This isn’t your grandfather’s National League East. This isn’t your father’s National League East. Heck, this isn’t even your older brother’s National League East.
Gone are the days of consistent domination by the Atlanta Braves, of the Florida Marlins being a factor and of the Mets and Phillies playing the role of Atlanta’s closest competitor. The Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals started to give us a glimpse into the future during their 2012 campaigns, but this season, the mano a mano duel is likely to reach new proportions. Braves-Nats isn’t simply going to be the hottest rivalry in the division; it’s going to be the hottest rivalry in all of baseball….and not just this year, but for many years to come.
Opening Day arrived on Monday and neither juggernaut disappointed. Atlanta’s vaunted offense crossed the plate seven times in a season-opening defeat of Philadelphia, in part thanks to another long home run from newcomer Justin Upton, a solo shot by Dan Uggla, two hits off the bat of Chris Johnson and three from Freddie Freeman—including a homer. Tim Hudson did not have one of his best outings, but the bullpen shut the door for the most part and Craig Kimbrel was up to his old tricks by not allowing a baserunner en route to the save. In Washington, the Nationals got the job done behind their two heralded youngsters. Stephen Strasburg threw seven scoreless innings against Miami and Bryce Harper provided the game’s only runs with two solo blasts.
One day should not influence our vision for the next 161, and it didn’t. What happened on Monday simply confirmed what we already knew. Atlanta won 94 games last season and, although it lost Chipper Jones and Martin Prado, it added the Upton brothers. Washington led the bigs with 98 victories in 2012 and this time around it won’t be shutting Strasburg down in early September. These two powerhouses are even more formidable than they were last year and—even scarier—they are only getting better and better. The Braves’ 25-man roster is the youngest in all of Major League Baseball with an average age of 27.3. Not far behind are the Nationals, fourth youngest at 27.8.
“They’ve been on point,” Uggla told the associated press during spring training, speaking about his team’s division foe. “You could gradually see them over the years getting better and better and better. Then, once you saw all the moves they made between 2011 and 2012, I was like, ‘Man, these guys are going to be for real.’”
What’s going to be the real deal is the head-to-head battle for years to come, and making the rivalry all the more spirited is the increased importance of winning a division — something the Braves learned all too well last season when they lost a controversial one-game wild card playoff to St. Louis. You can be sure either Atlanta or Washington will partake in the second installment of that dreaded contest come this October. It may take all 162 games to decide which one it will be.
FORGOTTEN TEAM …
You have to feel for the Hawks. They are the only team in this city currently embroiled in the zenith of its season, yet they cannot steal a headline or generate more than a smidgen of interest. Two fellow Atlanta clubs are more relevant despite having played a combined total of one game in the last 72 days as of press time, as are four sports—MLB, NFL, college basketball and golf. The Final Four is taking over the city this weekend and the Masters is taking over the state soon after. Throw in an improbable Cinderella (Wichita State), a gut-wrenching story (the injury to Louisville’s Kevin Ware) and the resurgence of Tiger Woods and those two events have more buzz than Georgia Tech’s mascot. The Falcons’ offseason, meanwhile, has been riddled with more highlights than the Highlight Factory itself. With the NFL Draft on the horizon later this month, that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
The Hawks are what they are and they cannot do anything about it until this summer — when intrigue will begin in earnest. For now, if they can just lose enough games to snag the six seed instead of the four or five and land on the opposite side of the East bracket from Miami, then it may finally be time to start paying some attention.
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