbers and Mike Hampton improve a little, they’ll have the second best rotation in the NL.
But the Braves have Bobby.
Projected Record: 100-62
Which brings me to the Florida Marlins, who coincidentally follow the Braves in alphabetical order as well.
Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett are both an injury-free season away from breaking out, or so the Marlins hope. Dontrelle Willis brings both quality outings and fans, though he is not as good as people think. Leiter will be the #3 by years end (or #2 or #1 if Burnett and/or Beckett get hurt), but the question is if that will be good news. Ishmael Valdez is as solid a #5 as anyone not on the Yankees. Alfonseca is an average closer, assuming he gets the job. Please note that all closers who succeeded on the Marlins sucked after getting traded away (i.e. Alfonseca, Mantei, Looper, etc.).
Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo will get on base. Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Delgado, and Mike Lowell all have power and the ability to pick up a clutch hit. Jeff Conine will pick up the clutch hit. Paul LoDuca is solid behind the plate. Damion Easley makes a decent shortstop if he can take his .250 average and steal the starting job away from Alex Gonzales and his .230 average…
Playoff bound as a Wild Card…. Remember 1997 or 2003? (P.S.: Each time the Marlins win the World Series, it comes the year before the Atlanta Falcons head to the NFC Title Game.)
Projected Record: 98-64
But the most improved team in the NL East is the New York Mets. They brought in a good, young, healthy player who can also play defense and solidified their outfield. They brought in a real ace to solidify a lineup that was just outmatched when their #1 went up against other #1s and down the line.
It was a great offseason for the Mets.
But the NL East is rough. The NL East is gonna make you cry. But tonight, the Mets can sleep easy. They are going to give chase, but fall in the end.
Projected Record: 85-77
The most disimproved franchise, or rather least improved, is the Philadelphia Phillies. It was not a bad offseason for the franchise on paper, but when you look at what the Braves, Marlins, and Mets did, the stagnancy of the Phillies drops them from Division title contender to a middle-of-the-pack team.
They lost a lot at pitching, much more than the under-the-radar addition of Leiber can nullify. Their best off-season acquisition was hiring Charlie Manuel as the manager.
But with a weak lower part of the lineup, including a question mark with what Pat Burrell will show up, and a very average pitching staff, not much should be expected out of this team.
Projected Record: 79-83
The most financially improved team as of today is the Washington Nationals. They have already surpassed last years number of tickets sold and single game tickets have yet to go on sale.
But the roster is still light.
They need to get depth and it won’t happen this year.
Quick pick: Livan Hernandez is back in Miami on the Marlins before the end of the season. Do not be surprised if this happens. I’m calling it today.
Projected Record: 74-88
8 replies on “NL East Preview: UCLA? They did nothing!”
Editorial I liked this alot, but though the headline was totally blind…you need to either reference the Braves or find a different headline…i.e., “Braves: the UCLA Bruins of the NL East,” or “Braves Decade of Dominance to Continue..”
You really shortchange the teams that don’t finish 1 or 2. I know it’s OK to write less, but there’s very little at all. Tell me more about why the Mets are going to be so much better…etc…
There’s some minor typo stuff (Troy Hudson, you repeat a phrase in the first or second paragraph).
thank you That was a typo. When I ctrl+c’d it, I must have messed up…..
Did not mean to type that twice…..
agreed i agree with your projected standings, but a few comments:
– agree with Potfry, the title is confusing, and i would argue that NL East titles are NOT equivalent to NCAA basketball national titles. if they had won the World Series each of those years, then ok, but i’d say the Braves are closer to the Buffalo Bills or the Minnesota Vikings than UCLA.
– Tim, not Troy, Hudson.
– Mondesi and Jordan are 2/3 of a "great outfield"? that’s a stretch, since Mondesi missed most of last year and was already on the downside of his career, and Jordan is also perenially injured and on the downside of his career. in fact, outside of the Nationals this might be the worst OF in the division.
– Mota’s the closer for now, not Six-Fingers. good call on Dontrelle being "not as good as people think".
– agree with Potfry, would be nice to see more details on the other teams. at least name the names (Beltran, Martinez) when describing the other teams.
Its all good I was fooled by the title, but it works because it got me to read the article. Damn you for doing to NL East Preview before me.
As far as content, I liked it. Pitching isn’t going to win the Braves 100 games, somewhere along the lines I think they could use another bat. The Mets may turn some heads though. I know Piazza is old and Floyd is always injured, but you never know. Somebody has to stop that team.
Nice preview I enjoyed it.
fixed the troy vs tim and also changed the title a little.
exercising my editorial power 🙂
Thanks editor Thanks for correcting the mistake. Damn stupid mistakes…..
I chalked it up artistic license but maybe the author needs a dictionary.