Look Ahead to 2021 Season: Phillies

It's a five-team race for first in the NL East, and it doesn't appear that Philadelphia could pull off that feat. Wild card hopes should still be there.

2020 Record: 28-32

Philadelphia has a solid team, but they're not on the level of the Braves, which means they are lumped in with the other four teams in the division that will jockey for positioning as a hopeful second place squad. The big names in Bryce Harper, Didi Gregorious, and J.T. Realmuto haven't carried the team to the postseason yet, but they look to do that this season. Their challengers are the new-look Mets with superstar Francisco Lindor and good starting pitching led by the league's top pitcher Jacob deGrom, the world champs two years removed in Washington with a solid lineup of their own and a rotation with two aces Scherzer and Strausburg, and the 2020 postseason surprise Marlins who beat out the Cubs in the Wild Card series. Philly will have their work cut out for them this season with 57 games against those three and 19 against the division favorite Braves.

Tier: 4 (Wild Card Straggler)

The ranking of NL East teams is tentative with MLB's playoff expansion plans. If the big leagues see a continuation of what happened in 2020 with the top two from each division making the postseason, teams like Philly are helped because of the strength of their division. A wild card berth still seems the most likely for the Phillies considering the Mets are ranked ahead of them.