2021 NL East Preview

Finishing up the first day of two-a-day's as we approach the start of the 2021 MLB season!

Earlier today I did my predictions for the AL East as I alternate leagues and work my way across the country to end with the division of our defending champion. Tomorrow I'll be in the Central divisions.

To finish today, let's look at the NL East.

2019 MLB Preview: NL East

Opening Day is tomorrow! Let's celebrate by cranking out the last of the season previews!

I've condensed this down from prior years; I used to do one division a day. With a mid-week start to the season, I've changed that to doing two-a-days. I'm still sticking with my same pattern of rounding my way around the country, alternating leagues, and always ending with the division of the defending champion.

With the West and Central under wraps, and the defending champion Red Sox getting to round out the previews, we look at the NL East.

90's Youth Life Podcast Special: The 1994 MLB Playoffs Simulation

I was a radio guy in college. So it's kind of a surprise that, other than a random podcast with a Nintendo forum something like ten years ago that who knows if it even still exists anywhere or not, I am a novice at the podcast game. Fortunately, I know people.

I've talked up the immortal Geoffrey Clark on here before. He's a classmate and friend from my North Central days, a blogger for Chicago Bulls Confidential, and he is also the host of the 90s Youth Life podcast. He's talked up a number of topics from when we grew up, including topics like the McDonald's Beanie Baby craze and the career of Ken Griffey, Jr. with another WONC alum we overlapped with.

So a couple weeks ago, I got a text from Geoff regarding my favorite tool on this blog, WhatIfSports. He'd been introduced to the tool through Confessions of a Sportscaster and was talking about how addicting it was. It was through that discussion that he brought up the lost postseason of 1994 due to the strike. One thing led to another and, well... I was a guest on a podcast.

In it we run through how the 1994 Major League Baseball postseason could have played out had the playoffs been the leaders in the standings when play stopped. After the jump I will post links to the box scores of the games, but if you want to keep the element of surprise... take a listen.

2018 MLB Preview: NL East

It's kind of crazy to think that we're already in late March, and that the 2018 Major League Baseball season is upon us.

This year I'm not plugging a Tournament of Champions with the MLB one concluded last year. Instead I'm focused solely on the upcoming season.

As is my custom, I go through one division per post, but this year I'm condensing stuff down to three days, with two posts coming per day leading up to the start of the season. As usual, I'm alternating leagues and working my way around the country, ending with the division of the defending champion. With that thought in mind, let's kick things off with the NL East.

MLB Tournament of Champions: NLCS

The MLB Tournament of Champions rolls on as we continue with the postseason and the League Championship Series!

We're over in the National League today as two of the best teams from the regular season collide. For a series like this, I can't just do this half-heartedly. We're doing a full-on look, game by game, at this series that promises to be a classic.

In one dugout we have the 2016 Chicago Cubs. The Cubs won 59 games in the regular season and were pretty much wire to wire the best team in the tournament. They earned the top overall seed in the postseason with those 59 wins, but they faced a tough NLDS opponent in the 1975 Reds. The Cubs needed a pair of walkoff home runs, including one in the winner-take-all Game 5, to advance to this stage. Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of homers against Cincy, including a Game 1 walkoff, while Jake Arrieta pitched masterfully in Games 1 and 5.

They take on the 1995 Atlanta Braves. The Braves overcame having to play on 34 straight days and logged the longest winning streak of any team in the tournament en route to a 55 win campaign. That gave them home field advantage in the last round, though they lost Game 1 against the 2007 Rockies before taking three straight to advance. Ryan Klesko had a monster NLDS with three home runs, and the starting rotation threw 22 1/3 innings and allowed just seven runs against the Rockies.

The Cubs and Braves will play a best of seven series, and by virtue of having the best record in the tournament, the Cubs get home field advantage in a 2-3-2 format. They may need the help, considering the Braves won four of six in the regular season. Stats for this and every series of the tournament can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some baseball!

MLB Tournament of Champions: NLDS Series 1

We've narrowed the field down from 30 teams at the beginning of April to eight as we begin the Division Series in the Tournament of Champions!

Each series is getting its own post because I want to make sure that they all get their own attention, and this way I can do short writeups for each individual game of the postseason.

Calendar-wise, the two series in this round that don't feature Wild Card teams are getting a one-day head start on the series that do feature the Wild Cards, in an effort to allow for travel and a little bit of rest. That doesn't impact this series over in the National League, however.

On one side, we have the 2007 Colorado Rockies. Colorado was in the mix in the NL West for pretty much the entire regular season, with a short time just outside that spot, but they were ticketed for the postseason from the get-go. Their rotation didn't seem otherworldly, at least looking at their actual stats from 2007, but their offense was lethal, and it propelled them to 52 wins.

They will go up against the 1995 Atlanta Braves. Atlanta was in the mix from the get-go as well, despite a problem with the schedule that forced them to play on 34 straight days, something that Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement prohibits. But the Braves didn't let it bother them as they took home the league's longest winning streak at either 14 or 15 games from May into June, which allowed them to overtake the 1986 New York Mets and win the NL East going away.

These two teams will play a best of five series, with the Braves getting home field advantage in a 2-2-1 format thanks to their better regular season record, which is good because the two teams split their regular season series with three wins apiece. I am also keeping stats for the postseason, which you can view here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get the Division Series underway!

2017 MLB Preview: NL East

My series of MLB previews soldiers on for its second day. Most Major League teams open their seasons a week from today as they prepare for another campaign. A week from today is also the official start of the MLB Tournament of Champions, which you can find out more about here.

As has been my custom, I alternate leagues daily, so today we stay out east but switch over to the National League.

2016 MLB Predictions: NL East

We're back at it today with another MLB division and my predictions.

After starting out west, I'm doing my third of six previews with the division containing the National League champion from 2015. It's an interesting division with a couple sexy teams followed up by a couple teams that are clearly still in rebuilding mode. Let's take a look at the NL East.

2015 MLB Preview: NL East

We are now just five days away from kicking off the 2015 Major League Baseball season, which means I need to get back to the predictions.

Yesterday saw a look at the American League East, and today we're swapping leagues while staying out east. Last year's predictions for this division were much more on the money, other than being swapped around at the bottom. Like last year, this division has a clear favorite, though the wild card chances are probably greatly diminished.

2014 MLB Preview: NL East

Happy Saturday and Opening Night Eve! We're almost there!

I'm onto the last geographical area of the league and the second to last division in the series of previews. Today I tackle the NL East, in a division where I kind of whiffed last year on the winner, but had kind of the right idea at least. There's a definite separation though between the class of the division and the also-rans. So without further ado, let's make that distinction.