The Morning Meeting: The 2nd place Washington Nationals?

The Atlanta Braves are still leading the division with a shakeup in the standings behind them.

Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams celebrates at second base as Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz looks on / Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

Weather impacted the division yesterday, with the Atlanta Braves having an obvious cancellation thrown at them last minute and Philly’s game finally kicking off half a day after originally scheduled. 

Let's look at what each team did yesterday, where they currently stand in the division as of this morning, and what today's game has in store. It's The Morning Meeting!

Who is winning the National League East right now?

(divisional standings as of April 3rd)
Braves - 3-2 (.600), -- GB, +21 run diff
Nationals - 2-3 (.400), 1.0 GB, -8 run diff
Phillies - 2-4 (.333), 1.5 GB, -14 run diff
Mets - 0-4 (.000), 2.5 GB, -11 run diff
Marlins - 0-7 (.000), 4.0 GB, -27 run diff

The 2nd place Washington Nationals! This probably says more about the level of competition that Philly has played to open the season, but it’s still fun to think about. Enjoy it while it lasts; I’m high on Washington this season, but more from a “not finishing last in the division” perspective instead of “2nd place in the division” perspective.

Game recaps from yesterday

Atlanta Braves

Despite a weather forecast for snow and rain that we’ve seen coming for multiple days now, this series finale against the Chicago White Sox didn’t get postponed until less than an hour before game time. Manager Brian Snitker indicated to the traveling media after the game that Atlanta’s game plan here would be to push Wednesday’s starter Spencer Strider back to Friday’s home opener, so now the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks get to face Strider, Max Fried, and Chris Sale. Lucky them!  

Washington Nationals

Are the Washington Nationals a wagon? People are asking. The Nats took down the 1st place (for now) Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 thanks to 5.1 strong innings from Trevor Williams and absolutely jumping all over Mitch Keller for five runs (four earned) in this one. Joey Gallo hit his first Nationals homer, Luis García hit three doubles, and C.J. Abrams drove in two as the Nationals took sole possession of second place in the division. 

Philadelphia Phillies

Talking about weather delays, this game was originally slated for a 1:05 first pitch and was proactively pushed back to a 4:05 first pitch due to rain in the forecast early in the afternoon in Philadelphia. 

It actually started at 8:00 PM. Almost like we should play more games in the south in the first few weeks of the season as opposed to up north or something. 

Free-agent signee Frankie Montas of the Cincinnati Reds actually outdueled Zack Wheeler in this one, going 5.2 innings with only one run allowed on five hits to get his second win of the season. Wheeler gave Philly a quality start, going six full innings with three runs (one earned) on three hits and ten strikeouts, but Philly left eight runners on base and went 0-2 with runners in scoring position to drop this one. 

New York Mets

Another rainout yesterday means that New York’s playing two today, giving them the ability to call up an additional arm to make a spot start. With the injury to Trevor Megill (concussion from fainting in a Spectrum cable store!), they’ve also signed former Braves pitcher Julio Teheran to start for them, although he's not an option today. Game two's starter is currently "TBD" as of press time.

Miami Marlins

Should we relegate the Marlins? 

They dropped yesterday’s game to the Angels 10-2, and it wasn’t as close as the score made it look. Starter A.J. Puk only lasted four innings (which is an improvement over his first start) and gave up four runs (two earned), lowering his season ERA to 9.00. Both relievers that went out there behind him gave up runs, and they picked up only four hits to nine strikeouts. 

It’s an absolutely dreadful start that even the most pessimistic observers couldn’t see coming, and there’s legitimate questions about how deep this hole can get before they have to consider punting this season and making trades at the deadline (or before) to acquire assets.  

I strongly suspected the Marlins weren't going to be good this season, owing to the poor run differential and then the refusal to address it (or anything, really) in free agency.

I never expected an 0-7 start was in play. Wow.

— Lindsay Crosby, big baseball guy (@CrosbyBaseball) April 3, 2024

MVP's for Tuesday

Hitter: Washington’s Luis García Jr. - 3-4, 3 2B, 2R, 1 RBI
Pitcher: Philly’s Zach Wheeler - 6.0 IP, 3R (1ER), 1BB, 10Ks  

Who's playing today?

Assuming no more weather delays, we get four games among three teams. 

Mets (Houser) vs DET (Mize): 12:10 PM ET
Nationals (Gray) vs PIT (Pérez): 4:05 PM ET
Marlins (Weathers) @ STL (Lynn): 4:15 PM ET
Mets (TBD) vs Tigers (Manning): 30 minutes after game one

Enjoy the games, everyone.