The Philadelphia Phillies are presumably the favorite to represent the National League in the World Series. But although things are going well for the Phillies, they aren't the best in the NL by that much. All of us Philadelphia fans still have reason to fear the San Francisco Giants, and the Atlanta Braves could have a few more pushes left in the NL East race. More and more, these three teams look like the clear class of the league, which they further proved it with their trade deadline deals.
The Giants, Phillies and Braves don't really have that much to improve on, which explains why they have some of the best records in baseball. But they all fixed some of their biggest flaws before Sunday's trade deadline, and made themselves look even more fearsome. As such, if these three clash in October, as they did last season, it stands to be an even bigger battle royale.
The Giants made the first move by landing Carlos Beltran(notes) to give themselves the big bat they've been missing for some time. Of course, they won the World Series without a slugger, and could wind up doing it again. In fact, San Francisco still rises and falls with Tim Lincecum(notes), Matt Cain(notes) and the pitching staff, as it proved with two straight shutdown wins in Philadelphia this past week. However, the Giants then went on to suffer a surprise sweep from the Cincinnati Reds, in which Beltran barely made a dent.
As for the Phillies, they started off a little better with their major pickup. Thanks to losing out on Beltran, Philadelphia had no choice but to match San Francisco by getting Hunter Pence(notes). The former Houston Astro arrived in time to help finish a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and even scored the winning run in extra innings on Sunday.
With Pence, the Phillies finally have a true No. 5 man to replace Jayson Werth(notes). Coincidentally, Ryan Howard(notes) had a massive game in front of Pence on Saturday, while Raul Ibanez(notes) made the difference behind him on Sunday. If he helps make those batting around him better, at the least, Philadelphia will be in for a good fall.
These trades left the Braves as the odd team out, with no room to make a major move of their own. But Atlanta still got a valuable pickup hours before the deadline—and like with Philadelphia, Houston helped out. In this case, the Astros dealt speedy center fielder Michael Bourn, who can help generate some valuable runs on the bases. He may not have the buzz of a Beltran or Pence, but the Braves remain a little better with their new player.
It is no small thing that the Phillies, Giants and Braves made some of the big maneuvers before the trade deadline. As the leading contenders for a pennant, they had to do something to fix their holes before the stretch drive—and make sure their rivals didn't beat them to it. But since all three got something valuable out of this time period, they put even more of a gap between themselves and the rest of the National League.
Last year, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Atlanta made up three-fourths of the NL playoff field, and it looks like the same thing will happen this season. While the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and Pirates are fighting it out in the NL Central, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are trying to make up ground in the NL West, they seem unlikely to be true pennant contenders. More than ever, it looks like the road to a World Series berth is going through the exact same routes it did last year.
But will it have the same end result of a San Francisco championship this time? Everyone here in Philadelphia hopes that Pence will be a more valuable boost than Beltran, while those in Atlanta hope that the Braves can take the next step. In any case, should these trade maneuvers pay off for the Braves, Phillies and Giants and make them even better, then it will be quite an October in the National League.
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