By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The MLB season just passed the quarter mark this week and believe it or not the name at the top of the NL East standings is the Atlanta Braves.

Not the Mets, not the Phillies and most surprisingly not the Nationals. It’s the Braves who have been the standard bearers for the division ever since leapfrogging New York at the end of April. It’s an exciting time for Braves Country and one that seems legitimate, despite it also being ahead of schedule.

They weren’t supposed to be this good. If you need further proof of that look no further than the Vegas odds of Atlanta winning the World Series at the start of the 2018 season: 300 to 1.

That was tied with the Phillies and Oakland and just ahead of Pittsburgh, who held a fire sale in the offseason. 2018 was going to be another rebuilding year, as players like Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna, Jr. developed at the plate and the likes of Sean Newcomb developed on the mound, while Mike Foltynewicz got another year in the rotation under his belt.

Now we’re ¼ of the way through the season and the Braves look like real threats. If you need further proof of that look no further than the current Vegas odds of Atlanta winning the World Series: 30 to 1. That’s quite an unexpected leap.

The reason for that leap? Ozzie Albies, for one. Turns out he didn’t need more time to develop, he needed a platform to become an All-Star. The 21-year-old can’t stop blasting out extra base hits. His power, like the NL-leading 13 home runs, has been unmatched so far this year. He’s truly been a breakout star for Atlanta.

Acuna hasn’t been quite as consistent as Albies, but he too showed up to play. He’s launched (and I do mean launched) four homeruns in his first 21 games on the big-league roster, as well as stolen a few bases to boot. For a player with that kind of production to still be considered “finding his footing,”, that’s something to be excited about.

It also doesn’t hurt that Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis look to be having career years up to this point. Freeman is leading the league in OBP and Markakis is pacing MLB in hits as of Saturday.

Ender Inciarte has also recovered from a relatively slow start and is amassing more stolen bases than anyone else. That’s a lot of different league leaders in one lineup.

On the other side of the ball is Sean Newcomb, who like Albies seems to have taken the next two steps instead of one this year. Following six innings of one run ball on Saturday against Miami Newk is 5-1 with an ERA of 2.39, best in the rotation.

Folty is having plenty of success as well, with an ERA of 2.87. Even the oft-derided Julio Teheran hasn’t allowed a run in his last 13 innings pitched and he sits pretty with a 4-1 record and a 3.49 ERA.

It feels like we’re all waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it might not. The talent is there and it seems like the team is gelling well.  If they can continue to produce at this level, they truly will be there at the end of the season.

There are improvements that can be made. Sure, the bullpen could use some fortifying and someone needs to step up at the hot corner but overall this team is the real deal.  They were always going to get to this point.  They just showed up a little early.