Status report: No new ace … but eight straight wins. A season-best 25 games over .500, with an 8½-game lead in the division.
Everything’s gonna be just fine.
Right?
‘VIBES ARE REALLY GOOD RIGHT NOW’
Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart
Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart
The way I see it, folks were (or are) particularly upset by general manager Alex Anthopoulos’ inability to land a big fish at the trade deadline for three main reasons.
- Bad memories. Braves teams of recent vintage love to limp into the postseason with an injured pitcher or four … and this squad is certainly toeing that line.
- Abundance. So many strong starting pitchers on the market … and seemingly every other contender got one.
- The build up: Anthopoulos himself had talked for months about possibly adding a playoff-caliber starter … and then didn’t.
Trying and failing to land Jacob deGrom or Logan Webb doesn’t make anyone outside the clubhouse feel better.
But inside the clubhouse? Well, I asked Braves beat writer Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) about that.
📝 Here’s what he wrote:
The gap between Sunday’s series finale against the Nationals and Tuesday evening’s series opener against the Marlins felt like a fortnight and not a little more than 48 hours. The Braves’ front office was taken through the ringer for not making a splashy trade, shipping out catcher Joey Bart and outfielder Eli White, and designating Jorge Mateo for assignment.
But while fans, pundits and reporters (guilty) clamor about trades and roster moves (or the lack thereof), the actual baseball team goes about its business.
And the Braves just went out, won three games and ran their winning streak to eight.
“We’re in a really good spot,” third baseman Austin Riley said. “Some new faces, and some really good guys. Played against them and so (we) know what they’re capable of. Vibes are really good right now. We’re a really good ballclub, so we got to keep that mindset and continue to push forward.”
So much for a dramatic letdown or a bunch of mopey faces.
Winning certainly helps with that, right Mr. Bishop?
And doing it with stellar starts from Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder is even better.
Overall, Atlanta starters have a 3.77 ERA on the season, third best in the National League. They’ve been good of late, too.
- From columnist Michael Cunningham: “They had a streak of 14 consecutive starts with no more than three runs allowed from July 22 through Wednesday. (They) had MLB’s second-best ERA from the All-Star break through Wednesday and the sixth-most innings pitched during that stretch.”
That last part is particularly encouraging, and we’ll see if Tyler Mahle can keep pace when he makes his Braves debut Friday night in the Bronx (more on that in a bit).
Either way, the sky ain’t falling, folks.
WHAT DO YOU THINK, THOUGH?
Both of these questions appeared as part of a larger reader survey type deal in Wednesday’s Win Column newsletter, so apologies to our double subscribers out there.
1️⃣ How much do you believe in Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos these days? We’re looking for a ranking between 1 and 5 stars, with the latter representing undying allegiance.
2️⃣ Who should the Braves start in Game 2 of a playoff series? Elder? Holmes? Mahle? Martín Pérez? Reynaldo López, if he’s healthy? AJ Smith-Shawver? Someone else?
Shoot me an email or use the fancy form to weigh in. (No pressure to answer the non-Braves questions, but you might just enjoy yourself).
QUICK, SOME OTHER NEWS!
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
🤭 Did, uh, did you see Ronald Acuña Jr.’s first home run Thursday night? Two Marlins outfielders collided on the warning track and the ball bounced off a glove and over the wall.
💪 Matt Olson now ranks eighth on the all-time consecutive games list. He passed Stan “The Man” Musial on Tuesday and, by my count, should hit the 900-game mark on Sunday in New York.
🔥 Is Austin Riley back (again)? The beleaguered third baseman struck out eight times during a single series against the Mets … but is hitting .348 with six RBIs over his last seven games.
📈 Baseball America released its post-draft, post-trade deadline list of baseball’s top 100 prospects … and three Braves made the cut.
- Outfielder Eric Hartman climbed all the way to No. 22 — and then became one of the youngest minor leaguers in history to hit at least 20 homers and steal 40 bases in a season.
- Top Atlanta pitching prospect Cam Caminiti came in at No. 60.
- Shortstop Tate Southisene, last year’s first-round pick, landed at No. 75.
🥶 Wanna race the Freeze? You’ve got a few weeks to enter the latest sweepstakes. And stretch. Definitely stretch.
WHAT’S ON DECK: MAHLE MANIA BEGINS
The Bravos spend the weekend at Yankee Stadium — where they’ll get a pretty good look at how their starters match up against an ace-heavy rotation.
BRAVES AT YANKEES
📺 Game times: Friday through Sunday at 7:05 p.m., 3:05 p.m. and 1:35 p.m., respectively. All on BravesVision.
🤔 What to know: The Braves visit the Bronx for the first time since 2024. They’ll face a Yankees squad that 1) trails Tampa Bay in the American League East standings and 2) is missing Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger.
But New York did pick up Nationals slugger Luis García Jr. (24 homers, 78 RBIs) at the trade deadline — and keep an eye on freshly summoned super prospect George Lombard Jr., too. He homered in his big league debut.
⚾ The probable starters: As mentioned, Mahle gets his first start since coming over from the Giants … while the Yankees roll out quite a collection of arms.
- Tyler Mahle (3-9, 5.13 ERA) vs. Max Fried (4-3, 3.12)
- Chris Sale (12-6, 2.08) vs. Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.42)
- Grant Holmes (7-4, 3.67) vs. Cam Schlittler (10-6, 2.26)
Mahle started against the Yankees way back in the third game of the season, allowing two earned runs and striking out five over four innings.
Some interesting (hopeful?) insight from Braves pitching coach Jeremy Hefner: “The Giants had introduced, like, some type of sweeper thing, and a two-seam, and then a cutter — and to mixed results. And then, kind of the last month, he went on a good run. He kind of went back to who he always was, and so we’re just going to continue that and make sure that we’re doing everything that we can to support him.”
BRAVES VS. METS
📺 Game times: Monday through Wednesday, all at 7:15 p.m. on BravesVision. Tuesday’s game simulcasts on your local Gray TV station.
🤔 What to know: In case you lost track, these guys are no longer Mets: Starting pitchers Clay Holmes and Freddy Peralta; relievers Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazobán and A.J. Minter; and outfielder Tyrone Taylor.
To compensate, they called up former Braves outfielder Cristian Pache and several pitching prospects … including Jefry Yan, a fireballing left-handed reliever whose leaping strikeout celebrations have already elevated eyebrows.
- Atlanta still hasn’t won a series against the boys from Flushing this season.
🎉 Free stuff: Lots lined up for the first 15,000 fans at Truist Park, with Michael Harris II football jerseys on Monday, Spencer Strider’s vinyl record compilation on Tuesday and a Javy López bobblehead on Wednesday.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
He needs to play tomorrow, please. He was talking a lot.
Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the Win Column newsletter a shot, too.
Until next time.
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