MLB Division preview: NL East

As opening day is looming, the National League East is being hailed as one of the most competitive divisions for the 2025 season.

The 2024 Major League Baseball season saw 3 NL East teams make up the National League playoff field. The New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies all appeared in last year’s postseason.

With Opening Day 2025 around the corner, I am going to be giving a preview of how the NL East is shaping up to be before season’s start.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are the reigning NL East champions and won the division last year for the first time since 2011. The Phils received a bye in the wild card round for finishing with a top 2 record in the National League, but lost in the NLDS to their division rival New York Mets in 4 games.

The Phillies did not tinker much with their lineup in the offseason, keeping everything pretty much the same as last year with Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and of course 2-time NL MVP Bryce Harper as the main pieces of the squad.

Philadelphia’s rotation also remains similar. Zach Wheeler will get the nod on opening day against their division rival Washington Nationals.

Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo and Taijuan Walker will make up the rest of their rotation to start the season with the absence of Ranger Suarez.

Philadelphia acquired Luzardo in an offseason trade with the Marlins. Luzardo is a hard-throwing lefty that establishes the Phillies’ rotation as an arguably top 2 rotation in the league.

Top prospect Andrew Painter will also join the rotation as soon as the team decides he is ready to go after his rehab outings in the minors from Tommy John surgery.

The Phillies should return to the postseason yet again, but many are skeptical about whether they can repeat as NL East Champions after a disappointing October and an underwhelming second half of 2024.

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves finished 2024 in second place and were swept in the NL Wild Card Series by the San Diego Padres.

Last season the Braves had to grind it out to make the postseason and defeated the Mets in the second leg of a double-header the day before the playoffs started.

The Braves also lost their star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. to his second torn-ACL in 3 years. As of now Acuña is on track for a May return and if he can come back healthy the Braves will be very good, especially if guys like Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna can carry the weight until the Venezuelan star is ready to go.

Atlanta’s big offseason move was the signing of outfielder Jurickson Profar to a 3-year $42 million contract. Profar will slot into the lineup, likely as the right fielder, until Acuña is healthy.

The Braves also have a very good rotation featuring reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale who also accomplished the pitching triple crown last season, leading the league in ERA, strikeouts and wins.

Spencer Strider is still recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he made his spring debut recently and will continue his rehab in the minors until he is ready to return to the bigs.

The Braves will likely find themselves in another pennant race this season and are a favorite to win the division

New York Mets

The Mets are perhaps the most intriguing team in the NL East.

Coming off a wild 2024 where the Mets went from being 11 games under .500 at the end of May to taking the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers to 6 games in the NLCS, expectations are at an all time high for the Mets.

New York let everyone know they were going for it all when they signed Juan Soto to a record breaking 15-year $765 million contract.

Soto will complement NL MVP runner-up Francisco Lindor atop the Mets lineup. The team also brought back homegrown star, the man who saved their season in the NL Wild Card and one of the best home run hitters on the planet in Pete Alonso.

The Mets do have some injuries to work through to start the season. Catcher Francisco Alvarez and 2nd baseman Jeff McNeil are both injured, as well as pitchers Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas.

Mark Vientos will also be looking to repeat the success he had last season and possibly be that 4th superstar in New York along with Soto, Lindor and Alonso. Vientos had a postseason for the ages batting .327 with 5 home runs.

The Mets pitching, however, is a weakness. Clay Holmes who has little experience as a starter at the Major League level will start opening day. Kodai Senga is a question mark coming off of an injury riddled 2024 and the rest of the rotation right now won’t scare opponents.

The Mets are one of the favorites to win the NL East and possibly be the team that dethrones the Dodgers as NL Champs.

Washington Nationals

The Nationals had their 5th straight losing season in 2024 since winning the World Series in 2019.

They did, however, have a bright spot last season. C.J. Abrams, who Washington received when they traded Juan Soto to the Padres, made his first all-star game last year.

Dylan Crews (MLB Pipeline No. 4 Prospect) also made his MLB debut late last season and projects to be a breakout candidate this season.

2nd baseman Luis Garcia is also in line for a big season after being a finalist for Silver Slugger last season. James Wood and Jacob Young, two of Washington’s top prospects are expected to make their impacts felt on opening day and could provide a spark to a Nats lineup that has needed one for years.

The Nationals strength last season was their bullpen, but this team is young, hungry and ready to play spoiler to the Mets, Phillies and Braves.

The Nats will likely finish in 4th place, but could hit the 80 win mark for the first time since 2019.

Miami Marlins

The Marlins are coming off of a 100 loss season and will have a new manager at the helm in Clayton McCullough.

Sandy Alcantara makes his return to the rotation after missing all of 2024 for the Marlins and was already named the opening day starter very early on in Spring Training. Alcantara is one of the best pitchers in baseball when healthy and won the Cy Young in 2022.

Xavier Edwards will likely be Miami’s best bat this season after hitting .328 last season. Breakout candidate Connor Norby would have made the opening day roster had he not injured his oblique in Spring Training.

Miami has a weak offensive lineup at the moment, but they do have a decent pitching staff behind Alcantara who could be a trade candidate come July.

The Marlins are in the middle of a never ending rebuild and are likely going to finish the season at the bottom of the NL East again.

Ian Rothenberg is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email imr5327@psu.edu