NL East preview - Can anyone catch the Atlanta Braves?

Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz breaks down the outlook for the division in 2024 and explains what teams need to do to the keep the Braves from winning a 7th straight division crown.

Video Transcript

JAKE MINTZ: Welcome to the National League East, a division the Atlanta Braves have won every season since 2017, the year that Spencer Strider graduated high school. And in Atlanta has everybody back from a team last year that won 104 games and posted the single highest team OPS in MLB history. Yeah. There are a couple of question marks at the back of the rotation. But that was the case in 2023, and they were totally fine during the regular season. This is Atlanta's division to lose, there's no doubt. But the Phillies have bounced the Braves in the playoffs each of the last two seasons. And this is essentially the exact same squad.

I mean, you know all the main characters-- Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner. I'm mostly interested though in the back of Phillies rotation. What do guys like Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez look like in 2024? That could determine whether the Phillies have enough to dethrone the Braves atop the division. Next up, the Miami Marlins, the Magic Fish wrote a 33 and 14 record in one run games all the way into the playoffs. And sure, they got crushed by the Phillies in the wild card round, but it's all about the friends we met along the way.

And the biggest friend, Marlins fans made last year was Skip Shoemaker who won the NL manager of the year. Can he work his magic again? It remains to be seen. One thing's for sure. This team needs more consistency out of Jazz Chisholm. The pitching in Miami is spectacular, but the lineup needs an extra boost if Jazz can play 120 games, that's going to be an X factor. Last year, the New York Mets spent around $400 million to win 75 games. That is what economists call bad value.

This team isn't too different compared to last year's squad. And the lineup is actually good-- Pete Alonso, Francisco Alvarez, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo. These guys can really hit the problem is that the pitching rotation is not very good. However, new president of baseball operations, David Stearns, has this operation moving in the right direction, might take a little bit of time but hopefully we see signs of progress in Queens. And the Nats are in this division too. Whopee.

Now, this is not going to be a very good team, but they will be more entertaining than they've been in years past. Mackenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, and anytime you employ Joey Gallo, he could hit a baseball 600-feet. And once top prospects James Wood and Dylan Crews debut at some point over the summer, the Nats are going to be appointment viewing. They might not win 65 games, but they'll be worth tuning in for. That's the National League East. And I'm Jake Mintz with Yahoo Sports.

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