<img alt="Wild Card Series - Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres - Game 2" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/M4fFK6zh6YBWTOQifl4FEsuW69A=/0x0:8284x5523/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73628418/2175516050.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
The 2024 Braves died the same way they lived. Hey, what gives? Aren’t the MLB playoffs supposed to be unpredictable? If you watched the Braves’ 2024 campaign come to an end on Wednesday night in San Diego, that might feel like a hard sell right now, as the Braves once again lost a pivotal playoff game by letting a starting pitcher muddle through and put the game effectively out of reach. On the heels of Charlie Morton giving up a three-run homer in 2022 and Bryce Elder doing the same in 2023, this time it was Max Fried’s turn to suffer the now-familiar womp womp of having runs accumulate on his ledger. In truly fitting fashion, the bullpen ended up throwing six essentially stress-free innings, but it didn’t matter, as the Braves’ comeback fell a run short.
To say that this game was a Max Fried meltdown, though, well — that would be largely unfair. After the Braves took an A-B-C baseball lead (double, groundout, sac fly) off Joe Musgrove in the top of the first, Fried had the most un-shutdown-y shutdown inning ever. We’re talking:
Weak infield bouncer single
Liner off Fried, prompting an injury visit and a warmup pitch, that went for a single
69 mph bouncer comebacker that didn’t result in an out as Fried’s throw to second was late
Strikeout
66 mph roller leading to a forceout at home
Hard-hit grounder leading to a force at second
After two outs to begin the bottom of the second, though, the game went sideways, as this time Fried could still get weak contact but couldn’t escape the wages of the sin of not just striking guys out for a second straight inning. To be clear, it wasn’t just the infield singles, because after those first two outs, Kyle Higashioka crushed a homer off Fried to tie the game, and Luiz Arraez had a solid single to center. But then it was definitely time for more infield singles. With the go-ahead run on base, there was an 83 mph bouncer infield single to third. Then there was another 83 mph bouncer infield single, this time to second.
Would you have pulled Fried right there, with the bases loaded, the game tied, no platoon advantage against Manny Machado? He had given up the homer, but he hadn’t walked anyone. You and the Braves and whoever else wants to dissect that in retrospect, have at it: you’ve got the whole offseason. It may be irrelevant, because of course the Braves weren’t going to: that they would die how they lived all season (and past seasons) may as well have been etched in stone or prophesied by a gal named Cassandra at this point. Machado hit a two-run double, and then Jackson Merrill barreled a triple. The Braves were down 5-1; Fried had given up as many reaches-on-infield singles as he had gotten outs by that point, which was also incidentally the number of runs charged to his ledger in what could be his final game as a Brave.
After that, the bullpen predictably just shut the Padres down the whole way. Dylan Lee got five outs. Daysbel Hernandez got seven. Pierce Johnson and Raisel Iglesias threw an inning each. Is this what the Braves saved the bullpen for all season? That’s probably not how they drew it up, but that — and having Jimenez and Raisel Iglesias pitch both games in a doubleheader — is all they really earned for their miserly ways. The bullpen had a 4/2 K/BB ratio in relief of Fried; Fried finished with a 2/0 K/BB ratio and the homer.
Maybe you’re surprised that the Braves kinda, sorta, made a game of it. Musgrove was perfect after the first, but had to leave in the fourth with an injury. Bryan Hoeing got the last out of that inning, but was greeted in the fifth by a massive Jorge Soler homer to deep center.
In the sixth, the Braves got two on against Jeremiah Estrada, and the Padres went to Tanner Scott to face Matt Olson. Olson hit a 102.5 low liner the other way, but either because A) it wasn’t an infield single or B) it was a down-the-middle fastball that Olson inside-outed for some reason, it ended up being hit at the left fielder.
In the eighth, after a (surprising?) Orlando Arcia single off Jason Adam, Michael Harris II drilled a two-run homer to pull the Braves within one. But the next three batters got nothing off Adam. And, in the ninth, with Robert Suarez hitting triple digits and throwing 92 mph changeups, Soler almost made it really interesting... but him drilling a knee-high 100 mph sinker 371 feet to center resulted in an out. There wasn’t anything left after that; Ramon Laureano hit a 68 mph bouncer that didn’t turn into a hit, and pinch-hitter Travis d’Arnaud popped it up on the first pitch to close the book on the season.
I’m sure there’ll be a lot of temptation to try to draw conclusions from this game, because, well, there aren’t going to be any more Braves games for a long while. But really, what can you say? The Braves outhomered the Padres, but they didn’t really dominate the hard contact in this game. Mostly, they just didn’t string a bunch of singles together when their opponents did, but really, that’s been the story of a bunch of disappointing losses this season, what’s one more? Max Fried once again got punished for... not really doing anything wrong, with a hilarious 22.50 ERA, 7.67 FIP, and 2.68 xFIP (50 percent HR/FB) in this game. I appreciate the Braves realizing there probably wasn’t going to be another game and pulling him after the two frames because there wasn’t really anything left to lose at that point, but in the end, it didn’t really buy them anything other than yet another game where the bullpen erected a monument of zeroes in a loss.
Anyway, the Braves now have the task of trying to figure out what they do and don’t need to change before trying for an eighth consecutive playoff berth next year. For my money, figuring out what’s going on with the ball is probably the biggest priority, to the extent that’s even possible, but avoiding yet another consecutive season where they save the bullpen for nothing seems like a good thing to focus on as well.
See you in the spring (or sooner, but that’s up to you)!
<img alt="Wild Card Series - Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres - Game 2" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/M4fFK6zh6YBWTOQifl4FEsuW69A=/0x0:8284x5523/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73628418/2175516050.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
The 2024 Braves died the same way they lived. Hey, what gives? Aren’t the MLB playoffs supposed to be unpredictable? If you watched the Braves’ 2024 campaign come to an end on Wednesday night in San Diego, that might feel like a hard sell right now, as the Braves once again lost a pivotal playoff game by letting a starting pitcher muddle through and put the game effectively out of reach. On the heels of Charlie Morton giving up a three-run homer in 2022 and Bryce Elder doing the same in 2023, this time it was Max Fried’s turn to suffer the now-familiar womp womp of having runs accumulate on his ledger. In truly fitting fashion, the bullpen ended up throwing six essentially stress-free innings, but it didn’t matter, as the Braves’ comeback fell a run short.
To say that this game was a Max Fried meltdown, though, well — that would be largely unfair. After the Braves took an A-B-C baseball lead (double, groundout, sac fly) off Joe Musgrove in the top of the first, Fried had the most un-shutdown-y shutdown inning ever. We’re talking:
Weak infield bouncer single
Liner off Fried, prompting an injury visit and a warmup pitch, that went for a single
69 mph bouncer comebacker that didn’t result in an out as Fried’s throw to second was late
Strikeout
66 mph roller leading to a forceout at home
Hard-hit grounder leading to a force at second
After two outs to begin the bottom of the second, though, the game went sideways, as this time Fried could still get weak contact but couldn’t escape the wages of the sin of not just striking guys out for a second straight inning. To be clear, it wasn’t just the infield singles, because after those first two outs, Kyle Higashioka crushed a homer off Fried to tie the game, and Luiz Arraez had a solid single to center. But then it was definitely time for more infield singles. With the go-ahead run on base, there was an 83 mph bouncer infield single to third. Then there was another 83 mph bouncer infield single, this time to second.
Would you have pulled Fried right there, with the bases loaded, the game tied, no platoon advantage against Manny Machado? He had given up the homer, but he hadn’t walked anyone. You and the Braves and whoever else wants to dissect that in retrospect, have at it: you’ve got the whole offseason. It may be irrelevant, because of course the Braves weren’t going to: that they would die how they lived all season (and past seasons) may as well have been etched in stone or prophesied by a gal named Cassandra at this point. Machado hit a two-run double, and then Jackson Merrill barreled a triple. The Braves were down 5-1; Fried had given up as many reaches-on-infield singles as he had gotten outs by that point, which was also incidentally the number of runs charged to his ledger in what could be his final game as a Brave.
After that, the bullpen predictably just shut the Padres down the whole way. Dylan Lee got five outs. Daysbel Hernandez got seven. Pierce Johnson and Raisel Iglesias threw an inning each. Is this what the Braves saved the bullpen for all season? That’s probably not how they drew it up, but that — and having Jimenez and Raisel Iglesias pitch both games in a doubleheader — is all they really earned for their miserly ways. The bullpen had a 4/2 K/BB ratio in relief of Fried; Fried finished with a 2/0 K/BB ratio and the homer.
Maybe you’re surprised that the Braves kinda, sorta, made a game of it. Musgrove was perfect after the first, but had to leave in the fourth with an injury. Bryan Hoeing got the last out of that inning, but was greeted in the fifth by a massive Jorge Soler homer to deep center.
In the sixth, the Braves got two on against Jeremiah Estrada, and the Padres went to Tanner Scott to face Matt Olson. Olson hit a 102.5 low liner the other way, but either because A) it wasn’t an infield single or B) it was a down-the-middle fastball that Olson inside-outed for some reason, it ended up being hit at the left fielder.
In the eighth, after a (surprising?) Orlando Arcia single off Jason Adam, Michael Harris II drilled a two-run homer to pull the Braves within one. But the next three batters got nothing off Adam. And, in the ninth, with Robert Suarez hitting triple digits and throwing 92 mph changeups, Soler almost made it really interesting... but him drilling a knee-high 100 mph sinker 371 feet to center resulted in an out. There wasn’t anything left after that; Ramon Laureano hit a 68 mph bouncer that didn’t turn into a hit, and pinch-hitter Travis d’Arnaud popped it up on the first pitch to close the book on the season.
I’m sure there’ll be a lot of temptation to try to draw conclusions from this game, because, well, there aren’t going to be any more Braves games for a long while. But really, what can you say? The Braves outhomered the Padres, but they didn’t really dominate the hard contact in this game. Mostly, they just didn’t string a bunch of singles together when their opponents did, but really, that’s been the story of a bunch of disappointing losses this season, what’s one more? Max Fried once again got punished for... not really doing anything wrong, with a hilarious 22.50 ERA, 7.67 FIP, and 2.68 xFIP (50 percent HR/FB) in this game. I appreciate the Braves realizing there probably wasn’t going to be another game and pulling him after the two frames because there wasn’t really anything left to lose at that point, but in the end, it didn’t really buy them anything other than yet another game where the bullpen erected a monument of zeroes in a loss.
Anyway, the Braves now have the task of trying to figure out what they do and don’t need to change before trying for an eighth consecutive playoff berth next year. For my money, figuring out what’s going on with the ball is probably the biggest priority, to the extent that’s even possible, but avoiding yet another consecutive season where they save the bullpen for nothing seems like a good thing to focus on as well.
See you in the spring (or sooner, but that’s up to you)!
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