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Major Media Outlets Love Braves, Not Phils

Before spring bloomed in baseball land, you could say the Phillies and Mets were the top draws in the NL East. But something happened, maybe two weeks into spring: The Braves became the chic pick.

Looking at predictions from major national media outlets, the Phillies are being cast to third place in the NL East, while the Braves are on many lists not just to win the East, but the National League. Call it true support of a dark horse, trying to look smart, whatever. The Braves will be good, I think, but good enough to win the NL?

Outlets with the Phillies in 1st, NL East:
ESPN: Eric Karabell (fantasy)
ESPN: Sean McAdam (contributing; Boston-based)
Sportsline: Scott Miller
Lindy’s
Athlon

Outlets with Phillies winning Wild Card:
ESPN: Tim Kurkijan
ESPN: Enrique Rojas (Deportes)
ESPN: Bob Klapsich (contributor)
ESPN: Nate Ravitz (fantasy)
Fox Sports: Ken Rosenthal
The Sporting News

Only Lindy’s has the Phillies in the World Series, losing to the Detroit Tigers. Meanwhile, a slew of writers have the Braves in the Series, including Jayson Stark and Rosenthal, who like the Braves enough as World Series champions. Another note: Johan Santana is far and away the favorite to win the NL Cy Young.

You can’t get worked up over predictions, especially because they usually never come true. But clearly, the Braves mix of youth and experience has piqued the sportswriting world. Most predictors say the same thing about the Phillies when delivering their prognostications: Not enough pitching.

Word.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.