National League East Gearing Up For A Battle

Image Source: USA Today

Entering the 2016 season, there were indications that the defending National League Champion New York Mets and the Washington Nationals would duke it out for supremacy in the NL East. But not sure how many people predicted it would be a three-team, possibly four race.

As of  Thursday morning, the Nationals (24-16) lead the division by .5 game over the Philadelphia Phillies (24-17), 1.5 on the Mets (22-17), and three games on the Miami Marlins (21-19).

The Mets and Nationals are not a surprise, but the Phillies strong start have some wondering if they may just steal the spotlight.

Over the last 10 games, the Phillies have been the better team winning seven of 10, while the Nats are 5-5, the Mets 4-6, and the Marlins are 5-5.

On the numbers side for the month of May, the four teams are in the top 10 in the league in a variety of categories;

Offense

Runs  (Nats #4 – 75, Marlins #7 – 70)
Hits  (Marlins #3 – 156, Nats #5(T) – 147)
Doubles  (Marlins #4(T) – 31, Nats #6(T) – 29)
Triples  (Phillies #3(T) – 5, Marlins #5(T) – 4, Nats #10(T) – 2)
Home Runs  (Mets #2 – 23, Nats #5 – 21, Marlins #8(T) – 16)
RBI  (Nats #4 – 74, Marlins #8 – 65)
Walks  (Nats #2 – 74, Mets #5 – 56, Marlins #7 – 49)
BA  (Marlins #1 – .274, Nats #8 – .254)
OBP  (Nats #3 – .342, Marlins #4 – .333)

Pitching

Wins  (Phillies #3 – 10, Marlins #4(T) – 9, Nats #9(T) – 8)
ERA  (Mets #6 – 3.56, Nats #7 – 3.67, Phillies #10 – 3.79)
Saves  (Phillies #1 – 10, Marlins #4(T) – 7, Mets #7(T) – 5)
Strikeouts  (Nats #1-167, Marlins #6(T)-135, Mets #6(T)-135, Phillies #8 – 129)

If I was a betting man, my money would be on the Mets with their young pitching core and lineup that includes Yoenis Cespedes, but can’t rule out the Nationals with league leading hitter Daniel Murphy, or the newly revamped Phillies who are surging at the right time. The only big surprise of the bunch has to be the Marlins, but Don Mattingly has them believing in his style of play, and hitting coach Barry Bonds has the offense rolling.

So who will it be? What is your pick for the NL East? Who will win the battle?

Stay tuned….

David Conde

David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.