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All five NL East teams have reasons for concern from the first two days of the 2023 MLB season.

I typically preach patience with baseball. I’m a Braves fan, so I’ve seen back-to-back seasons where they looked dead in the water months into the season, only to reel off a World Series title and 101 season.

The following events, which occurred before the calendar even read ‘April,’ are concerning long-term.

Mets lose Verlander

Justin Verlander has not thrown a single regular season pitch for the Mets, and is already on the IL. After a workout, the 18-year veteran right hander reported discomfort in his upper right-arm. An MRI revealed a strain in his teres major, a flexible muscle in the upper back and shoulder area.

The Mets placed him on the 15-day IL. Verlander said that were it the playoffs, he would have pushed through.

So, the injury is minor and happened very early in the season. The Mets have the depth to cover his absence. Why is this concerning?

Verlander, 40, and Max Scherzer, 38, are the Mets top of rotation arms. They are each being paid $43 million per year for the World Series-hopeful Mets, and are undoubtedly key in any success New York’s NL team has this year. Seeing one of them go to the IL for injury at all is concerning, especially given they have both missed significant time in the last several years.

Verlander will surely have all the time he needs to recover from this injury, but soft tissue injuries in the throwing muscles of any pitcher is concerning.

Phillies rock deGrom but blow Opening Day

The Phillies bats impressed on Thursday as they spoiled Jacob deGrom’s debut with the Texas Rangers. The former Met only 3.2 innings as he surrendered five earned runs to the Phillies potent lineup.

After reaching a 5-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, Phillies Ace Aaron Nola surrendered five runs in what turned into a nine-run bottom of the fourth inning for Texas. Newly acquired reliever Gregory Soto surrendered three more runs without recording an out.

Suffice it to say that is not the start you want from your opening day pitcher, or the former all star closer that you acquired in the offseason.

Nola and Soto will probably rebound from this, but given the pressure of playing in a division that featured two 101-win teams last year, the Phillies will need them to bounce back quickly and give the team confidence that both players will pitch to their potential.

Braves lose Fried, Strand 12 men on base

Max Fried will miss time with a hamstring strain. The Braves should be overly-cautious, as hamstring strains can linger for a while. We see it in professional athletes, but if you have ever pulled a hammy, you know that it can linger for weeks.

The silver lining is that Fried was dominant and efficient, which baseball fans have come to expect from the southpaw over the last three seasons. The Braves will likely call on Bryce Elder or Ian Anderson from the minor leagues to fill in his rotation spot, but neither player impressed in spring training. Just as the Mets and Phillies want to recover quickly from their issues, the Braves will eagerly await Fried’s return.

Arguably of greater concern for Atlanta is the 12 runners that they failed to score on opening day vs. the Nationals.

In baseball, there will always be runners left on base (LOB). 12 is not even close to a normal number for this stat.

The Braves LOB woes were highlighted by a bases loaded, no out situation that in two pitches was resolved by a double play and groundout to end the inning with only one run scored.

Baseball is fluky. That’s why the regular season is 162 games, because it gives time for the flukes to balance out. The Braves dependence on homeruns in the last several years lends credence that this may not be a fluke.

Look, smashing home runs has worked for the Braves to the effect of a World Series win and great regular season success. Simultaneously, it was their undoing in the NLDS in 2022 against the Phillies, as they stranded a lot of runners on their way to a 3-1 series loss to the eventual NL champions.

It needs to get better.

Marlins Offense Fl0unders

Sandy Alcantara was the unanimous 2022 NL Cy Young because he posted a 2.28 ERA while hurling significantly more innings than anyone else.

He was also the losing pitcher of nine games because the Marlins offense stinks.

Though he was not characteristically dominant on opening day 2023, he surrendered only three runs over 5.2 innings en-route to a 5-3 Marlins loss against the Mets.

The Marlins won their second game of the season 2-1 on the back of a Jesus Luzardo gem.

There is room for growth for Miami’s offense, as they probably wont average 2.5 runs per game all year. Still… They have been one of the worst offenses in MLB for years, and fans have to be frustrated by a slow start to 2023.

The Marlins may not have World Series aspirations like three of their division rivals, but their pitching is way too good to be wasted by inept offense.

Newly acquired second basemen Luis Arraez is off to a good start with an OPS over 1.000, but only hit eight homeruns in 2022 for the Twins. The key issue for Miami’s offense is power, and there are no sure answers to that problem.

Exciting young outfielder Jazz Chisolm and former AL home run king Jorge Soler are the only players to surpass 20 homeruns for the Marlins last year, and even if they improve on their 2022 production, the Marlins still have a glaring weakness in homerun production.

Maybe they will break from their half-assed roster building tendencies, but they are probably doomed to another sub-.500 year despite a loaded pitching staff.

Patrick Corbin is a $140 Million problem for the Nationals

Patrick Corbin signed a 6 year, $140 million contract with the Nationals prior to the 2019 season. He immediately proved a reliable third starter behind Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, enabling the Nationals to turn around from a 19-31 start and win the World Series.

Since then, his ERA has grown every year, reaching an outrageous 6.31 in 31 starts for Washington in 2022.

He was the Nationals opening day starter by default, as the team is in the middle of a long rebuild.

Corbin did nothing to prove that he was worth the $59 million that he is still owed by the Nationals through 2025. He allowed four runs (two earned) to the Braves in three innings of work for Washington on opening day.

Sure, the Braves lineup is potent, but pitchers who get paid more than $20 million per year are supposed to be competitive against even the best teams in MLB.

Corbin isn’t even the worst contract that the Nationals have on their books. 2019 World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg signed a seven year, $245 million contract following his excellent 2019 run. Since signing that deal, he has thrown 31.1 innings TOTAL in three years for Washington. He has spent most of the time on the IL with nerve issues in his throwing arm.

The Nationals owe him $35 million per year through 2026.

Maybe it’s worth it, given they wouldn’t have won the 2019 World Series without him. It is the only title in Nationals franchise history, after all. But as time ticks on, and we get further and further from that incredible 2019 run, Corbin and Strasburg’s contracts get harder and harder to swallow.

Nats fans, just put on 2019 highlights and ignore everything I’ve just written. It will be much better that way.