2026 NL East Preview
Jun 21, 2021 4:24:07 GMT -5
Commissioner Erick, torontogm, and 1 more like this
Post by stlgm on Jun 21, 2021 4:24:07 GMT -5
There was a changing of the guard in the NL East in 2025, with Washington dethroning the Phillies for the division title. The Braves also passed Philadelphia in a competitive race that saw all three teams top 90 wins. Following an active offseason by the Braves, it's very likely that the shift of power in the division is not over as we enter 2026.
1.) Atlanta Braves
2025: 98-64, 2nd place in the NL east, lost to Los Angeles in the NL Wild Card game.
Who They Were: Despite winning 98 games, Atlanta finished second in the NL East behind the Nationals, leading to the Braves disappointing Wild Card exit to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2025 Braves featured one of the league's best pitching staffs, highlighted by NL Cy Young runner up Marc Eberle and NL Reliever of the Year Trevor Rogers.
Offseason Review: Frustrated after their Wild Card exit in 2025, the Braves' offseason looks like that of a team that's going all-in. The team shipped out three of PBA's top prospects, CF Tony Sierra, 2B, Tim Barton, and SP Luis Ortiz. In return, Atlanta brought back one of the league's best young hitters, 3B Juan Gestoso, and cleared the salary waste of Shohei Otani and Zach Davies. Gestoso is slated to push Mikey Polansky to 1B and Josh Bell to DH, which is a big win at the plate and on the field. In addition, Atlanta signed RF Ian Happ, which will likely send Steve Goode to CF and end Joerlin De Los Santos days as a regular.
On The Farm: Usually when an organization trades away three Top 100 prospects, you expect the farm system to be baron. That's not the case in Atlanta, a club that prides itself as one of PBA's best and deepest minor leagues. Erik Benoit is Atlanta's top prospect, ranking #13 in the most recent Top 500 list. Benoit held his own last year, splitting time in AA and AAA, and has an outside chance at breaking camp as the team's starting 2B with Mondesi on the 60 day DL. 1B Kwi-Tae Yook tore his hamstring this spring and is unlikely to return much earlier than summer, but should be taking swings in AAA as he prepared for a potential 2027 call up. 2025 first round draft pick SP John Kadlecik rounds out the three Braves players in the top 100, and as a whole the organization features 23 Top 500 prospects.
Best Case Scenario: Gestoso takes Atlanta to the next level and leads them to their first division title in PBA history.
Worst Case Scenario: The '25 Braves were led by a group of young studs having career years, any sort of regression from this core could end their championship dreams.
Key Questions: Who is the starting 2B for Atlanta on opening day?
What's the plan for the #5 spot in the rotation?
2.) Washington Nationals
2025: 100-62, NL East Champions, lost to San Francisco 4-2 in the NL Divisional Round
Who They Were: Washington had a spectacular regular season, winning 100 games while capturing the NL East crown. The Nationals boasted a top-five offense and pitching staff. The offense was led by Mike Trout, who led the league with a 1.146 OPS and 9.2 WAR en route to his third league MVP award. Not to be outdone, Nationals ace Eric Pena won his second straight Cy Young award, going 19-5 with 2.65 ERA and an astonishing 429 strikeouts.
Offseason Review: The Nationals let starting 1B Wil Myers and SP Felix Jorge walk in free agency after struggling in 2025. Finally in March, Washington wrote it's first check of the offseason, signing 1B Paul Goldschmidt to a one-year deal to replace Myers. Overall, it was a quiet offseason for the Nats as they appear content going into 2026 with the same group that won 100 games last season.
On The Farm: The Nats organization takes great care of their minor league system, but at the moment it's not ripe with talent. Their top prospect, 3B Bob Beasley, is expected to break Spring Training as the team's starting 3B. The team's next top hitting prospect, 2B Marc Butler, looks to still be a couple of years away - assuming he can learn to field his position. In the bullpen, Devon Armiger, Jeff Rung, and Vlashi Buzoku all expect to have a chance to prove themselves with the Nats this season. Overall, BNN ranks the Nats' farm as #25 in PBA, with Beasely being the only top 100 prospect.
Best Case Scenario: Another year, another division title for the Nats. Washington returns almost the same team that has been a championship contender for nearly a decade.
Worst Case Scenario: Father time starts catching up to Washington, and so do the Braves. Bryce Harper and Trout aren't getting any younger, now in their mid-30s, the decline is inevitable.
Key Questions: What do you hope to get out of Bob Beasley in his rookie season?
After a division round exit and the Braves active offseason, the gap maybe closing between the two teams. The Nationals stayed relatively the same, so what adjustments should be expect to see out of the Nats in 2026 to hold off Atlanta?
3.) Philadelphia Phillies
2025: 93-69, 3rd place in the NL East
Who They Were: The 2025 season was a disappointment for Philadelphia as they missed the postseason for the first time since 2019. The team pitching finished with a league average 4.60 ERA, the worst since the aforementioned 2019 season. On offense, the Phillies finished #2 in the NL in OPS and #5 in runs scored. As usual, Seth Beer and Darick Hall paced the Phillies' offense, both posting OPS over 1.060. A new face emerged in Philadelphia - 2025 Rookie of the Year CF Luis Morales - who slugged 47 home runs with an OPS of .994. On the flip side, 3B Bobby Witt Jr. struggled mightily in his sophomore campaign with a negative WAR through the first three months of the season before injuries ended his year.
Offseason Review: Phillies' starting 1B Wilmer Flores and CL Dan Altavilla opted for free agency and left the club, leaving big voids to fill. In addition, they let starting catcher Evan Skoug walk in free agency. To fill the void at catcher, the team added Carson Kelly and Tomas Nido, both of which struggled in the Spring. In the bullpen, they signed two-time reliever of the year Zach Britton, hoping he can rebound from his injury-marred 2025 to an elite closer. Jeurys Familia was also added to the bullpen, but surrendered runs in five of nine Spring Training outings leaving questions as to whether father time has caught up to him. Finally, Ryon Healy was added to start at 1B, but is likely a step down from Flores.
On The Farm: The Phillies weren't as aggressive as some expected in the offseason, and a good reason for that is the reinforcements they have coming up in the farm. 3B Isiah High and 1B Bobby Siegel are both big bats that should find their way to the big leagues by 2029. RF Barrett Suggs and LF Alex Agurre aren't far behind them.
Best Case Scenario: Zach Britton and Bobby Witt Jr. return to their 2024 form to make up the losses of Flores & Altavilla, and lead the Phillies into a wild card spot.
Worst Case Scenario: Philadelphia's offseason transactions don't pan out as they hoped, and they enter full-blown rebuild mode by the All-Star break.
Key Questions: Who will by the team's closer to start 2026?
As a fast-developing 19 year old, what are the plans for 1B Bobby Siegel's path to the majors?
4.) New York Mets
2025: 74-88, 4th place in the NL East
Who They Were: The Mets looked to be turning a corner in 2025 accumulating their highest win total since 2021. The Mets weren't a very balanced team, their pitching was top-five in the NL, while the batting was bottom-five. 25 year old Luis Torribio was a bright spot in the lineup, slugging 24 home runs in 139 games while posting an OPS over .700 for the first time in his three-year career(.780). LF Luis Morales and SP Ryan Beyer also got their first taste of big league ball, and both more than held their own and appear to have a bright future in the league.
Offseason Review: The Mets opened the offseason by trading away SP Matt Cleveland for highly rated prospect SP Luis Ceja. They also let veterans SP Jonathan Holder and SP Tyler Duffy walk in free agency. They replaced the arms by acquiring their division rival's arms, signed closer Dan Altavilla from Philadelphia and acquiring Shohei Otani and Zach Davies from Atlanta in a money deal that also landed them top prospect Luis Ortiz. They also signed SP Logan Allen to round out the rotation. On offense, they signed Ke'Bryan Hayes to lockdown the hot corner, and C Oscar Hernandez to work behind the plate.
On The Farm: The Mets have the third-ranked minor league system in PBA. They have 10 of the league's top 100 prospects. 2B Tomaz Espassandim looks to be the most PBA-ready after tearing up AAA to the tune of .355/.403/.613 during his short stint of AAA, but expects to start the season in AAA again before getting called up. The Mets also feature a bunch of highly-touted arms in AAA or PBA to start 2026. There is some concern about their future though, Ceja(7.62 ERA in AAA), Andre Stinson(4.94), Juan Trinidad(7.18), and Tony Gonzalez(4.67) all have struggled in Triple A, the team has to hope that they're not hitting their ceiling prematurely.
Best Case Scenario: The Mets continue to build on their 2025 and flirt with .500.
Worst Case Scenario: The acquired veteran arms regress, and the young talent coming up doesn't reach their potential leading to the a return of 90 losses and setting back the rebuild.
Key questions: How do you plan to utilize Shohei Otani in New York?
As he likely enters his first opening day in the big leagues, what are your expectations from #26 overall ranked prospect Andre Stinson?
5.) Miami Marlins
2025: 36-126, 5th place in the NL East
Who They Were: Bad. Real bad. The Marlins ranked dead last in runs scored in 2025, finished more than a half-run per-game behind the next worst. They also ranked dead last in runs allowed, again finishing more than a half-run per-game worse than the next runner-up. The team leader in wins for Miami finished with four, while six players finished with double-digit losses. Only 12 Marlins finished with a positive WAR last season, with the team leader being Christian Arroyo at 1.3. In other words, a team of backups and AAAA players from other teams would have likely outperformed this Marlins unit. Finally, their catcher David Garcia started 155 games for the Marlins, striking out 291 times, hitting for a .349 OPS, and finishing with a -4.9 WAR. As of this publication, Garcia remains the only catcher on the big league roster one week from opening day.
Offseason Review: The only time Miami made the headlines this offseason is when they lost three top 100 prospects, plus C Jim Dathe, in the Rule 5 draft. Otherwise, the team spent no money, the only acquisitions made were a large number of March minor league signings.
On The Farm: Despite losing four top prospects, Miami's farm does still rank in the top ten in PBA. P Dale Messina looks to be a 2-3 years away yet, but he dominated A ball in 2025 and has all of the makings of a future ace in the league. SS Charles Galimberti has the raw ability to be the league's top SS, but at 18 years old, he's far away from realizing his potential. That goes for the most of their farm system, lots of potential, but they're a few years away from Miami - assuming they are protected from future Rule 5 drafts.
Best Case Scenario: The Marlins prove that it takes a great amount of bad luck to lose 126 games, and improve on last year's historically bad season.
Worst Case Scenario: After doing literally nothing to improve their squad, they somehow repeat last year's misery.
Questions: How did the Rule 5 draft impact your organizations long term plans?
What do you expect out of Inacio Manta following his September call-up performance last year?
1.) Atlanta Braves
2025: 98-64, 2nd place in the NL east, lost to Los Angeles in the NL Wild Card game.
Who They Were: Despite winning 98 games, Atlanta finished second in the NL East behind the Nationals, leading to the Braves disappointing Wild Card exit to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2025 Braves featured one of the league's best pitching staffs, highlighted by NL Cy Young runner up Marc Eberle and NL Reliever of the Year Trevor Rogers.
Offseason Review: Frustrated after their Wild Card exit in 2025, the Braves' offseason looks like that of a team that's going all-in. The team shipped out three of PBA's top prospects, CF Tony Sierra, 2B, Tim Barton, and SP Luis Ortiz. In return, Atlanta brought back one of the league's best young hitters, 3B Juan Gestoso, and cleared the salary waste of Shohei Otani and Zach Davies. Gestoso is slated to push Mikey Polansky to 1B and Josh Bell to DH, which is a big win at the plate and on the field. In addition, Atlanta signed RF Ian Happ, which will likely send Steve Goode to CF and end Joerlin De Los Santos days as a regular.
On The Farm: Usually when an organization trades away three Top 100 prospects, you expect the farm system to be baron. That's not the case in Atlanta, a club that prides itself as one of PBA's best and deepest minor leagues. Erik Benoit is Atlanta's top prospect, ranking #13 in the most recent Top 500 list. Benoit held his own last year, splitting time in AA and AAA, and has an outside chance at breaking camp as the team's starting 2B with Mondesi on the 60 day DL. 1B Kwi-Tae Yook tore his hamstring this spring and is unlikely to return much earlier than summer, but should be taking swings in AAA as he prepared for a potential 2027 call up. 2025 first round draft pick SP John Kadlecik rounds out the three Braves players in the top 100, and as a whole the organization features 23 Top 500 prospects.
Best Case Scenario: Gestoso takes Atlanta to the next level and leads them to their first division title in PBA history.
Worst Case Scenario: The '25 Braves were led by a group of young studs having career years, any sort of regression from this core could end their championship dreams.
Key Questions: Who is the starting 2B for Atlanta on opening day?
What's the plan for the #5 spot in the rotation?
2.) Washington Nationals
2025: 100-62, NL East Champions, lost to San Francisco 4-2 in the NL Divisional Round
Who They Were: Washington had a spectacular regular season, winning 100 games while capturing the NL East crown. The Nationals boasted a top-five offense and pitching staff. The offense was led by Mike Trout, who led the league with a 1.146 OPS and 9.2 WAR en route to his third league MVP award. Not to be outdone, Nationals ace Eric Pena won his second straight Cy Young award, going 19-5 with 2.65 ERA and an astonishing 429 strikeouts.
Offseason Review: The Nationals let starting 1B Wil Myers and SP Felix Jorge walk in free agency after struggling in 2025. Finally in March, Washington wrote it's first check of the offseason, signing 1B Paul Goldschmidt to a one-year deal to replace Myers. Overall, it was a quiet offseason for the Nats as they appear content going into 2026 with the same group that won 100 games last season.
On The Farm: The Nats organization takes great care of their minor league system, but at the moment it's not ripe with talent. Their top prospect, 3B Bob Beasley, is expected to break Spring Training as the team's starting 3B. The team's next top hitting prospect, 2B Marc Butler, looks to still be a couple of years away - assuming he can learn to field his position. In the bullpen, Devon Armiger, Jeff Rung, and Vlashi Buzoku all expect to have a chance to prove themselves with the Nats this season. Overall, BNN ranks the Nats' farm as #25 in PBA, with Beasely being the only top 100 prospect.
Best Case Scenario: Another year, another division title for the Nats. Washington returns almost the same team that has been a championship contender for nearly a decade.
Worst Case Scenario: Father time starts catching up to Washington, and so do the Braves. Bryce Harper and Trout aren't getting any younger, now in their mid-30s, the decline is inevitable.
Key Questions: What do you hope to get out of Bob Beasley in his rookie season?
After a division round exit and the Braves active offseason, the gap maybe closing between the two teams. The Nationals stayed relatively the same, so what adjustments should be expect to see out of the Nats in 2026 to hold off Atlanta?
3.) Philadelphia Phillies
2025: 93-69, 3rd place in the NL East
Who They Were: The 2025 season was a disappointment for Philadelphia as they missed the postseason for the first time since 2019. The team pitching finished with a league average 4.60 ERA, the worst since the aforementioned 2019 season. On offense, the Phillies finished #2 in the NL in OPS and #5 in runs scored. As usual, Seth Beer and Darick Hall paced the Phillies' offense, both posting OPS over 1.060. A new face emerged in Philadelphia - 2025 Rookie of the Year CF Luis Morales - who slugged 47 home runs with an OPS of .994. On the flip side, 3B Bobby Witt Jr. struggled mightily in his sophomore campaign with a negative WAR through the first three months of the season before injuries ended his year.
Offseason Review: Phillies' starting 1B Wilmer Flores and CL Dan Altavilla opted for free agency and left the club, leaving big voids to fill. In addition, they let starting catcher Evan Skoug walk in free agency. To fill the void at catcher, the team added Carson Kelly and Tomas Nido, both of which struggled in the Spring. In the bullpen, they signed two-time reliever of the year Zach Britton, hoping he can rebound from his injury-marred 2025 to an elite closer. Jeurys Familia was also added to the bullpen, but surrendered runs in five of nine Spring Training outings leaving questions as to whether father time has caught up to him. Finally, Ryon Healy was added to start at 1B, but is likely a step down from Flores.
On The Farm: The Phillies weren't as aggressive as some expected in the offseason, and a good reason for that is the reinforcements they have coming up in the farm. 3B Isiah High and 1B Bobby Siegel are both big bats that should find their way to the big leagues by 2029. RF Barrett Suggs and LF Alex Agurre aren't far behind them.
Best Case Scenario: Zach Britton and Bobby Witt Jr. return to their 2024 form to make up the losses of Flores & Altavilla, and lead the Phillies into a wild card spot.
Worst Case Scenario: Philadelphia's offseason transactions don't pan out as they hoped, and they enter full-blown rebuild mode by the All-Star break.
Key Questions: Who will by the team's closer to start 2026?
As a fast-developing 19 year old, what are the plans for 1B Bobby Siegel's path to the majors?
4.) New York Mets
2025: 74-88, 4th place in the NL East
Who They Were: The Mets looked to be turning a corner in 2025 accumulating their highest win total since 2021. The Mets weren't a very balanced team, their pitching was top-five in the NL, while the batting was bottom-five. 25 year old Luis Torribio was a bright spot in the lineup, slugging 24 home runs in 139 games while posting an OPS over .700 for the first time in his three-year career(.780). LF Luis Morales and SP Ryan Beyer also got their first taste of big league ball, and both more than held their own and appear to have a bright future in the league.
Offseason Review: The Mets opened the offseason by trading away SP Matt Cleveland for highly rated prospect SP Luis Ceja. They also let veterans SP Jonathan Holder and SP Tyler Duffy walk in free agency. They replaced the arms by acquiring their division rival's arms, signed closer Dan Altavilla from Philadelphia and acquiring Shohei Otani and Zach Davies from Atlanta in a money deal that also landed them top prospect Luis Ortiz. They also signed SP Logan Allen to round out the rotation. On offense, they signed Ke'Bryan Hayes to lockdown the hot corner, and C Oscar Hernandez to work behind the plate.
On The Farm: The Mets have the third-ranked minor league system in PBA. They have 10 of the league's top 100 prospects. 2B Tomaz Espassandim looks to be the most PBA-ready after tearing up AAA to the tune of .355/.403/.613 during his short stint of AAA, but expects to start the season in AAA again before getting called up. The Mets also feature a bunch of highly-touted arms in AAA or PBA to start 2026. There is some concern about their future though, Ceja(7.62 ERA in AAA), Andre Stinson(4.94), Juan Trinidad(7.18), and Tony Gonzalez(4.67) all have struggled in Triple A, the team has to hope that they're not hitting their ceiling prematurely.
Best Case Scenario: The Mets continue to build on their 2025 and flirt with .500.
Worst Case Scenario: The acquired veteran arms regress, and the young talent coming up doesn't reach their potential leading to the a return of 90 losses and setting back the rebuild.
Key questions: How do you plan to utilize Shohei Otani in New York?
As he likely enters his first opening day in the big leagues, what are your expectations from #26 overall ranked prospect Andre Stinson?
5.) Miami Marlins
2025: 36-126, 5th place in the NL East
Who They Were: Bad. Real bad. The Marlins ranked dead last in runs scored in 2025, finished more than a half-run per-game behind the next worst. They also ranked dead last in runs allowed, again finishing more than a half-run per-game worse than the next runner-up. The team leader in wins for Miami finished with four, while six players finished with double-digit losses. Only 12 Marlins finished with a positive WAR last season, with the team leader being Christian Arroyo at 1.3. In other words, a team of backups and AAAA players from other teams would have likely outperformed this Marlins unit. Finally, their catcher David Garcia started 155 games for the Marlins, striking out 291 times, hitting for a .349 OPS, and finishing with a -4.9 WAR. As of this publication, Garcia remains the only catcher on the big league roster one week from opening day.
Offseason Review: The only time Miami made the headlines this offseason is when they lost three top 100 prospects, plus C Jim Dathe, in the Rule 5 draft. Otherwise, the team spent no money, the only acquisitions made were a large number of March minor league signings.
On The Farm: Despite losing four top prospects, Miami's farm does still rank in the top ten in PBA. P Dale Messina looks to be a 2-3 years away yet, but he dominated A ball in 2025 and has all of the makings of a future ace in the league. SS Charles Galimberti has the raw ability to be the league's top SS, but at 18 years old, he's far away from realizing his potential. That goes for the most of their farm system, lots of potential, but they're a few years away from Miami - assuming they are protected from future Rule 5 drafts.
Best Case Scenario: The Marlins prove that it takes a great amount of bad luck to lose 126 games, and improve on last year's historically bad season.
Worst Case Scenario: After doing literally nothing to improve their squad, they somehow repeat last year's misery.
Questions: How did the Rule 5 draft impact your organizations long term plans?
What do you expect out of Inacio Manta following his September call-up performance last year?
