The Marlins were left for dead after they shipped out Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in the offseason. This is a young team that seems intent on proving the pundits wrong. Florida finished April three games over .500. It concluded May eight games over .500 and was still hanging around at the end of June having wrapped up that month four games over .500.

Florida has an abundance of young talent and the players who have been promoted to the majors are showing the strength of the team’s minor league system. The hitting and pitching have been good enough to keep the team in the division race but the fielding must improve or the Marlins could wind up the worst defensive team in the league.

The Marlins have been greatly helped by their uncanny success this season against the NL East doormat, the Nationals. In the first dozen meetings between the two teams, Florida won 10 times. Despite their surprising first half of the season, the Marlins won’t finish ahead of the Phillies or Mets but they are showing their potential to be top contenders in the division in the not-too-distant future.

The Braves have been carried mostly by an incredibly hot Chipper Jones, who began July still hitting .394. But can they stay in the division hunt if he cools off considerably, especially after Jeff Francoeur was sent to the minors in an attempt to break a slump that had seen his average plummet from .261 to .234 and he had hit only one home run in his last 106 at-bats?

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Three veterans the Braves had penciled in as part of their rotation this year, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Mike Hampton all have been hit hard by injuries. Smoltz (right shoulder surgery) is lost for the season. Glavine (partially torn flexor tendon in his left elbow) and Hampton (strained left pectoral muscle) are out indefinitely. Those are big blows but somehow heading into play on the first Sunday in July the patchwork Braves’ rotation boasted the best ERA (3.99) of any NL starting staff. If that keeps up, the Braves aren’t likely to fade out of sight.

They must, however, improve away from Atlanta. The Braves won just 12 of their first 41 road games. If they can’t turn that around in the second half of the season they’ll likely be kicking themselves all winter.

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