Nationals, Not Phillies, Clearly Biggest Threat to Braves in NL East

For most of the season, the NL East seemed to be a two-horse race between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies, but that's changed in recent weeks. Philadelphia has struggled to play quality baseball since the end of May, and another one of their division rivals has actually overtaken them in the standings.

Now as the second half gets underway, it's abundantly clear that the Washington Nationals, not the Phillies, pose the greatest threat to the Braves in the race for the NL East title.

Since the Nationals dropped to 19-31 on May 23, they've gone on a ridiculous 29-11 tear, by far the best record in the MLB during that stretch. They now sit just six games behind the Braves for first in the division after trailing by a whopping 10 games on May 25.

On the opposite side of things, the Phillies, who have gone 18-23 in that same span, have dropped to third in the division and sit 1.5 games back of the Nationals and 7.5 back of the Braves.

Washington has rejuvenated itself with a solid offense and reliable starting rotation while the Phillies, once thought to have both of those things, have been unable to find consistent production out of either.

Guys like Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon and Max Scherzer have been stellar during Washington's surge. Scherzer, for example, has posted a 0.84 ERA in nine starts since May 22.

It's a classic example of two teams trending in the opposite direction, but you shouldn't expect it to change any time soon. Washington is the only team in the NL East that owns a positive run differential against the Braves.

The Nationals have outclassed the Phillies since they reached rock bottom back in late May. They've shown themselves to be a resilient team that has both the talent and the guts to take on the league's top teams, and that when the Braves look over their shoulder, it's Washington that they should be worried about.