Washington Nationals - From the reigning Cy Young award winner to one of the best young sluggers in the game and perhaps another exciting young shortstop to join a plethora of them across baseball, the Nationals have the look of one of the best teams in baseball. I look for a huge bounce back year from Bryce Harper. The Nationals don't have a very complete lineup but it's exceptional in a lot of places making it very tough.
Bold prediction: Bryce Harper will hit 60 HRs.
Breakout player(s): Trea Turner SS/Joe Ross SP/Koda Glover RP
New York Mets - Here's my theory: The 2017 New York Mets will win the world series. Lucas Duda is playing for likely the only payday of his career. Neil Walker is playing for probably his last payday of his career. Same for Jose Reyes and Jay Bruce. It's time for Matt Harvey to start putting together some consistency before he hits the free agent market in a few years. Jacob deGrom looks good in the spring. Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler have a lot to prove. I think there's all the makings of a big season from a lot of Mets and if there's one thing I know, you can bank on guys playing for more money (see what I did there?).
Bold prediction: Was them winning the World Series not bold enough? Here's one - The Mets have three pitchers in the top 5 of the Cy Young award voting.
Breakout player: Bob Gsellman SP
Atlanta Braves - I'm not going to lie, I still have no idea what the Braves are doing but good grief do they have an impressive collection of young arms and Bartolo Colon. It's not the flashiest lineup but it should be good enough to give the Nationals and Mets a run for their money atop the division.
Bold prediction: The Braves keep themselves in the pennant race enough to make a few deadline moves. For fun I'm going to predict they add Evan Longoria near the deadline.
Miami Marlins - If you don't feel for the Marlins and what happened to them with Jose Fernandez, you're just cold blooded. It'll be hard not to root for the Fish this year and while they have some great players, I just don't think the Fish have enough pitching to keep up in the pitching rich NL East. I think people finally saw how good Christian Yelich is during the WBC.
Bold prediction: Giancarlo Stanton engages Bryce Harper in a Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa like home run showdown.
Breakout player: JT Realmuto C
Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies, like the Braves have a really good collection of young pitchers. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility the Braves, Marlins and Phillies each finish at .500 or close to it. Philadelphia has something special brewing and if their collection of young arms start to contribute, the bandwagon is going to start to fill up fast.
Bold prediction: Philadelphia will get the nod to host the 2019 All Star 🌟 game, making the NL the host for the fifth time in six years.
Breakout player: Odubel Herrera OF
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