The Braves lost in what was roughly the fifth most consequential game for the Braves today. Really, that’s all there is to say on it.
The game happened, but so did much more important games in St. Louis, San Francisco, St. Petersburg and Minneapolis.
Those games all went into the blender, and what came out was what a lot of people didn’t want to see come out.
Reds @ Braves; Bauer-Castillo-Gray @ Fried-Anderson-Wright.
But while those matchups are pretty tough, consider this: offense is involved here, too. The Braves scored 348 runs this season, second only to the 349 the Dodgers scored. The Reds scored 238, third-worst in baseball ahead of only Texas and Pittsburgh. The Reds were dead last in baseball in batting average at .212; the Braves were second at a .269 clip. And even with all the warts in the starting rotation, the Braves had a run differential of +60 for a reason. The Reds, even with all of the talent in the rotation, had a run differential of -2.
It’s not going to be easy, but name one postseason opponent that has been. The Braves might lay an egg in two of these games and lose to a team they should beat; it would hardly be the first time they’ve done that in a 21st century postseason series.
Yes, you should have a healthy fear of Cincinnati’s pitching staff. But Cincinnati should also have a healthy fear of Atlanta’s offense. And on the whole, the sum of Atlanta’s team is better than the sum of Cincinnati’s team. Will it matter? I have no idea. Anything can happen in a series this short. There are four possible outcomes for this series, and none of them would surprise me.
But this is a cage match, and it’s worth remembering the scene from Watchmen.
The Reds are locked in here with the Braves, not the other way around.
See you Wednesday at high noon.
Positives:
- Marcell Ozuna finished the year on top of the NL pile in home runs and RBIs. That first-inning blast felt like the perfect way to wrap up his regular season. Hopefully his 2020 postseason is similar to his 2019 one.
- Two hits for Nick Markakis today. His September has been ghastly, but that’s at least something.
Negatives:
- Luke Jackson might be finished in an Atlanta Braves uniform, and it was a very unceremonious ending. He hasn’t been good this year, but it would have been nice to see him at least put up a zero and end on a high note.
- All you can do is wait and see on Chris Martin. Obviously any type of injury was the worst case scenario today, and that’s exactly what happened. And of course you don’t want to see an injury to anybody, but it really sucks for Martin after how his 2019 season ended. Hopefully it’s not a disaster, but all we can do is wait to see what it does to his performance.
- Major League baseball continues to fail at marketing its product in the worst way imaginable. Eight playoff games in one day was always going to lead to bad time slots where fans can’t watch. If the whole purpose of the extra playoff round was television revenue, only having four of the first 12 games in primetime feels counterproductive.
But then again, I don’t know what else to expect with Rob Manfred at the helm.
Former Brave Of The Day:
Kolby Allard pitched a scoreless innings for the Rangers today to finish off his season.
Quote Of The Game:
“We’re on to Cincinnati.”
— Bill Belichick
Tomorrow’s Goal:
There is no game tomorrow. Take a mental break and get ready for the postseason.
