MLB End-of-April Check-in: NL East

Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the season’s first full month coming to a close, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.

First Place: New York Mets (21-10)

Top Position Player: Pete Alonso (1.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Tylor Megill (1.2 fWAR)

After the New York Mets swept up Juan Soto from the New York Yankees in free agency, it was expected that they would be on top or, at the very least, fighting for the top in the National League East. Soto’s start in a Mets uniform hasn’t exactly gone to plan (a 115 wRC+ is solid but not star-level), but it has helped Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso remind everyone why they’re also essential to any long-term Mets success. Lindor’s still playing at the elite level that saw him finish runner-up for 2024 NL MVP, and Alonso has been nothing short of spectacular with a 211 wRC+. No team in the majors has been better than the Mets, and only the Dodgers are their equal at 21-10. That figure includes a statement sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field, too.

On the pitching side of the equation, another former Yankee, Clay Holmes, has had a strong beginning to the season after being converted to a starter. His performance, along with Kodai Senga and the rest of the staff, has put the Mets on top of the leaderboard regarding pitcher fWAR to begin the long season. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner worked magic last year, and he’s doing the same early on, even with the likes of Griffin Canning and David Peterson.

Second Place: Philadelphia Phillies (17-13)

Top Position Player: Bryson Stott (1.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Jesús Luzardo (1.4 fWAR)

Despite the sweep on the road to the rival Mets, the Phillies haven’t been “poor” to start the season. They won a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which included handing the defending World Series champions their first loss of the season earlier in the month.

For the Phillies, they’re still waiting on some of their superstars to show up in full force. Trea Turner sits with a 106 wRC+ (career 122) and Bryce Harper sits with a 122 (career 142). Kyle Schwarber is launching tanks as always, sitting with nine as the month of April comes to an end, but he will need some more help soon if the Phillies want to keep the gap between them and the Mets at a minimum.

Jesús Luzardo, who was traded from the Miami Marlins to Philadelphia this past season, is making an immediate impact, taking the team lead in pitching fWAR through the first month of the season and helping the Phillies to the fifth-best pitching fWAR in MLB. They just need to see a little more from stalwarts Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.

Third Place: Atlanta Braves (14-16)

Top Position Player: Austin Riley, Sean Murphy (1.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Spencer Schwellenbach, Chris Sale (0.7 fWAR)

The Braves began the 2025 season in an absolute rut, starting 0-7 and putting them behind the eight-ball from the jump. Since that initial bump in the road though, they’ve returned to form, going 9-3 since mid-April. Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna have been their top contributors through the first month of the season, and Sean Murphy has been hot after returning behind the dish following a fractured rib in spring training and a deeply disappointing 2024.

Spencer Schwellenbach has had a rough go of things in Atlanta’s recent stretch of games, but he is still the team leader in pitching fWAR. Defending NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale will always be the go-to arm in the rotation, that is, until Spencer Strider returns from his hamstring injury that he incurred just a week after his recovery from Tommy John surgery. Also on the health front: 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. should be back in sometime in May after missing the majority of 2024 with a torn ACL.

Fourth Place: Washington Nationals (13-18)

Top Position Player: James Wood (1.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: MacKenzie Gore (1.3 fWAR)

The Nationals were not expected to be a strong team entering the 2025 season, and, unsurprisingly, they have not performed well. Their hitting sits 24th in fWAR, but players like James Wood and CJ Abrams still make waves when they’re on a hot streak. Wood, in particular, has been a home run machine to start 2025, sitting with nine, one back of Aaron Judge. The 6-foot-7, 22-year-old outfielder has been putting on a display of power, despite the Nationals’ sub-.500 record. He can swat tape-measure shots with the best of them.

Washington’s pitching is more toward the middle of the pack, with MacKenzie Gore leading the way—as has become custom for the Nationals’ pitching staff. He led the team in pitching fWAR last season at 3.2, so he’s over a third toward eclipsing his 2024 total just a month into the season. Gore has truly been electric early on, leading the majors with 59 strikeouts after beginning the year with a bang on Opening Day, fanning 13 Phillies in six shutout innings of one-hit ball.

Last Place: Miami Marlins (12-18)

Top Position Player: Kyle Stowers (0.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Max Meyer (0.8 fWAR)

The Marlins are, well, the Marlins. There is not much to write home about. They’re in the opposite position of the Nationals, where pitching has been poor, sitting last in the league a month into the season, and their hitting is just below the middle of the MLB pack. Their season began with three straight walk-off wins against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it’s been more of the status quo from a franchise that is consistently in the doldrums of the NL East. At least former Baby Bomber Agustín Ramírez has recently come up to provide a jolt to the lineup.

The biggest disappointment for the front office has to be that former Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara has looked terrible in first month of play after Tommy John surgery,. He’ll need a turnaround if they want to deal him for a top-tier return at the Trade Deadline.

Miami Marlins v Los Angeles Dodgers

MLB End-of-April Check-in: NL East

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