The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NL East breakdown
The NL East might not be as strong as in it was the past two seasons, when it put three teams into the postseason. But it remains a grouping stacked with pitching. The Marlins overachieved a year ago and could compete for a wild card again. The Mets, after taking a step back from their flurry of free-agent spending, could end up surprising with a wildcard push themselves.
“The NL East has a rep now that it’s really strong,” Phillies co-ace Aaron Nola said. “I came up in ’15, and you had a couple teams that were strong. You have five teams that are pretty strong now. That’s what makes it fun. It’s definitely difficult, but I think it prepares us for the postseason, especially these past couple years. It’s tougher to face Atlanta in the postseason because we’ve already seen them several times. But I feel like our battles are fun. We play each other pretty well. The same goes with the Mets, the Marlins, the Nationals. I think the NL East has a good rep now as one of the best divisions in baseball.
“I think it’s just the players and the strides the organizations have made. Just from me seeing it in this organization, we’ve brought good players in to pretty much change the team. Year after year, keep adding players. Former All-Stars who’ve been in playoff situations, experienced it, won World Series. It helps a lot. But I think a really big part, of our team especially, is the chemistry. We just have a lot of good guys, and I think that plays a big part. I think it gets overlooked sometimes nowadays, but I think other teams that are good, especially in the NL East, have that chemistry and camaraderie amongst themselves to propel them to the end.”
The other Phillies ace, Zack Wheeler, concurred.
“You have a couple teams who are spending a lot of money,” he said of the division. “Then a couple teams who aren’t, but at the same time, everybody wants to win. You have to give credit to the front offices just putting together good clubs. This division is strong pitching-wise. With the Braves, they can hit well. We can hit well. The Marlins are always sneaky. We always know they’re going to be a tough opponent every year, even though people kind of count them out. Their starters are really good, and they can usually hit well. They always have a good bullpen. It’s just good allaround teams. It’s a tough division.”