The 2023 MLB playoffs: looking towards Oct. Part 2 (National League)
Moving from the American League to the National League (N.L), there will be a much more clear-cut set of teams that will make an impact later in the season than with their A.L. counterparts. The staples in the N.L. from the past few seasons have gone nowhere and are still the teams to beat going into the opening round of this year’s playoffs and beyond.
The Braves are the obvious answer to take home the East title and go into the playoffs as the number-one seed as they will finish north of 100 wins. This year’s powerhouse Mets team will be right behind them though, and will finish with the season's top National League Wild Card spot. The Philadelphia Phillies' mediocre start to the season will continue, even with the return of star Bryce Harper imminent, and will fall short in the playoffs only one season after making it to the World Series.
In the Central division, there has been a shocking turn of events to begin 2023, with the Pirates leading the division while the Cardinals sit in the fifth spot and are double-digit games back. Pittsburgh is off to their best start in a decade, but it won't last with the dog days of summer coming to bite and the Milwaukee Brewers ready to pounce. The Cardinals and Cubs will each narrowly miss out on a playoff spot due in large part to the N.L. West.
Three teams are going to come out of the West this year, as the division will continue its dominance over the rest of the league in the regular season. The Dodgers will come out on top, as they have nine out of the past ten years, and will earn the second seed in the National League. The incredible lineup that the Padres have put together this past offseason will lead them to second place in both their division and in the Wild Card standings, right in front of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-Backs will finally get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 with their core of young stars, both on offense and in the rotation, pushing them right around the 90-win mark.
In the playoffs, the Mets will face the Padres in a star-studded rematch of last year’s Wild Card round. New York will come out on top this time, before running into a brick wall that is the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta will advance to the National League Championship Series in a five-game near sweep of their divisional foes. In the other Wild Card series, the Brewers will take on the Diamondbacks in a pretty evenly matched set of games. Arizona, the underdog, will eliminate the Brewers and face off against the Dodgers in the Divisional Series. The Dodgers will again make it to the final round of the N.L. playoffs but will fall to the Braves in the same fashion they did two seasons ago, 4-2.
All of this has set us up for the 2023 World Series, a set of seven games between the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves. In a matchup sure to be filled with great offense and solid pitching, there is no way this series doesn't go to at least six games and maybe even the full seven. Either way, there can only be one winner, and in 2023, it will be the Atlanta Braves. The Braves came into this season with both the best starting lineup, and a top-two starting rotation in baseball. As long as their young players can stay healthy, there is nobody else in the entire league that can touch this year’s Atlanta Braves.