Lost McCann, Hudson and a couple of good bullpen arms. Wouldn't touch that total tbh, since Wood might hit a wall late in the season because his IP workload as a full season starter will skyrocket and Beachy has been injury-prone, so that's two question marks in their rotation. Although their minor league system is pitching rich, so they might be able to compensate that.
But the pen on paper looks a bit less strong than last year and I'd expect the division to be tougher than last year: WSH had a down year with lots of injuries, this year their pen looks really good and they upgraded their rotation by adding Fister for Haren. The Phillies added Burnett, so I'd think they at least won't be worse than last season and the Mets lost Harvey but added Colon and their young pitchers like Wheeler should only get better. Miami also added some depth and their young guys should continue to grow, so too many question marks to bet on the over in a division that got tougher.
But the pen on paper looks a bit less strong than last year and I'd expect the division to be tougher than last year: WSH had a down year with lots of injuries, this year their pen looks really good and they upgraded their rotation by adding Fister for Haren. The Phillies added Burnett, so I'd think they at least won't be worse than last season and the Mets lost Harvey but added Colon and their young pitchers like Wheeler should only get better. Miami also added some depth and their young guys should continue to grow, so too many question marks to bet on the over in a division that got tougher.
i don't see how the division got tougher,the mets are hurting to put it mildly,the marlins have really not improved but have some decent young arms,the phillies are still very old and will not be much better at all and don't expect burnett to make such a difference that it will change their team so positively as you think.washington will be the team to fight with the braves and thats about it
Mets are still bad, but at least they added two decent outfields (Young + Granderson) plus Colon, while losing Harvey. Overall just don't see them worse than last year, esp. since guys like Ike Davis can hardly produce less than they did last season and guys like Wheeler should only get better. Also Wheeler only threw 100IP for them in the Majors last season, Niese missed a bunch of time due to injury and Gee had injury problems. Just think with Colon at the top of their rotation, they might be actually better than people give them credit for with a rotation COlon/Niese/Wheeler and a decent #4 in Gee.
Miami should get more than just 115 games out of Stanton and he changes their whole offense. Hechavarria & Yelich should continue to develop and again, it's just in comparison to last season's roster, but guys like Saltalamacchia and Garret Jones in my opinion are way better than what they sent out at C/1B last year, while McGehee/Furcal are two wildcards...Philly declined pretty much when Revere went down for the season. With him back in CF, adding Byrd to RF and Howard back in the lineup, plus Burnett coming in to take Halladays rotation spot (who was terrible last season), I don't see why they should perform worse than they did last year, unless they lose Hamels (some shoulder issues early on) or guys like Utley for and extended period of time.
Agree with you, that it should be a duel between WSH/ATL, but I expect WSH to win that duel and just don't see a 88+win season as a given, even if they fought for the division title: Braves played below .500 ball for the last month and although players like the Uptons should put up better numbers, I just don't see any value in that line. Hudson always gave them a veteran presence + QS and innings and McCann was a very good man behind the plate. Now they rely on a bunch of rather young arms + Gattis behind home and besides having an injury-prone guy like Beachy in their rotation, also have another good young pitcher (Wood), who never threw a full season in the majors and might run out of gas. And no matter what team in the Majors: If you have two replace two starters, pretty much every team struggles and now even their #2 Minor complained about shoulder discomfort.
There is just not much wiggle room for injuries with a total that high.
Looking at the Braves' rotation, they have Minor, Medlen, and Teheran who are each capable of getting 15 wins each. Throw in Brandon Beachy, who is expected to be back in shape after missing a significant amount of time with injuries, and you got a legit 1-4 of the rotation. There is a lot reason to be optimistic. Beachy might be the best pitcher on the Braves staff, and their hitters still haven't reached their primes. Jason Heyward and Justin Upton are two hitters expected to anchor their lineup; and they are eager to show everybody what they are capable of. Punch in good offense from the catcher position in Gattis, as well as a lockdown closer in Craig Kimbrel, they have all the right pieces in place to get at least 90 wins. Absolutely over 87.5 wins when it's all said and done.
they have been behind milw. for quite sometime now,so they don't trail pittsburgh
| National League | |||||||||||
| NATIONAL | W | L | PCT | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | DIFF | STRK | L10 |
| San Francisco | 83 | 68 | .550 | - | 42-35 | 41-33 | 627 | 565 | +62 | Won 1 | 6-4 |
| Pittsburgh | 80 | 70 | .533 | - | 47-29 | 33-41 | 639 | 601 | +38 | Won 2 | 8-2 |
| Milwaukee | 79 | 72 | .523 | 1.5 | 41-37 | 38-35 | 628 | 627 | +1 | Won 2 | 5-5 |
| Atlanta | 75 | 76 | .497 | 5.5 | 40-33 | 35-43 | 547 | 553 | -6 | Lost 5 | 2-8 |
| Miami | 73 | 77 | .487 | 7 | 40-34 | 33-43 | 609 | 634 | -25 | Lost 1 | 5-5 |
| NY Mets | 73 | 79 | .480 | 8 | 38-39 | 35-40 | 587 | 592 | -5 | Won 1 | 6-4 |
| Cincinnati | 71 | 81 | .467 | 10 | 40-35 | 31-46 | 559 | 578 | -19 | Lost 3 | 4-6 |
| San Diego | 70 | 80 | .467 | 10 | 42-31 | 28-49 | 487 | 537 | -50 | Won 2 | 4-6 |
| Philadelphia | 69 | 82 | .457 | 11.5 | 36-42 | 33-40 | 587 | 648 | -61 | Lost 3 | 3-7 |
| Chicago Cubs | 67 | 84 | .444 | 13.5 | 37-36 | 30-48 | 570 | 649 | -79 | Won 2 | 3-7 |
| Arizona | 62 | 89 | .411 | 18.5 | 32-45 | 30-44 | 579 | 683 | -104 | Lost 1 | 3-7 |
| Colorado | 60 | 91 | .397 | 20.5 | 40-36 | 20-55 | 684 | 773 | -89 | Won 1 | 3-7 |
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[h=5]Glossary[/h]
