As well all know the Atlanta Braves won the NL East by a landslide in 2013. The chances of them repeating is still good but not as good as it could be. The Dodgers vs. Braves playoff series showed one very important blemish that the Braves have. A legit number one, true ace. Sure they have guys that could be getting there very soon in Mike Minor, Kris Medlen and Julio Teheran but none of them really stepped up to the role. The one guy who will likely become their true number one this season is Minor.

The Braves main problem is that they didn’t go out and get the one thing they were looking for this offseason which was a starting pitcher. The Washington Nationals on the other hand added Doug Fister to their rotation. Fister had a very good 2013 racking up 159 strikeouts with a 3.67 ERA. He pitched in over 200 innings of work walking only 44 men. This is a big signing for the Nationals but has to scare the Braves as well.

The Nationals pitching staff is going to be very good this year. In fact they might just have the best pitching rotation in all of baseball. Of course the Braves did have the best ERA in baseball in 2013 so the true question might be what offense can produce. Overall the main team that has the most to lose this year is the Atlanta Braves. Simply because they won the division in 2013 and have basically the same core group of players as last season minus Tim Hudson and Brian McCann.