2019 MLB Season Preview: NL East
The NL East was an interesting division in 2018. Atlanta seemed to be at least a year ahead of where most people thought they would be. They put together a great season and were rewarded with their first playoff birth since 2013. The rest of the division either under performed or were just as bad as people thought they would be.
Atlanta Braves
Key Question: Why didn’t the Braves do more this offseason?
While the Braves did surprise a lot of people by winning the division, the truth of the matter is they won a division that nobody else seemed to want to win. Regardless, they played well for a majority of the season and got into the playoffs, which is the goal. In 2019, they hope to take the next step and win a playoff series, which is something the Braves have not done since they beat the Astros in the 2001 Division Series.
I think a lot of people were expecting the Braves to be big players in the free agent market this winter, but aside from signing Josh Donaldson (and we have no idea what Donaldson is going to put on the Braves jersey — the former MVP or the DL regular). With the number of moves made by a couple other teams in the division, we’ll see if the Donaldson signing was enough.
Washington Nationals
Key Question: How will the loss of Bryce Harper affect baseball in the nation’s capital?
Washington under-performed big time in 2018, leading people to spend the majority of the time leading up to the trade deadline speculating about whether or not the Nationals would make moves that would help them get better, or moves that will signal that they were waving a white flag on the season. They didn’t really do either, and ended up at a disappointing 82–80 for the year.
Most of the offseason was spent on the Bryce Harper watch, waiting to see if the star would return to the team that drafted him and brought him to the majors at such a young age. They also brought in free agent pitcher Patrick Corbin, who is expected to pitch well alongside Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg.
The National have a good lineup and good pitching. It should be enough to bring them an improved record. But, then again, it should have been enough last year as well.
Philadelphia Phillies
Key Question: What impact will the Phillies offseason have on the field for 2019?
The Phillies had a phenomenal start to the season, but fell off a cliff later on as their poor defense finally caught up to them. However, the Phillies may have had the best offseason of any team in baseball.
Their owner was quoted as saying that he planned on spending “stupid money” but early on, the biggest moves were the trades: for Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto. Opening up first base for Rhys Hoskins allows the Phillies and filling the outfield position he was taking up with Andrew McCutchen means that they are already better defensively than they were a year ago. And then they signed Bryce Harper, which is where the stupid money came into play.
The Phillies are a vastly improved team in 2019, and I don’t expect to see them falling apart as they did in 2018.
New York Mets
Key Question: Did the Mets make enough moves to make a major move in 2019?
The Mets actually had a good season in 2018… if you take out the month of June. The Mets came into June with a 27–27 record, and then exited the month at 33–48 (6–21 for the month!), and 15 games under .500, despite great pitching from Jacob deGrom, who won the NL Cy Young Award with a 1.70 ERA, 269 strikeouts and a 0.91 WHIP (and, yet, managed only 10 wins, unbelievable!) The fact that they were only 8 games under .500 at the end of the season tells me that they improved as the season went on.
And then they got better this offseason. Adding an albeit aging but with something to prove Robinson Cano to the lineup already makes them better, as does Edwin Diaz who was a major part of the same trade. And then they went out and got Jeurys Familia back as a free agent after trading him to Oakland midseason. Wilson Ramos will be a good addition behind the plate, and top prospect Pete Alonso has upped the expectations for this team.
It is a much improved Mets team in 2019, and they will be in contention late into the season.
Miami Marlins
Key Question: Will the Marlins reach 1 million in attendance for the season?
The Marlins… well… they helped a lot of other teams in 2018 by dismantling their roster and saying goodbye to a decent core, beginning with the trade of Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees before the season even started, and continuing with trades of Dee Gordon to the Mariners, Marcel Ozuna to the Cardinals, and eventual NL MVP Christian Yelich to the Brewers. The Purge in Miami continued this offseason with trades of Kyle Barraclough to the Nationals and J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies.
In 2018, the Marlins were the only team that did not draw 1 million people over the course of the season. And, frankly, I can’t blame anybody for not going. If you were watching baseball in Miami last year, you are either a die-hard Marlins fan, or they were playing your team. Not only did the Marlins not draw 1 million, at their average attendance of 10,000, they would have needed another 19 games to get to 7 digits in their attendance figures. In a year that saw them lose 115 games, the Baltimore Orioles still nearly doubled the attendance of the Marlins. That says a lot. Unfortunately, they didn’t get any better this offseason.
If you were to look at Miami’s roster this season, you would recognize some of the names. And 10 years ago, you would have thought they were decent to good players. But I don’t see a lineup featuring Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson, Martin Prado and Starlin Castro doing anything to excite the “crowds” in Miami. It’s going to be another long season in South Beach, but the good news is that nobody is going to be around to see it.
2019 Season Predictions
The NL East is going to be one of the two most difficult divisions in baseball in 2019 (along with the NL Central). In all reality, there are four teams that have a legitimate shot at winning the division, and one that is most likely going to lose 100+ games. Given how the offseason went, I’m going to say that the Phillies have put themselves in the best position to win, and the Braves inactivity will have them dropping to 4th in the division. The Nationals and Mets will both be in Wild Card contention by the time September rolls around, but I think the Nats will be the ones to lock up a spot in the 1-game playoff round.
