NL East

Hype has such versatile usage in sports, like the English language’s version of Will Smith—a rapper, comedian and actor.

It’s employed to characterize a player, group of players, team, franchise, manager, executive and even owners. Basically, sports’ hype machine is applicable to any breathing organism in the world of sports.

It's only May, and we're already running out of adjectives to describe New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard.

Dominant, nasty, transcendent, filthy, scintillating—they've all been used. Once you've named a guy after a Norse god/Marvel superhero, where is there to go?

How about this: best pitcher in the ace-rich National League East.

The Atlanta Braves may have broken new ground for awkwardness with the way in which manager Fredi Gonzalez reportedly found out he was fired.   

David Wright's injury woes are back, as the New York Mets third baseman is dealing with a back injury that will force him to miss at least one game. 

Continue for updates. 

Wright Scratched after Back "Flared Up"

Tuesday, May 17

Newsday's Marc Carig relayed the update.

A strong start to the 2016 season has bought Mike Rizzo extra job security, as the Washington Nationals exercised their general manager's contract option Saturday, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com.

Per Ladson, Rizzo's option, which will keep him with the Nationals through 2018, had to be picked up by June 15.

The Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to be easy to ignore in 2016. They were supposed to be bad, and that was supposed to be that.

But instead, here we are in the middle of May, wondering if they're actually this good.

New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard had an enjoyable night at the plate in Wednesday's 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and joined Walt Terrell (1983) as the only pitchers in Mets franchise history to hit multiple home runs in a game, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Take a bow, Max Scherzer.

One season after twirling a pair of no-hitters, the Washington Nationals right-hander struck out 20 Detroit Tigers on Wednesday in a 3-2 victory, tying the all-time record for a nine-inning game and carving his place in baseball history.

The Washington Nationals lost five of their last six games coming into Wednesday's contest, but Max Scherzer wasn't about to let them lose another. All the dominant right-hander did was tie a major league record with 20 strikeouts in one game as he led Washington to the 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

New York Mets starting pitcher Steven Matz's elbow has "flared up," and he will miss his next start Saturday against the Colorado Rockies, Adam Rubin of ESPN.com reported Wednesday. 

Continue for updates.