NL East: Philadelphia Phillies

At their best, the Phillies may be the best team in the sport, but they were barely above .500 in the second half of the season after going 62-34 before the All-Star break.

After two long playoff runs, can coach Rob Thomson’s team finally overcome the hump and win the World Series?

This is one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball, especially when they see fastballs. But they probably rely too much on Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber to hit home runs.

Alec Bohm will score runs in other ways, but this is a team that will take plenty of strikeouts when things aren’t going well, with Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh and Turner among those who can quickly get out of step.

On the positive side, the rotation trio of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sánchez is as good as the sport can get.

Even if Ranger Suárez only goes through the order once in the postseason, having an All-Star as the No. 4 starter is a huge advantage. He could also be a weapon out of the bullpen in the postseason, as he was in 2022.

The question for the Phillies is whether they can keep their bats from going ice cold, as they did in Games 6 and 7 of the NLCS last season. If they can do that, there could be a parade on Broad Street.

NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers (won the division title)

Manager Pat Murphy is sure to win NL Manager of the Year honors for leading the Brewers – who many thought would struggle to keep up with the competition after trading Corbin Burnes in February – to the division title.

It may not be as strong as the Guardians, but the Brewers have a very impressive bullpen. Devin Williams is one of the most dominant relievers the sport has to offer, and he should enter the postseason relatively fresh considering he only made his season debut in late July after missing some time with stress fractures in his back.

With Trevor Megill and Jared Koenig, Murphy has other really good options to get the ball from the starter to Williams.

Milwaukee may not have a great starting lineup, but a combination of Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, Aaron Civale, Frankie Montas and Colin Rea is far from one of the worst starting lineups in the playoffs.

The Brewers lost former NL MVP Christian Yelich for the season, but rookie Jackson Chourio has a .944 OPS since the All-Star break. Willy Adames and Rhys Hoskins have already reached the World Series with other clubs. William Contreras is arguably the best catcher in the sport. There’s a lot to like here.

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani may be the best player in MLB history, and that’s hard to argue with a roster that includes him, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández.

According to Jack Flaherty, the starting lineup here is Really thin. Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone are not expected to return this season.

Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is attempting to return from the IL, but there is no guarantee he will return after recovering from left big toe inflammation. Even if he does, he had a 4.50 ERA in seven starts this year.

Therefore, a lot of pressure is placed on Flaherty, Walker Buehler (5.63 ERA), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (just outside the IL) and Landon Knack.

If there is anything positive to report on the pitching side, it is the fact that President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman made one of the best moves before the trade deadline by signing reliever Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox.

The 28-year-old has a minuscule 1.29 ERA in 21 games since joining the Dodgers and could be a real weapon for coach Dave Roberts in the postseason.

But again, it’s difficult to get beyond the starting pitchers. The Dodgers were a team built to win about 100 games in the regular season, but do they have a roster that can compete in the playoffs? That’s a fair question.