Tag: Division Champs!

THE ATLANTA BRAVES CLINCH THE NL EAST FOR THE FIFTH STRAIGHT YEAR!!

Fireworks from Truist park during the Braves vs. Mets series

Last night, October 4, 2022, the Atlanta Braves won their fifth straight National League East Division title in a 2-1 victory against the Miami Marlins. Being the World Series Champions last year, the Braves had a lot to prove this year, and they have definitely done that to this point.

The season started off slow once again for the Braves, and they hung right around .500 for a long time. But then, on June first, things turned around, and Atlanta hasn’t looked back since. Coming into the month of June, the Braves were 10.5 games out of first place. And starting the month of August, they were 7.0 games out of first. Then, from late August all the way through to where they are now, the Atlanta Braves got HOT. The Braves’ starting rotation was becoming secure and strong, the bullpen was reliable, and the offense was scoring runs consistently and often. All of that made the Met’s 10.5 game lead in the Division a thing of the past — and the Braves just kept pouring it on.

Yes, this title didn’t come easy for the Braves, but that’s what makes it so awesome. The New York Mets put up a good fight this year, staying in first place for almost all of the season. However, when it came down to the games that mattered the most, the Atlanta Braves always found a way to win. That proved crucial in their last home series of the season against the Mets over the weekend when the Braves swept the Mets; taking not only a 2.0 game lead in this Division, but also a winning record of head-to-head games against the Mets.

—

The Division is won, but now it’s time for some Postseason baseball! The Wild Card games start Friday, October 7th, and the NLDS will begin Tuesday October 11th. Since the Braves won the Division and won’t have to play in the Wild Card Series, this gives them a week’s worth of rest. This also gives Spencer Strider a week longer to heal so he can come back and pitch for Atlanta in the NLDS, and it gives Ozzie Albies an extra week to continue to heal from a fractured finger so he can make a potential return during the Postseason.

The Braves need to work on not leaving so many men on base, playing some small ball to go with their home run game, and honing in on starting pitchers making it through 5+ innings.

This is a very exciting time for the Atlanta Braves and all of Braves Country…but the battle isn’t over yet. If anything, it’s just getting started. Yet we can still shout: THE EAST IS OURS!

GO BRAVES!!

The Atlanta Braves Clinch the NL East For the FOURTH Year in a Row!!

Wow! What a series this was, and what a season this has been for our Atlanta Braves. So many things led up to this fourth annual Division Title. And I feel this was the most rewarding of them all.

When the Braves lost Ronald Acuña Jr. on July 11 with a torn ACL, so many people gave up hope on Atlanta saying, “How can we win without Acuña?”. Let me tell you…my faith in what these Atlanta Braves can do did not waver one bit. If anything, I felt that since so many people gave up on the Braves, that they would be even better and knock everyone’s socks off with how good they could be. Atlanta definitely proved every single one of those doubters wrong! 🙂

When you think about how the Braves got to this clinch there are so many things that come to mind. But I firmly believe the most significant of those is all the trade deadline deals made by Alex Anthpoulos, the Atlanta Braves general manager. He went out and got Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, Richard Rodriguez, Stephen Vogt, and Eddie Rosario. Joc Pederson came earlier in the season, but he has still played a big part in this comeback season for Atlanta.

After the deadline and the new players started playing for the Braves, it was like things just started to click. In August, Atlanta won nine games in a row and didn’t look back. In those nine games, the Braves went from being in fourth place in the NL East standings, to being in first place. That is HUGE!

Once the Braves got to first place, it still wasn’t easy. The Mets had gone on a losing streak, but the Philadelphia Phillies had gotten hot fast and were in second place in the division and kept the race interesting. I think it made their clinch even better for it to be against the Phillies – their biggest rivals. For the Atlanta Braves to have gone through everything that they went through, to fight their way back into the division race and maintain first place, this was a very memorable game and season for the Braves.

I can’t wait to see what the Postseason has in store for them!!