Tier Rankings for All 30 MLB Teams Entering 2024 Season | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

2. Atlanta Braves

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Anything could happen, both during the regular season and during October. We've certainly witnessed the latter with both the Braves and Dodgers over the past few years.

But it seems like we're on a slow-paced collision course for a Braves-Dodgers NLCS to decide who gets to then win the World Series, doesn't it?

The Dodgers stockpiled an outrageous amount of talent this offseason, adding Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, James Paxton and Teoscar Hernández to a 100-win team that was already going to get both Walker Buehler and Gavin Lux back from seasons lost to injury. No team has ever been perfect, but it is hard to find any weak points on this roster.

Yet Atlanta might be even better.

The Braves have seven capable starting pitchers at their disposal, plus what should be an improved bullpen with the addition of Aaron Bummer. The only real question here is in left field, where Atlanta is placing a lot of eggs in the Jarred Kelenic basket. If Kelenic flops, they might have a late bloomer in Forrest Wall, who is tearing the cover off the ball this spring.

If forced to pick today who will earn the No. 1 seed in the NL bracket, I'd have to go with the Dodgers. They have more/better positional depth and could survive the occasional visit from the injury bug. But both of these teams should win at least 100 games while setting the stage for the gigantic postseason clash.

For what it's worth, Atlanta plays at Los Angeles May 3-5, with the return series taking place Sept. 13-16. Plan accordingly.

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