Beasts of the NL East, the Braves might not be stopped

Following a demoralizing sweep of the Nationals over the last weekend, the Braves currently look like the best team in baseball. You may say this is blatantly obvious because of their MLB best record of 11-1, but I'm going to say that if the Braves are playing this well now, then I don't see how they'll regress the rest of the season. You may say I'm biased because I'm an Atlanta fan, but hear me out.

The Braves start has been carried by a pitching staff with the best ERA in baseball, MVP talent Justin Upton playing like an MVP and the greatest story of the baseball season in rookie catcher Evan Gattis. Now surely Upton will go through some down stretches this season and the pitching staff will give up bad starts or whatever else, but the fact is the Braves are winning in every conceivable way already. Blowing teams out? The Braves lead the majors in run differential aided by great offensive outputs in 2 games versus the Phillies, 1 against the Marlins and 1 against the Nationals and their 21-win starter Gio Gonzalez. The Braves have shown the ability to win playing small-ball like they did against Stephen Strasburg on Saturday. And finally, the Braves have already shown the knack for storming back and snatching victory from defeat like when they overcame 4 run deficits in the final 3 innings against the Cubs and the Nationals. Romero Pena, Juan Francisco, Chris Johnson, the Uptons and Freddie Freeman have all shown a knack for delivering in clutch hitting situations already this season.

Mind you the Braves are doing this without All-Star catcher Brian McCann, who will have to fight to regain his old spot from Gattis. Rising Superstar Freddie Freeman is on the DL. And Jason Heyward, an MVP quality outfielder (don't believe me? look at his WAR numbers from last year), has yet to hit his stride at the plate this year. BJ Upton, Dan Uggla and Andrelton Simmons have yet to really find their stride at the plate either. As much as this batting lineup is already feared by pitchers with its major-league leading home run totals and situational hitting, there is MUCH ROOM FOR THIS OFFENSE TO IMPROVE. Not to mention on the pitching side of things, the Braves get back a No. 2 starter quality pitcher in Brandon Beachy around the All-Star break.

Now the Braves will not continue to win at a 90%+ clip, but the fact is this team is already running through foes without coming close to its ceiling.

Of course now that I've posted this blog, the Braves will probably start sucking, but oh well.