Now that we’ve got the American League covered, it’s on to the National League East.



1. New York Mets (93-69)

The Mets’ situation is pretty straight forward. They’re coming off a season in which they came up just short of a World Series title, thanks to their rotation being arguably the best in baseball and their key trade deadline acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes. They head into 2016 with a spectacular rotation once again, and will get a full year of Cespedes’ bat in the middle of the lineup. The Mets are heavy favorites to win the NL East this season and projected by many to be the 2016 World Series champs, which reminds me of the spot this next team was in around this time last year.

2. Washington Nationals (88-74) 5 GB

Washington was a major disappointment a season ago, failing to make it into the playoffs after being pretty much unanimously considered the top team at the beginning of the season. As the Nationals enter 2016 with something to prove, they certainly have reasons for optimism. They still boast a top-tier rotation despite the loss of Jordan Zimmermann and having that Bryce Harper guy in the lineup doesn’t hurt them all that much either. I don’t believe the Nationals are better than the Mets this season, but I expect it to be a hard-fought battle for the division title all season long.

3. Miami Marlins (77-85) 19 GB

I was one of the people who overhyped the Marlins big time heading into the 2016 season, and I deeply regret it. That being said, I expect Miami to improve with (hopefully) full seasons out of their stars Jose Fernandez and Giancarlo Stanton. Adding Wei-Yen Chen as a number-two option in the rotation was a great move, but you’d have to be crazy to project them ahead of the Mets or Nationals.

4. Philadelphia Phillies (70-92) 23 GB

It’ll take another couple years for the Phillies to make much noise, but they do have a few young guys worth keeping an eye on this season including Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera, Aaron Nola, and Jerad Eickhoff. If they take another step forward in their development this season, we’ll likely hear more chatter about Philadelphia before 2017. But for now, expectations should be kept low.

5. Atlanta Braves (65-97) 28 GB

The Braves, in all likelihood, are going to be exceptionally bad in 2016. Outside of Julio Teheran, who had a down year a season ago, their pitching is abysmal. But that’s not their only issue. Atlanta finished dead last in runs produced in 2015 by a significant margin of 40 runs. They finished with a 67-95 record, and it’s hard to imagine that record improving this season with guys like Andrelton Simmons, Shelby Miller, and Cameron Maybin departing.

Next: National League Central.