<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Minnesota Twins" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZXn2WAEtXesm-DgvXDbnj7Wj0J8=/0x0:5498x3665/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73551341/2168680655.0.jpg">
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
The road trip gets off to a fantastic start Don’t look now but it appears that this current version of the Atlanta Braves is actually starting to get into a groove. They’ve now won five series in a row and this was the best of them all, as the Braves swept the Minnesota Twins and picked up their first sweep since the early stages of the season.
What made this very interesting was how the Braves won these three games. The offense has been infamously dormant for long stretches of this season and that was true for this month as well. It was to the point that in my last Takeaways article, I claimed that “The Braves absolutely have to keep games low-scoring.” Let me tell you: I am more than happy that the Braves decided to make me look like a big ol’ dummy on the Internet by proceeding to win a pair of high-scoring games. That’s baseball for you!
Offense steps up at the perfect time
Atlanta’s pitching staff gave up six runs in each of the first two games and ended up surrendering 13 runs over the course of the three-game series. There was a time when this team giving up 13 runs over that particular span would’ve been a recipe for disaster. Shoot, we saw it happen earlier this month when both the Brewers and the Rockies essentially bombed Atlanta’s pitching staff while the offense was unable to keep up.
With that being said, the tables turned for the Braves in Minnesota, as this time they were the ones setting the tone on offense. 10 runs on Monday, eight on Tuesday and five on Wednesday — the Braves struck early and they struck often. As a result, Atlanta’s pitching staff was finally allowed to struggle a bit without it tanking the team’s chances of winning. Michael Harris II went yard in the first game, Jorge Soler broke out of a long drought by cracking one in the first inning of the third game, Ramón Laureano continued to make his presence felt in this lineup and Whit Merrifield even threw in a 5-for-5 night during this season.
However, I’d like to single out Matt Olson for praise, here. We ran an article before the series started about how this team absolutely needed Olson to step up. Almost as if it was right on cue, Olson delivered in big-time fashion. He produced a three-hit (two doubles and a homer), five-RBI night in the first game and then contributed an RBI in each of the following two games. While three games is definitely a tiny sample size, all we can do is hope that this is what sparks Olson to finish his season on a high note.
Raisel Iglesias continues to be nails
You could say that “nobody wants to face this guy” about a whole host of pitchers this season since the talent level for pitching across Major League Baseball appears to be at an all-time high this season. With that being said, I don’t think that anybody is really looking forward to seeing Raisel Iglesias at the moment. If the date of July 8 means something to you as a Braves fan, then you’ve been paying attention to Iglesias in general since that was the last time that an earned run went on his line. Other than that slip-up against the Diamondbacks back then, Iglesias has been as close to a shutdown closer as you can get.
I know that might seem like a bit of a hot take since Iglesias did record his first Blown Save since May 3 against the Dodgers but I’d argue that this wasn’t even really his fault — he just suffered a bit of tough luck after a pitch that should’ve been called strike two was called ball one and then the following bloop hit ended up tying the game. With that being said, Iglesias responded to that by immediately throwing a clean shutdown inning to send the game to the tenth inning so everything worked out just fine.
Heading into last night’s series finale, Iglesias was sporting an ERA- of 32, a FIP- of 58 and an xFIP- of 81. While his xFIP- (and his microscopic BABIP of .173) seems to indicate that he’s getting fortunate, I’d also say that this is that unique case where it pays to be both lucky and good. The bullpen as a whole has been getting the job done all season but Iglesias in particular has been getting it done whether everybody is having an off-night or not. Long may it continue!
Braves roll into Philadelphia on a high
It really wasn’t all that long ago when the Braves seemingly hit the nadir of this season after a rough seven-game span saw them split a four-game series with the Marlins, get swept with little-to-no resistance against the Brewers and then get tripped up by the Rockies. Ever since that embarrassing 9-8 loss to the Rockies back on August 11, the Braves have now gone 12-4 in their last 16 games and are 8-2 in their last ten. As a result, they’ve now made it to 13 games over .500 and are playing some of their best baseball since April.
This good run of form has now brought them to being four games ahead of the Mets for the final Wild Card spot, two games behind the Padres for second place in the Wild Card, three games behind the Diamondbacks for the top Wild Card spot and then five games behind the Phillies heading into this huge series in Philadelphia. While the Braves have been as close as five games behind the Phillies on a handful of occasions since late-May, they’ve now got a direct opportunity to get even closer than that.
With that being said, I don’t think anybody has any illusions of grandeur that this upcoming series will be easy. Philly responded to the series loss in Cobb County by taking two series in a row against both a really good Royals squad and the current AL West leaders in the form of the Astros. Regardless of the fact that Houston did leave town with a pound of flesh after bopping the Phillies 10-0, they’re likely going to be up for this series and will be looking to take this opportunity to effectively finish off this divisional race before we even get deep into September. However, if the Braves can get out of Philadelphia with a series win or even a sweep — watch out, folks. September already figures to be an incredibly intense month and it could get even more intense should the Braves get the upper hand over these next four days.
<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Minnesota Twins" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZXn2WAEtXesm-DgvXDbnj7Wj0J8=/0x0:5498x3665/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73551341/2168680655.0.jpg">
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
The road trip gets off to a fantastic start Don’t look now but it appears that this current version of the Atlanta Braves is actually starting to get into a groove. They’ve now won five series in a row and this was the best of them all, as the Braves swept the Minnesota Twins and picked up their first sweep since the early stages of the season.
What made this very interesting was how the Braves won these three games. The offense has been infamously dormant for long stretches of this season and that was true for this month as well. It was to the point that in my last Takeaways article, I claimed that “The Braves absolutely have to keep games low-scoring.” Let me tell you: I am more than happy that the Braves decided to make me look like a big ol’ dummy on the Internet by proceeding to win a pair of high-scoring games. That’s baseball for you!
Offense steps up at the perfect time
Atlanta’s pitching staff gave up six runs in each of the first two games and ended up surrendering 13 runs over the course of the three-game series. There was a time when this team giving up 13 runs over that particular span would’ve been a recipe for disaster. Shoot, we saw it happen earlier this month when both the Brewers and the Rockies essentially bombed Atlanta’s pitching staff while the offense was unable to keep up.
With that being said, the tables turned for the Braves in Minnesota, as this time they were the ones setting the tone on offense. 10 runs on Monday, eight on Tuesday and five on Wednesday — the Braves struck early and they struck often. As a result, Atlanta’s pitching staff was finally allowed to struggle a bit without it tanking the team’s chances of winning. Michael Harris II went yard in the first game, Jorge Soler broke out of a long drought by cracking one in the first inning of the third game, Ramón Laureano continued to make his presence felt in this lineup and Whit Merrifield even threw in a 5-for-5 night during this season.
However, I’d like to single out Matt Olson for praise, here. We ran an article before the series started about how this team absolutely needed Olson to step up. Almost as if it was right on cue, Olson delivered in big-time fashion. He produced a three-hit (two doubles and a homer), five-RBI night in the first game and then contributed an RBI in each of the following two games. While three games is definitely a tiny sample size, all we can do is hope that this is what sparks Olson to finish his season on a high note.
Raisel Iglesias continues to be nails
You could say that “nobody wants to face this guy” about a whole host of pitchers this season since the talent level for pitching across Major League Baseball appears to be at an all-time high this season. With that being said, I don’t think that anybody is really looking forward to seeing Raisel Iglesias at the moment. If the date of July 8 means something to you as a Braves fan, then you’ve been paying attention to Iglesias in general since that was the last time that an earned run went on his line. Other than that slip-up against the Diamondbacks back then, Iglesias has been as close to a shutdown closer as you can get.
I know that might seem like a bit of a hot take since Iglesias did record his first Blown Save since May 3 against the Dodgers but I’d argue that this wasn’t even really his fault — he just suffered a bit of tough luck after a pitch that should’ve been called strike two was called ball one and then the following bloop hit ended up tying the game. With that being said, Iglesias responded to that by immediately throwing a clean shutdown inning to send the game to the tenth inning so everything worked out just fine.
Heading into last night’s series finale, Iglesias was sporting an ERA- of 32, a FIP- of 58 and an xFIP- of 81. While his xFIP- (and his microscopic BABIP of .173) seems to indicate that he’s getting fortunate, I’d also say that this is that unique case where it pays to be both lucky and good. The bullpen as a whole has been getting the job done all season but Iglesias in particular has been getting it done whether everybody is having an off-night or not. Long may it continue!
Braves roll into Philadelphia on a high
It really wasn’t all that long ago when the Braves seemingly hit the nadir of this season after a rough seven-game span saw them split a four-game series with the Marlins, get swept with little-to-no resistance against the Brewers and then get tripped up by the Rockies. Ever since that embarrassing 9-8 loss to the Rockies back on August 11, the Braves have now gone 12-4 in their last 16 games and are 8-2 in their last ten. As a result, they’ve now made it to 13 games over .500 and are playing some of their best baseball since April.
This good run of form has now brought them to being four games ahead of the Mets for the final Wild Card spot, two games behind the Padres for second place in the Wild Card, three games behind the Diamondbacks for the top Wild Card spot and then five games behind the Phillies heading into this huge series in Philadelphia. While the Braves have been as close as five games behind the Phillies on a handful of occasions since late-May, they’ve now got a direct opportunity to get even closer than that.
With that being said, I don’t think anybody has any illusions of grandeur that this upcoming series will be easy. Philly responded to the series loss in Cobb County by taking two series in a row against both a really good Royals squad and the current AL West leaders in the form of the Astros. Regardless of the fact that Houston did leave town with a pound of flesh after bopping the Phillies 10-0, they’re likely going to be up for this series and will be looking to take this opportunity to effectively finish off this divisional race before we even get deep into September. However, if the Braves can get out of Philadelphia with a series win or even a sweep — watch out, folks. September already figures to be an incredibly intense month and it could get even more intense should the Braves get the upper hand over these next four days.
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