...but if you have to play them, well, you could do worse than meeting them right now.
Since May 2024, the Phillies have slowly become the team to beat in the National League. They didn’t have a great start of the season and played .500 ball in the early stages of the season, but then lifted off. Problem for the Phillies was: so did the Braves. For a long time it looked like the NL East was going to be a dogfight between the Phillies and Braves. Since mid May, however, Philadelphia have taken advantage of a less dominant Braves team and crowned themselves as the team to beat in the East.