NL East Standings: Braves’ resurgence makes last year’s NY Mets failure much worse

The Atlanta Braves look fearsome again to begin 2026, which is bad news for the New York Mets and the rest of the teams in the National League East. Entering Sunday, the Braves were winners of four straight and owned a 14-7 record. Their 5-game lead in the NL East was the largest lead for any division frontrunner in Major League Baseball.

It's early, of course. But Walt Weiss looks like the perfect manager to guide Atlanta back to regularly scheduled programming (i.e., perennial contention) after a weird, outlier year in 2025.

Speaking of 2025, last year was the year for the Mets to pounce and take advantage of Atlanta's struggles! The Braves began the campaign 0-7 and ultimately missed the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

The Braves were bad last year, but did the Mets take advantage? No.

Despite Atlanta getting buried early and ultimately taking itself out of the Wild Card picture, the Mets didn't capitalize on this rare moment -- they, too, missed the playoffs. The NL East won't be nearly as weak this season. In '25, only the Phillies and Mets had records over .500 in the division. This year, one can assume the Phils and Braves will finish above .500, and the Miami Marlins could be a surprise divisional threat.

This is all why New York's 10-game losing streak (placing them seven games back of the division lead through 21 games played) doesn't mean nothing. Yes, there are 141 games of baseball left to be played, but digging yourself a seven-game hole at any point in the season is a dangerous activity if you're in a competitive division. These current shenanigans from Francisco Lindor and Co. might've been passable last season, in a division where only the Phillies were winning and the Braves were drowning, but this year, a 7-14 start places the Mets in a position they'll likely be struggling to overcome for months.

Or maybe not. Last year's Braves, after starting 0-7, recovered urgently and got above .500 by May 16, becoming the fastest team to start 0-7 and get back above .500 since the 1945 Boston Red Sox. But the rapid climb came at a cost for Atlanta. The Braves, likely exhausted from the uphill sprint, immediately descended into another dark stretch, losing 15 out of their next 20 games. They never recovered.

The Mets are playing with fire by starting the season so horrendously

In the marathon that is the MLB regular season, it's important to never get too high or too low. Peaking too early is a problem, and, well, going on a 10-game losing streak is a much worse problem at the other end of the spectrum.

The Mets are way too talented -- especially once Juan Soto returns -- to stay completely out of the playoff picture for the entire season. They'll make a run at some point. But that run will come at an energy cost that they could have avoided paying by just steadying things here in the early going.

Instead, the Mets are sliding headfirst down Everest and still haven't decided when they should stop, get up, and begin their nearly impossible ascent back up. This isn't the recipe for a successful season. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves look like the Atlanta Braves again.

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