NL East

OK, now the Philadelphia Phillies can get serious about rebuilding.

From the moment we first heard his name, we were told how great Bryce Harper would be.

Jose Fernandez went into his Tommy John operation last May as one of baseball's elite pitchers. Coming out of the operation, however, it wasn't fair to expect him to pick up where he left off right away.

Instead, here we are a month into Fernandez's return in 2015, and the only thing to say is this: Whoa.

When you were as bad at offense as the New York Mets were, any slight upgrade is not only noticeable, it is celebrated. 

That was the case when the team traded for Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, players with limited offensive abilities but certainly no worse than what it already ran out there every day. But the next upgrade was major, and it looks to have completely transformed the Mets from a meek attack to one with the potential to be good.

The Atlanta Braves and manager Fredi Gonzalez have agreed to a contract extension that will keep him with the team for at least one more season.   

Per the Braves' official Twitter account, Gonzalez's deal has been extended through 2016 and includes a team option for 2017. 

The Philadelphia Phillies set an unwanted record during the season's first half, losing 62 games before the All-Star break for the first time in franchise history, per Sportsnet Stats.

Although there was no expectation of the team being competitive this season, the Phillies have arguably still been somewhat disappointing, as they're in a league of their own when it comes to futility.

The Atlanta Braves nearly made it three months of being in contention, but on the last day of June a loss to the Washington Nationals pushed them to seven games out of first place in the National League East.

In the series opener that was billed as a pitchers’ duel, the Nationals got to Atlanta ace Shelby Miller early. Just two batters into the game, Washington scored the opening run, eventually plating four in the opening stanza.

The Philadelphia Phillies have announced on their Twitter that Pete Mackanin will remain the club's interim manager for the rest of the 2015 season. 

He's coming back. Whisper it, sing it, shout it from the mountaintop—Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins, arguably the most exciting young arm in baseball, is about to pitch in a big league game for the first time in more than a year. 

Before the season, I could've written down the names of the Washington Nationals' five starting pitchers and it would have only been a slight exaggeration to submit that as a list of the team's top five All-Star Game candidates. 

But with the game just two weeks away, the Nationals' rotation is only likely to send one representative to Cincinnati.