The Atlanta Braves have made news over the last few days with the announcement that Orlando Arcia will starting at shortstop, and Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake will heading to Triple-A in Gwinnett.
If you were to ask John Smoltz, though, the NL East is going to be decided the same way is has been the last few seasons - the best pitching staff.
The Hall of Famer joined The Steakhouse Tuesday morning and told Steak and Drew very bluntly about how he thinks this division will be decided.
"Baseball in this division is going to come down to one thing and it's the same thing every time; who pitches better is going to win this division," said Smoltz. "And that's what the Braves have been able to do the last couple of years."
The Braves return their top four starters from last season in Max Fried, Kyle Wright, Spencer Strider, and Charlie Morton. The 2022 season saw Max Fried finish as the runner-up in the Cy Young voting. Kyle Wright led the NL in wins with 21. Spencer Strider struck out 202 batter en route to a runner-up finish for NL Rookie of the Year. And while Charlie Morton's overall numbers for 2022 weren't all that impressive, he still finished the season at 9-6 with 205 strikeouts.
Add to the mix this year the candidates for the fifth starter, rookies Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster. Both have had very impressive spring trainings. What you have is a rotation that looks to be ones of the better ones in the NL.
The Mets were a game away from winning the NL East last season, and have improved their starting pitching by adding Justin Verlander to go with Max Scherzer. They did lose all-star closer Edwin Diaz to a torn patella suffered during a celebration at the WBC. The Phillies strengthened their lineup by adding shortstop Trea Turner.
The new additions are going to help both teams out this season. In the end, however, it's going to come down to whatever team can get the most out of their pitching staffs.
