00:00Tom, I wasn't surprised by the Philadelphia Phillies winning 96 games, number two in the National League, only behind the
00:06Brewers at 97.
00:07You know what I was surprised at? The team that was supposed to challenge them, honestly to me, was the
00:11Atlanta Braves, 76-86.
00:13It just seemed like they lost pitchers every single week of the season, and they just couldn't play up to
00:20it here.
00:20The Mets put up a little bit of a fight, but weren't worthy of that once September came around.
00:25The Phillies, though, won the National League with 96 wins. How did we feel about the National League East last
00:29year, Tom?
00:30You know, it starts off with Acuna and Strider not being healthy for the Braves, and then Strider comes back,
00:36and then he gets hurt again.
00:38And whether it's Schwellenbach, whether it's Schmidt-Strauber for the Braves, pitchers, like you said, constantly getting hurt.
00:45Chris Sale was good. They just couldn't put together a full team at the exact same time.
00:51Austin Riley had it down. Your Ozzie Albies was hurt.
00:54So it was never a complete lineup at the same time for the Braves,
00:58and that's really what I keep telling myself about this.
01:02Like, it was just a lost season for them, and I don't know how to explain it.
01:06Like, I know that seems like a little bit of a cop-out, or I'm trying to make excuses for
01:09them, but I'm not.
01:10I think they are in for a much better season this year.
01:13They have a ton of talent.
01:14If they can stay healthy, as we say, for every team or every player,
01:17they will be competing with the Mets and the Phillies.
01:20And I often say that we're going to have a division that gives us multiple, if not three, teams for
01:25the playoffs.
01:26And I truly believe if everyone in the NL East is at their best, it can be those three teams.
01:32Yeah, Schwellenbach struggling a little bit right now here with injuries heading into the season.
01:35We'll see how that goes along.
01:36But also, when you look at it, the Mets were only four games above .500 last year.
01:40Made a lot of changes in the offseason.
01:41We'll get to it in just a little bit.
01:43The interesting part, like, again, the Braves usually, you know, toe round and finish second or third,
01:48make the playoffs in a quality club.
01:49They just had too many injuries.
01:50But the team I always look at here, like the Marlins, 79 and 83, like, played good baseball last year.
01:55We're fighting down the stretch, finished the season, winners of seven of ten games here to almost get back to
02:00.500.
02:00But the team that I always look at that doesn't make any sense, it's the Nationals.
02:03To know where they were with the talent they have and now winding up as, yeah, we play in the
02:09D.C. market.
02:10We're going to trade all of our superstars and just let them walk.
02:13And we're not going to sign anybody in our payroll is in the gutter right now.
02:16That is an abomination.
02:17Like, the Nationals had a great pipeline of talent, great superstars at Major League Baseball and gave it all away.
02:24They really did.
02:26And, you know, last year there was a point where I don't want to say I was high on the
02:30Nationals,
02:31but I was optimistic.
02:32And the phrase I often used about the Nationals last year was, you know,
02:36I think there's a team that can cause some trouble for other teams in their division.
02:40And that really wasn't the case.
02:42And, you know, they traded with Mackenzie Gore this offseason.
02:45But I really should have flipped that and it's like the Marlins are a back team.
02:49The Marlins are the team where, you know, if they finish with roughly the same record this year, am I
02:54going to be surprised?
02:55No.
02:55Do I expect them to make the playoffs?
02:57Probably not.
02:58But I think they're going to be a lot better than people realize.
03:00And they're not the Marlins as we remember them from years past.
03:04They're going to be a team that's going to challenge other teams.
03:06They're not going to be pushover wins against the Braves, Mets, or the Phillies.
03:10There's going to be good value on the Marlins in some of those games.
03:12They have good pitching.
03:13They have good hitting.
03:14You know, Kyle Stowers last year was great for the Marlins, putting up plenty of power.
03:18So the Marlins are a team that you can get a fair number on them.
03:21And I think they're going to be a team that most people just won't look at and say,
03:24like, oh, we have to worry about them against the Braves.
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