Opening Day has finally arrived, and teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series already covered the
NL West, where the Dodgers were viewed as an overwhelming favorite, and the
NL Central, where the Cubs narrowly beat out the reigning division champs in Milwaukee. Now, the series continues with a look at the NL East. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.
Philadelphia Phillies (95-67)
After the Phillies fell to their division-rival Mets during the NLDS, it appeared the club may consider making some considerable changes as they put
Alec Bohm on the market and searched for outfield help rather than rely on internal options like
Brandon Marsh and
Josh Rojas. Ultimately, however, the club’s additions this winter were fairly modest. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski swung a trade for a big-name pitcher in need of a bounce-back in
Jesus Luzardo. The signings of
Jordan Romano and
Max Kepler should help out as well but both are coming off down seasons due to injuries. With
Jeff Hoffman and
Carlos Estevez departing, the bullpen is arguably weaker than last season.
The Phillies will mostly rely on the same core players they trotted out last year. Fortunately, that’s the same core that allowed them to sail into the postseason with a bye through the Wild Card series last year.
Zack Wheeler remains one of the very best pitchers in the entire sport, and a rotation featuring Luzardo as the likely fifth starter behind
Cristopher Sanchez,
Aaron Nola, and
Ranger Suarez when fully healthy is in the conversation for the sport’s best. In the lineup, meanwhile,
Bryce Harper returns as one of the sport’s most talented hitters, and his supporting cast of battle-tested veterans like
Kyle Schwarber,
Trea Turner, and
J.T. Realmuto all figure to contribute with the same consistency they’ve offered in previous years. It was more than enough to win the division last year, but will the same be true in 2025?
Atlanta Braves (89-73)
This past offseason was a relatively quiet one in Atlanta, as the club’s winter was defined more by the departures of franchise stalwarts like
Max Fried,
Charlie Morton, and
Travis d’Arnaud than any major additions, even as
Jurickson Profar profiles as a substantial upgrade over last year’s platoon of
Jarred Kelenic and
Adam Duvall in left field. Other relatively marginal additions like
Alex Verdugo,
Nick Allen, and
Hector Neris should help out somewhat as well, but the main thing Atlanta has going for it in 2025 is hope for better health. The Braves’ core was ravaged by injuries last year, with
Ronald Acuna Jr. and
Spencer Strider both missing virtually the entire season while
Austin Riley,
Ozzie Albies,
Sean Murphy and
Michael Harris II all also missed significant time.
While health is never guaranteed, the club is all but certain to get more out of its two superstars in Acuna and Strider this year, and is overall unlikely to run into the same rash of injuries on the positional side even as Murphy is already out for the start of the season due to a cracked rib. The team that led baseball in runs scored in 2023 has brought in even more talent on offense since then while also building an impressive bullpen anchored by
Raisel Iglesias and
Aaron Bummer. All of that is before even considering that the club will once again enjoy the services of reigning NL Cy Young award winner
Chris Sale, as well as
Reynaldo Lopez as he tries to follow up on a 1.99 ERA campaign in 2025. In some ways, 2024 looked like a floor for the Braves’ talented floor. Will a bounce back be enough to win a tough division in 2025?
New York Mets (89-73)
For as talented as the Phillies and Braves are, it was the Mets who made the deepest run into the 2024 postseason of the NL East, getting all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS before falling to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers. Steve Cohen and David Stearns weren’t content to rest on their laurels this winter and made the biggest splash of any team when they signed
Juan Soto to a record-shattering $765MM deal that will land him in Queens for the next 15 years. None of the club’s other moves matched that level of flash, but the returns of
Sean Manaea,
Jesse Winker, and
Pete Alonso as well as more modest additions like
Clay Holmes and
A.J. Minter leave the Mets looking like a stronger club overall than they were this time last year.
Impactful as pairing Soto with
Francisco Lindor at the top of the lineup figures to be, however, that won’t necessarily make the club a clear division favorite with many of the issues that made the Mets such underdogs last season still lingering. A rotation that featured little certainty on paper entering Spring Training is already getting tested by a number of injuries, and the club will rely on
Mark Vientos avoiding a sophomore slump in order to lengthen a lineup that looks softer at the bottom than its counterparts in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Still, a lineup featuring two MVP finalists, two other 30-homer sluggers, and
Brandon Nimmo looks impressive on paper, and a late-inning mix of
Edwin Diaz, Minter, and
Jose Butto should be able to preserve late leads. Will that be enough to overtake their rivals?
Washington Nationals (71-91)
The Nationals showed some signs of development last year, but ultimately sold at the trade deadline and fell well short of playoff contention when all was said and done. Still, an emerging core of
James Wood,
MacKenzie Gore,
Dylan Crews, and
CJ Abrams inspired enough confidence for the Nationals to make some modest buy-side additions this winter.
Nathaniel Lowe and
Josh Bell should provide a notable upgrade over
Joey Meneses and
Joey Gallo at first base, while
Paul DeJong and
Amed Rosario offer the sort of depth on the infield that was sorely lacking last year.
With three juggernauts at the top of the division, the path to a division title in D.C. is a murky one. With that being said, every member of that aforementioned core is young, talented, and capable of breaking out before even considering the potential impact other young pieces like
Brady House,
Cade Cavalli, and
Robert Hassell III could offer at some point in the year. The addition of
Michael Soroka to a rotation that already featured solid youngsters like Gore and
Jake Irvin should also offer plenty of upside. Steep as the climb to the summit of the NL East would be, it’s certainly not impossible to imagine the Nationals being the surprise of the NL this year.
Miami Marlins (62-100)
Things were bleak in Miami last year as they lost 100 games for the first time since 2019. And unfortunately for fans, there’s little reason for optimism about the potential for better days in 2025. The club made virtually no additions this winter, and moves to ship out solid pieces like Luzardo and
Jake Burger figure to be far more notable than the additions of minor pieces like
Matt Mervis and
Cal Quantrill. The return of stalwart ace
Sandy Alcantara from Tommy John surgery provides a nice story early in the year, and young phenom
Eury Perez could return later this season as well. Even the club’s vaunted collection of arms seems unlikely to be enough to get them back to the playoffs given a lineup that will rely on players like
Jesus Sanchez and
Connor Norby to carry its run production this year, and it would likely take a miracle for them to actually come out on top in such a tough division.
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The Phillies, Braves, and Mets all have strong cases to be the NL East’s best team after making the postseason last year. Philadelphia stands as the reigning champion, while Atlanta featured the best team in all of baseball just two years ago. New York, meanwhile, made a deep run in the postseason just last year and added arguably the most talented pure hitter in baseball over the winter. Meanwhile, D.C. is continuing to quietly assemble a young core that could break out and compete in its own right. Even with Miami deep in the trenches of a rebuild, it figures to be a deeply competitive division in 2025. Who do you think will come out on top? Have your say in the poll below:
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