DeLorean to 88, Going to Atlanta in '95

Braves Braves Braves…Braves, during the 90s it seemed like it was always the Atlanta Braves and then everyone else. Winning the wild card for the Mets or the Marlins was basically equal to winning the National League East. With the Cy Young winning trio of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz leading the Braves it was impossible to win the NL East, luckily for the Mets, Nationals and Marlins times have changed, now the Phillies seem like the team with the star studded staff and power hitting lineup. Even though it seems like the division is already won by Philly the next three teams could be playing for the National League wild card spot going into the last weekend of the season.

National League East

Philadelphia Phillies

Miami Marlins

Atlanta Braves

Washington Nationals

New York Mets

Ryan Howard

Phillies- The last couple of years the Phillies have looked unstoppable on paper. The pitching staff looks like an all-star roster and is arguably the best since the braves of the 1990s. They have Cy Young award winners in Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, with Cole Hamels and Joe Balnton also in the rotation. They have an excellent closer in Jonathan Papelbon and have Jose Contreras, Dontrelle Willis, and Joel Pineiro in camp as well. Their solid outfield going from left to right will be John Mayberry, Shane Victorino (who guest starred in Monday’s episode of Hawaii 5-0) and Hunter Pence. Expect the Phillies to have a near flawless infield with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco around the horn with Carlos Ruiz behind the plate. If that wasn’t enough they still have Jim Thome, Ty Wigginton, Lance Nix, Juan Pierre, and Scott Podsednik in camp trying to fight for a spot on the bench. Don’t expect either of the young guns; Phillippe Aumont or Justin DeFratus to make an appearance until the rosters are expanded.

Marlins- The Fish made a big splash during the winter meetings by bringing on deck closer Heath Bell, short stop Jose Reyes, starters Mark Buehrle and Carlos Zambrano. With Reyes taking over at SS the Marlins moved Henley Ramirez to third with Omar Infate and Gaby Sanchez round out the infield, with John Buck catching. The outfield is lacking some punch with Mike Stanton in right, Emilio Bonifacio in center and Logan Morrison in left. Miami do have Austin Kearns and Aaron Rowand in camp as no roster invitees. The starting five will be rounded by Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Anibal Sanchez. The Marlins top prospect is Matt Dominguez who was expected to be their starting thridbaseman coming out of camp LAST year but struggled in spring training, this year he is stuck behind Ramirez and can’t make the move to SS either because of Reyes.

Braves- Atlanta was a team that could win some of the other divisions in baseball but in the NL East I am picking them to finish third. One thing that never seems to change for the Braves is Chipper Jones at third base, yes he has had his share of injuries but Chipper has been in Atlanta since 1993. Second baseman Dan Uggla is expected to bounce back from the sub par season he has last year, with a pair of 22 year olds at short stop and at first in Tyler Pastornicky and Freddie Freeman. If they struggle the Braves have “Jumpin’” Jack Wilson and Eric Hinske ready to take over. Brian McCann who is coming into his own will be calling the games. Two time gold glove winner Michael Bourn will be playing in center and will be flanked by Martin Prado and Jason Heyward. Heyward was the early favorite for rookie of the year last year but faded as the season went on. Tim Hudson leads another wise average rotation. Expect the Braves bats will be carrying them this season. As usual the Braves farm system is turing out prospects like they are a factory. Besides Pastornicky their top three prospects are expected to make their debuts this season, they are Julio Teheran, Arodys Vizcaino and Randell Delgado.

Bryce Harper

Nationals- The Nats finished one game under .500 and have been slowly putting together a squad that can compete, with a number of young exciting stars, they are still a couple of years away from a series push but who knows maybe they can catch lighting in a bottle. The corner infielders have been known to put up big numbers in Adam LaRoche at first and Ryan Zimmerman at third with two young middle infielders coming into their own in 2B Danny Espinosa and Ian Desmond at short. The outfield should be a stronger but with not that much depth, the foursome of Roger Bernadina, Jason Worth, Michael Morse and the LeBron James of baseball Bryce Harper playing the three outfield spots. Harper has been the most hyped baseball prospect since Ken Griffey Jr. Stephen Strasburg is expected to come out throwing lightning bolts after getting injured his rookie season and missing all of last season, joining the flamethrower will be free agent signing Edwin Jackson. Rounding out the rotation will be Gonzalez, Zimmerman and Lannan. The Nats have no one worth mentioning coming up this season however expect an even better team in 2013 and 2014.

Mets- The high spending that the Mets were doing a couple years ago is catching up to them, they couldn’t keep Reyes around and traded away prospects to build a team that ultimately failed. At some spots on the roster they have solid players, such as 3B David Wright, LF Jason Bay, and SP Johan Santana. There are not that many bright spots on the rest of the roster. Josh Thole will be catching with Ike Davis at first, Daniel Murphy at second, and Ruben Tejada at short. Joining Bay in the outfield will be Andres Torres and Lucas Duda. The pitching is staff is almost not worth mentioning luckily they have Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia coming up.