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Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Philadelphia Phillies (59-48)

The Philadelphia Phillies entered play Wednesday in first place in the NL East. The list of people who thought that would be an accurate sentence come the beginning of August is limited to a few diehards in threadbare Darren Daulton jerseys.

Yet here the Phils are, with the fifth-best ERA in the Senior Circuit and an offense that added infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and his 18 home runs from the New York Mets and injured catcher Wilson Ramos and his 14 homers from the Rays before the deadline.

Whatever happens over the final two months, credit Philadelphia for blossoming ahead of schedule.

Grade: A

Atlanta Braves (57-47)

Speaking of blossoming ahead of schedule, the Atlanta Braves have done exactly that behind a cast of burgeoning young stars and steady holdovers.

The Braves threaded the needle at the deadline, acquiring help such as Orioles right-handers Kevin Gausman, Brad Brach and Darren O'Day and Reds outfielder Adam Duvall without heavily raiding the game's No. 1 farm system, per Reuter.

They're positioned to compete for a postseason slot this fall while also maintaining their status as arguably MLB's most exciting club of tomorrow.

Grade: A

Washington Nationals (53-53)

The notion of Bryce Harper being traded before July 31 turned out to be a pipe dream, and it now seems clear the Washington Nationals intend to go for it in the final season before their franchise player hits free agency.

The Braves and Phillies are young squads who could melt under the pennant-race glare. The Nats are an experienced team with NL Cy Young Award favorite Max Scherzer at the front of their rotation. There are causes for exceedingly cautious optimism in the nation's capital.

But with two clubs to leapfrog in their own division and a roster that's been decimated by injuries, this doesn't feel like the year the Nationals finally make a deep run.

Grade: C-

New York Mets (44-60)

The New York Mets entered 2018 with designs on contending behind a healthy starting rotation and an offense stocked with a mix of veterans and emerging hitters.

Instead, the un-Amazins have been buffeted by injuries and underperformance. They could have been bold and traded top arms Jacob deGrom and/or Noah Syndergaard at the deadline. Maybe that would have been wise; maybe it would have been foolish.

Instead, the Mets made other trades—such as the Cabrera swap—that were necessary but not franchise-renewing and will head into 2019 awash in angst and uncertainty.

Grade: F

Miami Marlins (46-63)

The Miami Marlins blew up their roster over the winter under a much-critiqued ownership group fronted by former Yankees icon Derek Jeter.

The fact that the Fish aren't floundering with the worst record in baseball in early August ought to count for something.

It does, though Miami is sunk deep below .500 and has only a tenuous plan to return to relevance at some undetermined future date.

The Marlins get a modest bump for jumping over nonexistent expectations, but they're pretty darn awful.

Grade: D+

All standings and statistics current entering Wednesday and courtesy of FanGraphs and MLB.com.