The NL East floor is rising with the help of talent like Ronald Acuña and Rhys Hoskins

The Braves and the Phillies are set to match up Friday, and the three-game series might actually be … interesting?

Interesting hasn’t been able to describe the NL East recently, except in the same way that sewer sludge might be. The division has been a bit of a cesspool, with the Nationals acting as the ruling sewer gator in three of the last four years. The local ecologists must have started a cleanup initiative because the competition in the division seems to be on the come up.

Part of the upswing has to do with the sewer gator looking ill with a sub-.500 record for the first time since 2015. But even so, both the Phillies and the Braves are showing glimmers of an actual baseball team instead of a pile of fill-in parts. The Mets have dominated, Say Hey, Baseball even talked about it. The team cooled off a bit from an 11-2 start, but are still rolling with a 15-8 record atop the division. Even the Marlins have the second smallest margin of any last place team.

The Phillies and the Braves are only a half-game and a game-and-a-half back from the Mets, respectively, with the Nationals struggling to catch up five games behind. Depending on the Mets outcomes in San Diego, either Atlanta or Philly could reclaim first place for the first time this far into the season since before 2017.

Neither team seems likely to hold the division if they can make it there. But having even had a chance to contend for first place or potentially even a wild card spot is a distant yet vaguely familiar feeling for both, like something known only in a past life. We’re only a month in, but wins in April count as much as wins in September. And once we get past this mark, we won’t “only be a month in” anymore.

At that point, will the teams have found a way to remain competitive? The Braves lineup is starting to show some kind of depth. Freddie Freeman is no longer alone, with Dansby Swanson finding a stride and Ryan Flaherty and Preston Tucker playing above projections. Baseball’s top prospect Ronald Acuña was just called up. He’s wasted no time proving his talent plays in the majors. His talent is the kind to electrify ball clubs. The biggest question mark for the Braves, its starting rotation, has a plethora of backup plans waiting in the minors.

It seems like years ago that Gabe Kapler was booed by fans at the home opener. Since then, the team has gone 14-5. The Phillies looked like they were attempting to push up their competitive window this offseason, adding Jake Arrieta. Including him, the pitchers rank sixth in fWAR. The Phillies have Rhys Hoskins, whose sophomore slump hasn’t caught up, possessing the second-best wRC+ in baseball and sits 12th on FanGraphs batting leaderboard, powering a middling offense. The bats look to improve, though, if and when individual hitters’ small-sample flukes correct themselves.

Philadelphia seems to be building on its improved second half of 2017. Both teams could easily regress, but if not, who’s ready for a good old-fashioned division race?