The first weekend of baseball is in the books and the NL East has already started to impress. There has been a shakeup in the power rankings and the first NL Player of the week has been named. Without further adieu here is the NL East Weekly Rundown for week one. For those that missed last week’s issue, click here.
Power Rankings
1) Philadelphia Phillies (2-0) (Game 3 ended late) (Last week ranked 2)
The Phillies have won their first two games against the Atlanta Braves and have showcased their offensives prowess. Through the first two games, Rhys Hoskins, Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, Maikel Franco and J.T. Realmuto have all homered. Aaron Nola has already started to build on his stellar 2018 campaign, but the rest of the starters and bullpen have started to give up runs. The Phillies are content with this for now due to their high powered offense.
2) New York Mets (2-1) (Last week ranked 3)
The Mets won two of three in Washington and beat up on a suspect Nationals bullpen. Jacob deGrom was able to pitch himself out of jams in order to beat Max Scherzer. Edwin Diaz is 2-2 on save opportunities and Robinson Cano homered in his first at-bat for his new team. Peter Alonzo has started to live up to his billing as the Mets top prospect. Through three games he is hitting .500 with an OPS of 1.321, with three doubles, and three RBI.
3) Miami Marlins (2-2) ( Last week ranked 5)
The Marlins have risen two spots due to splitting with the Colorado Rockies. The Marlins were able to salvage the series after losing the first two. They beat the Rockies 7-3 behind Martin Prado and Miguel Rojas who went 3-4 and 3-5 respectively. In the rubber match, Sandy Alcantara threw eight shutout innings as the Marlins won 3-0. Alcantara gave up four hits, walked zero, and struck out six. Alcantara was the headliner in the trade for Marcell Ozuna. The 23-year-old is someone to watch this season as he can be a bright spot for a rebuilding Miami team.
4) Washington Nationals (1-2) (Last week ranked 1)
Washington dropped two of three to the Mets. The bullpen has already given up 11 runs in four innings. That is not good, to say the least. If Washington doesn’t patch up the bullpen then they will struggle to win games, no matter how many runs the offense is able to score.
A bright spot was Patrick Corbin. In his Nationals debut, he stuck out four, allowed seven hits, walked two, and gave up two runs in six innings. He was able to limit a surging Mets offense and can only get better from here. Once he settles in, the Nationals rotation will have a deadly three-headed monster.
5) Atlanta Braves (0-2) ( Game 3 ended late) (Last week ranked 4)
The Atlanta Braves lost the series to the Phillies as their pitchers were just dominated. The bullpen has given up seven runs in two games and the starters haven’t been much better. Ronald Acuna Jr. is off to a slow start as he is 1-7 with two walks. Once he starts to heat up so will the Braves.
NL East Player of the week
Trea Turner- This week Turner hit .385, with two homers and four stolen bases. Turner hit a walk-off home run to beat the Mets. Through the first three games, he has yet to be thrown out and has an OPS of 1.352. Turner has started to step up in the absence of Bryce Harper.
Honorable Mention- Peter Alonzo, Jacob deGrom, Rhys Hoskins.
Injuries
New York Mets- Jed Lowrie will not be back till he is 100%. The timetable on Yoenis Cespedes has not changed and he is expected back after the All-Star break.
Washington Nationals- Howie Kendrick, Michael A. Taylor, and Koda Glover are all out for the next few weeks.
Trade Rumors
Look for Washington, Atlanta, New York, and Philadelphia to keep an eye on Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel. All four need bullpen help and Kimbrel is a game changer.
Feature Image From Bleacher Report
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