Why Braves fans shouldn't worry about Phillies resurgence in NL East race

Why Braves fans shouldn't worry about Phillies resurgence in NL East race originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Atlanta Braves are sitting atop the NL East with a 26-12 record, and they own a significant lead over the rest of the division thanks to their hot start and the massive struggles of the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies to begin the year.

After just the first week of May, the Braves already have an eight-plus game lead over the entire division. However, they did lose Ronald Acuna Jr. to a hamstring injury, and they did lose their first series of the year to the Seattle Mariners.

However, as CBS Sports' Matt Snyder highlighted, the Braves should not be worried about losing their lead in the NL East this season despite some recent concerns mounting.

"I think the Braves have enough of a lead in the bank right now that they'll be able to hold onto this division," Snyder writes.

While this race is still far from over, the Braves are in control, and the fans shouldn't worry about their odds to win the division even though the Phillies look resurgent since firing Rob Thomson.

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While Don Mattingly and the Phillies have been winning a bit lately, they were blown out by the Athletics on Thursday, and now are nine games back of the Braves for the top spot in the NL East.

The Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins aren't serious postseason contenders, so the Braves don't have to worry about either of those teams this year.

The Mets, meanwhile, are still going through some major issues. They're 14-23 and 11.5 games back of the Braves for the top spot in the division.

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It would take a miracle for the Mets to even get close to the Braves, let alone overtake them and make the postseason. The Phillies have a better shot at overtaking the Braves, but their bad start to the year is likely too big a hole to crawl out of.

Even though the Braves have the Acuna injury to deal with and are coming off a series loss to the Mariners, fans should not worry about their odds to win the division.

The Phillies still have some big issues on the roster in Andrew Painter and Alec Bohm that won't go away anytime soon. Philadelphia would need a lot to go right to catch the Braves, and the odds are incredibly slim already this season.

It might not be going great for the Braves lately, but they are still very much in command of this division, as the NL East should be theirs barring a massive surprise.