[Highlander]

Here's a look at the teams from the first division....the NL East-

National League East

The Philadelphia Phillies franchise starts us right off with one of the biggest surprise teams to come out of this. They will be represented by the 1984 Philles. While their 4th place finish in the NL East and 81-81 record doesn’t inspire much fear in a league with a number of all-time great teams, they made it through and have a number of solid players that form a team that may be tougher than you’d think. They are led on offense by a rookie Juan Samuel at 2B who led the league with 19 triples and stole 72 bases, along with HOF 3B, Mike Schmidt who had his usual league leading 36 HR and 106 RBI and a league leading .919 OPS. The under the radar part of this offense, though, was their bench and platoon players- 1B Len Matuszek (262 AB, 14 HR, .350 OBP), OF Sixto Lezcano (256 AB, 14 HR, .371 OBP), OF Garry Maddox (241 AB, .282), 1B Tim Corcoran (208 AB, .341, .440 OBP), OF Greg Gross (202 AB, .322, .393 OBP).....and the list goes on. This team had so many guys with 150-250 or so AB that were fantastic. Even with my “adjust players with less than X AB” level at 250, some of these guys do really well. Pitching-wise, they are led by Steve Carlton (13-7, 3.58 ERA), Jerry Koosman (14-15, 3.25 ERA) and John Denny (7-7, 2.45 ERA in just 22 games) with Al Holland (5-10, 28 Saves, 3.39 ERA) and Larry Andersen (3-7, 2.38 ERA) leading the bullpen.

Next up is the New York Mets franchise. They give us one of the least surprising teams, as they will be represented by the 1986 Mets. A 108-54 record and World Series championship shows how great this team was. On offense, they were led by HOF C Gary Carter (24 HR, 105 RBI), 1B Keith Hernandez (.413 OBP, 83 RBI), and OF Darryl Strawberry (27 HR, 93 RBI, 28 SB). They also had their share of part-timers who did well in 2B Wally Backman (.320), OF George Foster (13 HR in 233 AB), IF/OF Kevin Mitchell (.277, 12 HR in 328 AB), as well as the OF duo of Lenny Dykstra (.822 OPS, 31 SB) and Mookie Wilson (.289, 25 SB). Pitching was where this team excelled with Dwight Gooden (17-6, 2.84, 200 Ks), Ron Darling (15-6, 2.81, 184 Ks), Bob Ojeda (18-5, 2.57) and Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.52, 200 Ks) could all be aces on other staffs but form an incredible staff here. Add in RP Roger McDowell (14-9, 22 Saves, 3.02) and Jesse Orosco (8-6, 21 Saves, 2.33) among others in the bullpen and you have quite a staff.

The Miami Marlins franchise are next and their team was a bit of a surprise too. It wasn’t one of their World Series winning teams. They will be represented by the 2005 Marlins. They finished 3rd in the NL East with an 83-79 record. The offense was led by 1B Carlos Delgado (.301/.399/.582, 33 HR, 115 RBI), OF Miguel Cabrera (.323/.385/.561, 33 HR, 116 RBI) and OF Juan Pierre (96 R, 57 SB). The pitching staff had Dontrelle Willis (22-10, 2.63), AJ Burnett (12-12, 3.44, 198 Ks) and Josh Beckett (15-8, 3.38) with Todd Jones (1-5, 2.10, 40 Saves) as the closer.

The Atlanta Braves franchise had a long history of great teams to draw from, but the 1998 Braves came out on top. They won the NL East with a record of 106-56 but surprisingly lost in the NLCS to the Padres. Their offense is loaded with C Javy Lopez (.284, 34 HR, 106 RBI), 1B Andres Galarraga (.305/.397/.595, 44 HR, 121 RBI), HOF 3B Chipper Jones (.313/.404/.547, 34 HR, 107 RBI, 16 SB) and OF Andruw Jones (31 HR, 90 RBI, 27 SB). The pitching staff is full of HOFers- Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22, 204 Ks), Tom Glavine (20-6, 2.47) and John Smoltz (17-3, 2.90, 173 Ks in 168 IP). Plus they had non-HOFer Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.65). Kerry Ligtenberg (3-2, 2.71, 30 Saves) led the bullpen.

Finally, the Washington Nationals franchise will be the first one represented by a team from a different city than where they are currently, as it was the 1987 Montreal Expos that made it through. While this team didn’t stand out as a favorite to make it and only finished 3rd in the NL East, they did have a 91-71 record. Their offense has one name we’ve seen before in 1B Andres Galarraga (.305, 40 doubles, 90 RBI) along with 3B Tim Wallach (.298, league leading 42 doubles, 26 HR, 123 RBI), HOF OF Tim Raines (.330/.429/.526, league leading 123 R, 18 HR, 50 SB) and OF Mitch Webster (.361 OBP, 101 R, 33 SB). Pitching was a weaker point on this team, but there are a few stand-outs- Dennis Martinez (11-4, 3.30) and RPs Andy McGaffigan (5-2, 12 Saves, 2.39),Tim Burke (7-0, 18 Saves, 1.18) and Bob McClure (6-1, 3.44) led the way. The wildcard, however, is Pascual Perez. He went 7-0 with a 2.30 ERA in just 10 games, but he ends up really good to give this team a real ace.

Lots of surprise teams in this division, but no matter who came through for the Phillies/Marlins/Nationals, I figured this division would come down to the Mets and Braves. The Phillies had some teams I thought could compete, but this 84 team came out of nowhere. The Marlins and Expos teams could surprise, but it seems like the Mets and Braves are just miles above the rest of the division and both could contend for the overall title.

Up next, the NL Central....where we get some of the older franchises in the NL.