The Nationals have been a bit of a disaster this season, floundering around the .500 mark a year after winning 97 games and running away with the NL East. In 2017, they spent a grand total of four days out of first place, never more than a game back.
This year has been very, very different. The Nationals have spent more days in fourth place in the division than in first place, and they’ve been mired in third since late June. The two teams ahead of them in the standings have spent the past three years in the 90-loss club.
“I don’t think anybody expected us and the Braves to be at the top,” Phillies ace Aaron Nola told Sporting News with a grin. “We’ve been kinda toward the bottom the past few years.”
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Nola’s Phillies have finished an average of 27.5 games out of first place the past three seasons, and the Braves have finished an average of 25 games back in that span. So, yeah, sitting in first and second place, respectively — ahead of a Nationals team that’s finished first or second for six years in a row — feels pretty darn good.
“They’ve been going through the same thing, so you kinda feel what they’re feeling right now,” Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz told SN. “We’re just all playing such good baseball right now.”
Both the Phillies and Braves, of course, have been going through an intentional rebuilding process. They restocked their farm systems by trading veterans for prospects — lots and lots of prospects — and they’ve used high draft picks to land elite amateur talent.
Nola, for example, was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 draft, the franchise’s first top-10 pick in more than a decade. Foltynewicz arrived in Atlanta as part of the 2015 trade that sent Evan Gattis to Houston, where the slugger was a key piece of the lineup that helped the Astros win the 2017 World Series.
The question wasn’t whether those two teams would be competitive again. The question was when they would. Best-case scenario was 2018, though the realistic line of thinking said 2019 was probably a safer bet. Some young players hit MLB running. Some take a little time to adjust to the top level of the game. The talent wasn’t doubted, but the performance level was.
For the Phillies, Nola said the outlook changed before the regular season even started.
“Spring training, I thought we all believed we could (compete) because we brought some veterans in, guys who had experience in the playoffs and had won a World Series,” Nola said. “I think that was the biggest part for our team, to bring those guys in and kind of follow their lead.”
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The Phillies signed free-agent first baseman Carlos Santana five days before Christmas; the veteran was part of very good Cleveland teams the previous few years. Midway through spring training, they agreed to a free-agent deal with starting pitcher Jake Arrieta, an intense competitor who won the 2015 NL Cy Young award and helped the Cubs win the World Series a year later, breaking that franchise’s 108-year drought.
For the Braves, the “we’re legitimate contenders right now” mentality started with a strong first month or so that put them in first place in early May, with a 19-11 record.
“Everyone’s a little surprised by us this year, but we got off to that hot start and just kind of took off with it,” Foltynewicz said. “It’s fun, when you get to take that mound every fifth day with a first-place team behind you, to know every game we’re out there means something. It’s fun this year, with that.”
The Braves have been in first place alone at the end of five days in July. The Phillies have had sole possession at the end of seven days of games (not counting the All-Star break). The two teams have been tied at the end of action on five days.
The clubs gave us a preview of what was to come on Opening Day, when the Phillies charged out to a 5-0 lead only to watch the Braves charge back to win 8-5 on a walkoff three-run homer by Nick Markakis.
The best part of this rivalry of appreciation? There’s more to come — seven of the final 10 games of the season feature the Braves and Phillies going head-to-head.
“We’ve got these guys games and games and games at the end of the year,” Foltynewicz said, “so it’s going to be a fun, fun schedule at the end of the year.”
