I wanted to shout out the NHL playoffs for distracting me from the first month of the 2026 baseball season. So why not get back into the flow by skewering the division my Phils play in?
The Atlanta Braves are first in the NL East. They get two bad years and then look like a playoff contender this season? Some teams really do have all the luck. The only player I like on the Braves is first baseman Matt Olson, and only for his benevolence off the field. He supports the Reclif Community Center, which was created by nonspeaking autistic person Reece Blankenship. Despite slugger Ronald Acuna Jr.’s annual stint on the injury list, the Braves batters have scored the second-most runs in the league.
The Braves also have a lights-out starting rotation. Chris Sale has continued to be the Braves’ ace with a 1.89 ERA, Bryce Elder has had a bounce-back year with a 3.00 ERA, and Spencer Strider has continued to be a useful arm with a 3.46 ERA. Braves pitchers have also posted the fourth-best ERA (Earned Run Average) in the league. Barring a late-season collapse, the Braves are a lock to add a 24th pennant. I can’t wait to see which new and excruciatingly painful method of choking they enact on their fans in October.
The Philadelphia Phillies are vacillating between second and third with a sub .500 record, which shows how weak the NL East is. However, the Phillies will take being one game under .500 over how they started the season. After a ten-game losing streak and a 9-19 record in late April, Rob Thomson was fired. Interim manager Don Mattingly has appeared to right the ship, as the Phillies went on to win 8 of their next 10 games. It also didn’t hurt that they played against bottom feeders like the Marlins and the Athletics. They also swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, their crosstate rivals. This series included the Phillies coming back from a six-run deficit.
This season does seem like the last ride for this iteration of the Phillies to get a championship. I hope the Phillies get it done, especially for their pitchers. Pitcher Cristopher Sanchez has passed Grover Cleveland Alexander for the longest scoreless innings streak with 44 2/3 innings. He’s become the most dominant Phillies pitcher I’ve seen since Roy Halladay. Zach Wheeler is dealing with a 1.67 ERA after recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome, and Jesús Luzardo All I ask for Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and the rest of the Phillies is to give them some run support.
The Washington Nationals are…good? Okay, they’re swapping between second and third with the Phillies in a very weak NL East, but they’re at least interesting. That’s an improvement over the bottom-of-the-barrel teams Nats fans have had to watch since their 2019 World Series win. Their pitching staff has the 25th-worst ERA in the league. However, their offense has kept them in games and has scored the most runs in the league this season. Hitters like James Wood and CJ Abrams are also finally rounding into form. In his first year, manager Blake Butera has turned a cellar dweller into a competitor. While I’m not sure they’d be able to get a wild card spot thanks to the aggressiveness of the NL Central and West are more competitive, playing exciting baseball is a step in the right direction for the Nationals.
Like the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Miami Marlins are a team. They are a team that plays on a diamond rather than an ice rink, but a team nonetheless. They do have two great middle infielders in Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards, but not much else. It’ll be interesting to see if the Marlins trade 2024 Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara at the trade deadline. Alcantra has looked better since his injury-riddled 2025 season with a 4.48 ERA. I hope pitcher and Phillies legend Tyler Philips has fun.
There is one play that shows the 2026 New York Mets in a nutshell: two Mets outfielders running into each other on a James Woods hit, which resulted in an inside-the-park grand slam. Who knew Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo were the glue holding this team together? The Mets lost 12 games in a row at the beginning of the season, which seems to have derailed any hopes of making it back to the playoffs. The Mets did post a .500 record in May, but still occupy the NL East cellar. It also doesn’t help that they have a lengthy injury list, including four Opening Day starters—shortstop Francisco Lindor, catcher Francisco Alvarez, pitcher Clay Holmes, and outfielder Luis Robert Jr. At least Juan Soto is playing up to his $765 million contract, hitting .301 with 12 home runs. I’m not sure if the Mets tried firing manager Carlos Mendoza, but they’d probably mangle it.
I should feel happy at the Mets’ downfall. They are a rival in our division after all. But I remember the hope that surrounded the Mets after their 2024 run to the NLCS. They have subsequently squandered it thanks to injuries and atrocious stretches of play. The Mets seemed to be at the beginning of regular playoff contention, but that run looks more like a fluke. You’ll always have that Pete Alonso home run.