Who will win the NL East?

Question

Possible Answers
(a) Marlins
(b) PHILLIES
(c) Mets
(d) Nationals
(e) Braves

Answer 1

The Phillies will win the NL East by 10 games over the Mets!

Answer 2

Marlins
The Marlins showed that a young team can surprise a lot of people. But unless they can tap that fountain of youth for another year, I just don't see it happening. Just look at the Braves of 2005 and 06. Speaking of which...

Braves
The fountain of youth has been tapped. They can no longer pull a quality starter out of nowhere like they used to, so they did the only thing they could: they traded to improve their bullpen, their greatest weakness. Their lineup is one of the best in the league, so it's a question of how their starting pitching will perform. If Smoltz has another great year in him, if Hudson can come back from a .500 season, and Hampton from a year off recovering, they'll be back.

Phillies
Since they traded Abreu, they've been showing a surprisingly good fundamental team. I'm a little concerned about their defense, and despite being the only team to outhit Atlanta, they had no excuse for their bad pitching, and don't seem to have done anything to fix it.
They'll threaten, but it's a rough division.

Mets
The #3 team last year in hitting, also had the 3rd best pitching. However, Pedro's hurt, Glavine is 40, and they're bringing a lot of people into spring to get a rotation. One of the best bullpens in the league, but they need to get leads to the 7th inning.

Nationals
They're still rebuilding. They got nothing out of Soriano, and it'll be a while before the bitter taste of the Expos leaves the system. This is a competitive division, and they won't compete.


So, in brief, it's a given hitting will be what dominates the East. The question is who has the best pitching staff to keep their opponent's offense down. Bonus points to defense, which the Mets lead the division in.

So, long story short, Mets 45%, Braves 35%, Phillies 15%, Marlins 5%. Sorry, Nationals.

Answer 3

The Phillies, with the Marlins winning the Wild Card

The Mets are in complete disarray going into the season. Pedro's hurt and they don't have much besides Pedro on their pitching staff. Their offense cannot make up for their lack of pitching.

The Nationals are a pretender and probably won't seriously contend.

The Braves have surprised before, but they don't have as good a young core as Philly or Florida.

The Phillies are much improved this offseason.

C - They signed Rod Barajas and are going to give rookie Carlos Ruiz a chance at the job. As a backup plan, they still have Chris Coste, who was one of the most surprising rookies of last year.
1B - Ryan Howard's entering his prime (27 this year) and this year should be his best season
2B - Chase Utley is the dominant 2B in baseball and is 28, so he's still in his prime with potential to be better than he's already been.
3B - They signed Wes Helms to replace .200 hitting Abraham Nunez (who didn't enter the lineup until their hot streak and whom they won in spite of)
SS - Jimmy Rollins is one of the top tier of SS and starting to develop some power.
OF - Burrell, Rowand, and Victorino are pretty good defenders who are better on offense than generally thought.
Pitching - The Phils added Freddy Garcia and Adam Eaton, and they still have Bret Myers and Cole Hamels, both of whom really started to reach their potential down the stretch last year. Then they added Antonio Alfonseca to the bullpen for more depth.

The Phillies have the best infield in baseball and a pitching staff that should be dominating.

Florida won all those games last year, in spite of an off year by Dontrelle Willis and no progress from Miguel Cabrera (now 23, he's played at a very good, but not great, level since 20). Dontrelle's probably going to return to his 2005 form and Cabrera's probably going to become a great player. If that happens, how can Florida not win 90 games or so with that team?

My predictions

100-62 for Philadelphia
95-67 for Florida
88-74 for Mets
86-76 for Braves
66-96 for Nationals

Remember, the Mets pitching staff will be crippled for the first half or so. That should bog them down enough to miss the playoffs.

Answer 4

I want the Phillie's to win it so bad, but the Mets have a really good team, so is going to be battle for both teams until the final week of the regular season.
But the mets pitching staffs has to many question marks.
1.Phillie's pitching staff would be good an better than the mest starting rotation. They also have a good starting line up
2.Mets
3.The braves don't stand a change of make it to the playoffs they need to start rebuilding and maybe is time for bobby cox to retired.
3.The marlins have a good young team who doesn't have closer yet, hopefully they would trade for Benitez, because my team the Giants want this player out of town before the regular season starts
5.The nationals would finis death last with perhaps the words pitching staff in the National League.

Answer 5

D Nationals

Answer 6

The Mets, even if the team's pitching falters. The hitting is that good. All eyes are on Pedro. Everyone wants to know if he could bounce back 100% from last year's injury. Regardless, the Mets don't need a healthy Pedro to win the East. John Maine should have a break through year. Then you have Glavine, Park, Perez, and Hernandez on the mound. The Mets are loaded with talent this year.

Answer 7

GOOD QUESTION! shoulkd be very good race! but the NEW YORK METS WILL WIN IT! with the phillies taking second and the wild card this year! if the mets pitching falters, then look for the marlins to make a run. in order: 1, new york 2, philadelphia 3. florida 4. atlanta 5. washington! and look for mets to reach world series if pitching is good!

Answer 8

Nationals and marlins deff wont. The mets have a chance if no1 gets injured, BELTRAN lol. The Phillies have a decent shot if their bullpen holds up and Burrel comes around and utley and howard continue. The braves have a shot if Smoltz stays strong, hampton comes back ok from injury, Thorman and whoever is at 2B play decent, their LF platoon plays decent and Francouer comes around a bit. They have a really good pitching staff and a smart manager so as long as their offense is half decent i have 2 favor them right now....PITCHING WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Answer 9

The Braves or Phillies.

The Mets old and inexperienced pitching staff will be a major concern this year.

Answer 10

The Mets by far will win the NL East. I dont know how far their pitching will get them in the playoffs, though.
2) Braves
3) Phillies
4) Marlins
Infinity) Nationals