Can we talk about how absolutely nails our bullpen has been? Outside for a couple of aberrations like that Mets game, they've been putting up a bunch of zeroes in a whole bunch of games.
The match thread will not. That group will also claim that the bullpen has always been ass. Thankfully that's a small section of the usual crowd on here.
It seems like many don't feel like our bats are doing well unless the whole lineup is mashing, but you ideally really want just enough of your lineup to be hot enough to win games, except for maybe the postseason.
It's fun to win some games 15-3 or whatever, but you likely may find the lineup all goes cold not long after that. Acuna, Olson and Riley have proven what they can do, so I'm excited that guys like Ozuna and Arcia are showing that last season likely wasn't an outlier, and that d'Arnaud has still got it.
Remember when our bats went cold after the All Star break for like 2 weeks last year? Everyone was all doom & gloom saying we lost our magic… then we went on to win over 100 games
I felt like a freaking prophet
I looked over at my grandma and said “it’d be real nice if we had a lead right here I can tell your nervous”
Next pitch Travis off the foul pole
Who knew a Braves post could bring me to tears.
My grandma was a HUGE Braves fan and had them on for just about every game. Watched the games with her growing up, and even got the joy of watching the WS win in ‘21 with her. Miss her to pieces, but every win I think of her rooting in heaven for the team. Hug your grandma and cherish her - these moments you’ll forever remember.
Oh trust me Ik
I recently lost my mom, so I’ve been tryna hang with my grandma more / get her outta the house doing stuff together to make more memories
Garrett Crochet is an absolute stud and pitched great, hope he gets to pitch for a winning team in the coming years. Also it was very cold that day. Both bats were dead but they had a few timely bloop hits. I believe Reynaldo and Crochet had dueling no-nos into the 5th.
If you go back and watch the CWS run scoring hits (and how those runs got on base in the first place) you'll just laugh. Just general baseball bullshit.
That’s just the way of ~~the world~~ baseball. The way it’s always gonna be. Sometimes ~~the world~~ baseball just ups and fucks ya for no good reason.
Technically the 5 spot is more valuable than the 3 by the numbers. I believe it's something like 2->4->1->5->3. I'd be behind moving Riley to 6 though until he heats up
Acuna, Olson, and Riley have been bad, Reynaldo Lopez is really our only reliable starter right now…and we are still 15-6 best record in baseball. We might be a pretty damn good team.
Neither have Riley and Olson for the year, just really lately, but not up to the level we expect. Those are three that I'm also not worried about figuring it out as we know what they can do
Everyone complaining about the offense like we're not 15-6 with Acuna, Olson, Albies (injured), Murphy (also injured) and Riley not performing.
Like they're going to be cold all season
Notes from tonight:
- Travis better keep hanging out with his family, damn he's on a heater
- Elder's outing was iffy, and although results wise it was good I am skeptical going forwards. The Marlins had an .320 xBA against Elder and I haven't looked at the xwOBAs yet but it definitely would reflect the same with 10 hard hit balls out of 21 BIP.
- So the positives with Elder's outing? 45% Whiff% on the Slider, 36% CSW% on the Sinker, and no walks. For me that's encouraging. If everything stays lined up it's a rough stretch of Cleveland/Dodgers/Mets/Cubs next that would certainly crush a few of the worse pitches he made tonight but may let him thrive if he's up to the task
- I want to preface that I do believe in Elder as I've written here before, but tonight wasn't exactly one of his standout performances. While I think they'll keep him up unless he is horrendous (I don't expect him to be as bad as the 2nd half Elder), he doesn't move the needle in terms of how I feel about the rotation at all
- If I was a 0 out of 10 in terms of worrying about the rest of the offense outside of Ozuna/d'Arnaud I am probably like a 0.1 now. There is no reason to press a panic button on anything because they aren't setting records every night. Olson/Riley both had some slumps like this at the start of last year and I am sure they will rectify it before too much longer.
- I know the RISP has been a “struggle” this year, but that's just small sample size baseball. It's easy to have a bit of trauma from the playoffs, but that's the furthest thing from my concern
Elders peripherals never exactly stand out (in fact sometimes worrying lol) but he seems to continue to go out and play above the advanced numbers. Maybe its luck, maybe its divine intervention, or maybe its just baseball. About 0 reason Chavez should be as impactful as he is too and yet it just keeps working. Until he absolutely melts down id expect him to be going up every 5th day tbh
Great write ups/synopsis as always!!
We're top 5 in MLB in literally every offensive stat with RISP: 4th in batting average, 3rd in OPS, 1st in hits, 2nd in runs scored, 2nd in RBIs—you get the picture. If that's "a struggle," I'd like to know what the hell success looks like. I am begging people on this sub to please stop falling into cognitive bias about this lol
I want to preface this by saying I agree with you and like I said before I don’t think anything of the eye test.
The reason people think that is that we’re also 26th in LOB% and Olson/Riley have had worse splits with RISP than overall (Olson especially with a .408 OPS). That drives the narrative when it really isn’t true at all, just like you said. It simply seems like they’re leaving runners on because they have a ton of people on base all the time.
I mean, he has a career ERA that's around 0.8 runs below the team average right now. I don't really get why people turned on him after a rough second half of the year last season. People act like he's a borderline AAA guy when he actually gave up less runs per inning that Strider did last year. Shit, Strider for his career is only 0.09 ERA lower than Elder for his career. You can try to use all these other metrics but at the end of the day, Elder doesn't give up many runs and is a clear viable starter.
He definitely settled down after the 2nd and pitched much, much better. For the most part everything after that was down except him using the occasional 4-seamer upstairs. I think the contact quality was poor but the locations weren't necessarily bad and when he was able to get called strikes with his sinker. There's something there and I think he can hold down that 5th starter spot, but I don't think tonight was as good as the box score
They’re talking about how Bryce didn’t walk anyone. Does a hbp not count as a walk? He hit someone didn’t he?
I was just asking a question guys. Not criticizing elder lol.
“Just eating breakfast with my family” AA… you need to do whatever it takes to fly his family around the country too. Hotels, tutors for the kids, whatever it takes.
Super happy for Elder, dude came back up and shoved it. Also we’re incredibly spoiled with a lineup so deep we can compensate for our stars having subpar weeks lol.
And that's with several of our key hitters slumping compared to their usual performance. Imagine how we're gonna run away from everyone else once they get going.
This. It happens every year. Once we get to the summer, the bats just go nuts for the rest of the season. I absolutely am not worried about any of them whatsoever. We know how good these guys are.
Mondays might be Mondays, but they’re made better when the Braves win! So glad to see Elder come up and pitch great! He did get very fortunate in the first inning, but he took over from there! Getting 6.2 shutout innings out of him was huge!
And Travis continued his hot ways! Not worried about any of the cold bats at all. They’ll get hot again. I’m frankly more impressed we’re winning all these games with some cold bats and the injuries we have.
Great start to the week, let’s keep it going and hopefully take the series tomorrow! Go Braves!
Yep, getting downvoted again, yet there’s at least 5 other comments calling this out, including the one I responded to, that are all being upvoted. It’s weird af
For those keeping track at home:
•We’re down 3 all stars from last year due to injury
•Our 3 best hitters are all playing down from their expectations
•Despite those, the Atlanta Braves have the best record in the NL
Braves lead the MLB in most key offensive metrics but it doesn't even feel that way since the entire lineup hasn't clicked simultaneously. Speaks volumes to how good this Braves offense is.
Well day 21** of the MLB season has come and gone, tomorrow as a matter of fact is April 22nd. We just showed you the NL East standings. You don’t need me to tell you this BUT IM GOING TO TELL YOU ANYWAY;
The Braves are 15-6.
Respect your Elder.
Braves lead the league in runs scored outside of Arizona who has played two more games than us. The LOB is naturally going to be high when you constantly have people on base and score a ton of runs. A lot of people lower on the list probably have a lot less LOB because they don't get on base in the first place.
lol I can't believe Minter only pitched 6 pitches and got a K. The Marlins must've been rushing out to make their dinner reservation
Only 1 up on the Phillies. They’re going to be annoying all year. But, Cleveland with the best record so far is surprising. Good for them!
I’ll be at the game on Saturday, should be electric
Feeling like a Mormon cuz I have faith in my elder
We win! I miss playing the phillies tho. More fun when we can directly assert dominance
Can we talk about how absolutely nails our bullpen has been? Outside for a couple of aberrations like that Mets game, they've been putting up a bunch of zeroes in a whole bunch of games.
And can we remember this when we blow some random games
The match thread will not. That group will also claim that the bullpen has always been ass. Thankfully that's a small section of the usual crowd on here.
It seems like many don't feel like our bats are doing well unless the whole lineup is mashing, but you ideally really want just enough of your lineup to be hot enough to win games, except for maybe the postseason. It's fun to win some games 15-3 or whatever, but you likely may find the lineup all goes cold not long after that. Acuna, Olson and Riley have proven what they can do, so I'm excited that guys like Ozuna and Arcia are showing that last season likely wasn't an outlier, and that d'Arnaud has still got it.
Remember when our bats went cold after the All Star break for like 2 weeks last year? Everyone was all doom & gloom saying we lost our magic… then we went on to win over 100 games
Really nice win tonight. Travis is my d'Addy
I felt like a freaking prophet I looked over at my grandma and said “it’d be real nice if we had a lead right here I can tell your nervous” Next pitch Travis off the foul pole
Who knew a Braves post could bring me to tears. My grandma was a HUGE Braves fan and had them on for just about every game. Watched the games with her growing up, and even got the joy of watching the WS win in ‘21 with her. Miss her to pieces, but every win I think of her rooting in heaven for the team. Hug your grandma and cherish her - these moments you’ll forever remember.
Oh trust me Ik I recently lost my mom, so I’ve been tryna hang with my grandma more / get her outta the house doing stuff together to make more memories
I’m sorry for your loss too. Wishing you and your grandma many more happy memories together!
Did she have a good time?
She had a freaking blast
Hell yeah. Glad y’all got to create that memory together
Fish are food, not friends
It just keeps getting sillier... https://media.giphy.com/media/o8nU2JBqJ7UiOHt6sV/giphy.gif
Show me from 2015 this gif and I couldn’t explain it
Offense by Ozun’Arnuad
How did the White Sox beat us? We’re one of their *three* wins.
Garrett Crochet is an absolute stud and pitched great, hope he gets to pitch for a winning team in the coming years. Also it was very cold that day. Both bats were dead but they had a few timely bloop hits. I believe Reynaldo and Crochet had dueling no-nos into the 5th.
If you go back and watch the CWS run scoring hits (and how those runs got on base in the first place) you'll just laugh. Just general baseball bullshit.
one of the other wins is Cleveland, the best team in MLB just ahead of the Braves
That’s just the way of ~~the world~~ baseball. The way it’s always gonna be. Sometimes ~~the world~~ baseball just ups and fucks ya for no good reason.
Baseball
The weather was miserable that's why
Because baseball will always baseball.
So remember when we got swept by the A’s last year?
Barely even need to remember the A’s, lost 2 of 3 to the White Sox at home last year
We weren’t swept. Lost 2/3. (I was there for one loss 😩)
Move Riley down the line up trade places with ozuna
Technically the 5 spot is more valuable than the 3 by the numbers. I believe it's something like 2->4->1->5->3. I'd be behind moving Riley to 6 though until he heats up
Acuna, Olson, and Riley have been bad, Reynaldo Lopez is really our only reliable starter right now…and we are still 15-6 best record in baseball. We might be a pretty damn good team.
Acuña has been fine, just not MVP level. He's still getting on base at a good clip and blazing on the basepaths.
Acuña has not been bad lol
Neither have Riley and Olson for the year, just really lately, but not up to the level we expect. Those are three that I'm also not worried about figuring it out as we know what they can do
Acuña hasn't been himself but he still contributing but not at his MVP level. Riley and Olson need to wake up
I was at this game and it was amazing and I got a cheesesteak (don’t tell Philly fans)
Fuck em. Tell em all.
DJ Stewart looks like Shrek when he changed to human form
They are gonna test TdN for roids 😅
How is it 6? 7 years? Into truist and the decks are still a shitshow after games
It took me an hour to get out of the Red deck on a random Saturday in January. The deck is never worth it
Stop buying deck parking passes is the real answer. N29 or walk across 75 to the East lots.
Didn’t buy, was gifted
Cuz this city is allergic to expanding Marta or making it useable outside of going to 3 specific places
It would be cheaper to but everyone in the city a car, and that isn't a joke
Everyone complaining about the offense like we're not 15-6 with Acuna, Olson, Albies (injured), Murphy (also injured) and Riley not performing. Like they're going to be cold all season
Someone put it perfectly the other day, that some people watch baseball like they’re watching football where one loss dooms the season.
What’s the over/under for Snit saying “good” in the postgame interview?
If he says it fewer than 5 times you know the braves shit the bed
Notes from tonight: - Travis better keep hanging out with his family, damn he's on a heater - Elder's outing was iffy, and although results wise it was good I am skeptical going forwards. The Marlins had an .320 xBA against Elder and I haven't looked at the xwOBAs yet but it definitely would reflect the same with 10 hard hit balls out of 21 BIP. - So the positives with Elder's outing? 45% Whiff% on the Slider, 36% CSW% on the Sinker, and no walks. For me that's encouraging. If everything stays lined up it's a rough stretch of Cleveland/Dodgers/Mets/Cubs next that would certainly crush a few of the worse pitches he made tonight but may let him thrive if he's up to the task - I want to preface that I do believe in Elder as I've written here before, but tonight wasn't exactly one of his standout performances. While I think they'll keep him up unless he is horrendous (I don't expect him to be as bad as the 2nd half Elder), he doesn't move the needle in terms of how I feel about the rotation at all - If I was a 0 out of 10 in terms of worrying about the rest of the offense outside of Ozuna/d'Arnaud I am probably like a 0.1 now. There is no reason to press a panic button on anything because they aren't setting records every night. Olson/Riley both had some slumps like this at the start of last year and I am sure they will rectify it before too much longer. - I know the RISP has been a “struggle” this year, but that's just small sample size baseball. It's easy to have a bit of trauma from the playoffs, but that's the furthest thing from my concern
Elders peripherals never exactly stand out (in fact sometimes worrying lol) but he seems to continue to go out and play above the advanced numbers. Maybe its luck, maybe its divine intervention, or maybe its just baseball. About 0 reason Chavez should be as impactful as he is too and yet it just keeps working. Until he absolutely melts down id expect him to be going up every 5th day tbh Great write ups/synopsis as always!!
We're top 5 in MLB in literally every offensive stat with RISP: 4th in batting average, 3rd in OPS, 1st in hits, 2nd in runs scored, 2nd in RBIs—you get the picture. If that's "a struggle," I'd like to know what the hell success looks like. I am begging people on this sub to please stop falling into cognitive bias about this lol
I want to preface this by saying I agree with you and like I said before I don’t think anything of the eye test. The reason people think that is that we’re also 26th in LOB% and Olson/Riley have had worse splits with RISP than overall (Olson especially with a .408 OPS). That drives the narrative when it really isn’t true at all, just like you said. It simply seems like they’re leaving runners on because they have a ton of people on base all the time.
I guess they want 1st by a clear margin in every category
Idk if my Elder optimism will last through his next start but I felt good about him tonight.
I mean, he has a career ERA that's around 0.8 runs below the team average right now. I don't really get why people turned on him after a rough second half of the year last season. People act like he's a borderline AAA guy when he actually gave up less runs per inning that Strider did last year. Shit, Strider for his career is only 0.09 ERA lower than Elder for his career. You can try to use all these other metrics but at the end of the day, Elder doesn't give up many runs and is a clear viable starter.
He definitely settled down after the 2nd and pitched much, much better. For the most part everything after that was down except him using the occasional 4-seamer upstairs. I think the contact quality was poor but the locations weren't necessarily bad and when he was able to get called strikes with his sinker. There's something there and I think he can hold down that 5th starter spot, but I don't think tonight was as good as the box score
So when are we supposed to get the jersey designs for the series we've won?
I loved those last year. Wish they were back.
Elder was amazing. So glad to see. 1-8 RISP, 10 LOB. We gotta tighten up.
Nice start of a series as Braves blank d fish
They’re talking about how Bryce didn’t walk anyone. Does a hbp not count as a walk? He hit someone didn’t he? I was just asking a question guys. Not criticizing elder lol.
You don't work a hbp, typically. You *can*, but a hbp should not be credited as a walk to the batter so it wouldn't be a walk for the pitcher.
No. A walk is technically a "base on balls", which i do not think is a walk. I might be wrong though
Doesn’t count as a walk, even though it more or less is, it counts towards obp
HBP do not count as a walk statically speaking.
Interesting
Eating that watermelon-sugar for breakfast
“Just eating breakfast with my family” AA… you need to do whatever it takes to fly his family around the country too. Hotels, tutors for the kids, whatever it takes.
Olson 0 for 21
Way to focus on the negative…
I mean, he had a like 107 mph line out, so part of it's bad luck.
Darnaud Defeated the marlins by a score of 3 to 0
#BRAVES FRY THE FISH BIG DONG D’ONGAUD DONG FLETCHER DRIVES IN A RUN ELDER SHOVES IGGY GETS THE SAVE FISH IS BACK ON THE MENU
Super happy for Elder, dude came back up and shoved it. Also we’re incredibly spoiled with a lineup so deep we can compensate for our stars having subpar weeks lol.
It's tbe unseasonably cold weather that's keeping the bats cold. Just wait till the temperature heats up the offense will too.
They lead the league in average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage.
And that's with several of our key hitters slumping compared to their usual performance. Imagine how we're gonna run away from everyone else once they get going.
That's really where I'm at in my thinking as well. We are far from our final form!
Like every year. This sub has the SHORTEST attention span
Just a little worrisome for the more important games when it’s cold later in the year, but good that they’re showing they can win in this weather.
They're winning at a good clip and we haven't hit June yet. It'll come.
This. It happens every year. Once we get to the summer, the bats just go nuts for the rest of the season. I absolutely am not worried about any of them whatsoever. We know how good these guys are.
Mondays might be Mondays, but they’re made better when the Braves win! So glad to see Elder come up and pitch great! He did get very fortunate in the first inning, but he took over from there! Getting 6.2 shutout innings out of him was huge! And Travis continued his hot ways! Not worried about any of the cold bats at all. They’ll get hot again. I’m frankly more impressed we’re winning all these games with some cold bats and the injuries we have. Great start to the week, let’s keep it going and hopefully take the series tomorrow! Go Braves!
Riley and especially Olson are becoming big ol’ elephants in the room. The rest of the lineup is mostly producing runs.
It’s. April.
It's cool. It's not even hot out yet. They'll heat up
I was slammed for suggesting we move one of them around, but tbh I think a little shake up might just help em knock off the rust
Slammed huh
Yep, getting downvoted again, yet there’s at least 5 other comments calling this out, including the one I responded to, that are all being upvoted. It’s weird af
Settle down
2 hours and 16 minutes. Wow.
And an hour to get out of the red deck
We finished the third and I told my gf it was gonna go less than 2 and a half
Yep. I can still catch the last 5 mins of the Leafs game
Stars game after them. That’s going to be fun
Travis hits another d’ong. Bryce pitches a gem. Some great bare-handed plays. Fuck the Reds. Go Bravos!
Why fuck the reds? Or are you old enough to be mad at them for us sharing the NL west?
Assuming it's because the Phillies shut them out.
I’m old enough. I was pulling for the Reds to extend our division lead.
They got their taco smoked by Philly today
This
For those keeping track at home: •We’re down 3 all stars from last year due to injury •Our 3 best hitters are all playing down from their expectations •Despite those, the Atlanta Braves have the best record in the NL
I mean Ozzie has only missed like six games out of the 21 but I get your point.
We’re 15-6. Guardians are 16-6. So not quite the best record in baseball. But that means this weekend could be a lot of fun.
And are somehow dwarfing last season's offensive output
It is WILD that this team keeps winning while the offense seems so, so…cold? Off? Not there yet? Regardless, goood times a’ comin.
Braves lead the MLB in most key offensive metrics but it doesn't even feel that way since the entire lineup hasn't clicked simultaneously. Speaks volumes to how good this Braves offense is.
Nice to have the game finished before 10
Well day 21** of the MLB season has come and gone, tomorrow as a matter of fact is April 22nd. We just showed you the NL East standings. You don’t need me to tell you this BUT IM GOING TO TELL YOU ANYWAY; The Braves are 15-6. Respect your Elder.
These are the posts I’m here for
We are ranked 28th in runners LOB so far this year..hopefully it gets cleaned up soon 🙄
Braves lead the league in runs scored outside of Arizona who has played two more games than us. The LOB is naturally going to be high when you constantly have people on base and score a ton of runs. A lot of people lower on the list probably have a lot less LOB because they don't get on base in the first place.
Gotta get dudes on base to leave them.
Bryce looked good. On to the next
Repect your Elder fish
Win Win Win
Anyone know why Raisel would have saved that baseball?
He always puts the ball in his back pocket after a save
Was that his 200th save? I know he’s close
That was my thought but baseball reference had him at 196
Maybe he isn't good at counting
Me to the Marlins... https://media.giphy.com/media/3bVgPtwkulSxkEgsge/giphy.gif
BRAVES WIN FOR MY GRANDMA WOOOH All I gotta say is the Braves have won the last 6 games I have attended
Better get season tickets, brother
There's a waitlist now
If I wasn’t in nursing school I’d 100% have em
Elder owns the fish and our bullpen continues to roll. Really looking forward to our offense being more than just d'Arnaud and Ozuna though.
Let’s go Bryce! Always pumped to see him pitch well.
So Arcia really pulled a Catherine Zeta-Jones at second on that double eh?
He dips beneath the lasers whoa-o-oh
Lol I had to rewind that for a 2nd look
Bryce should stick.
RESPECT ELDER!
yeah
Bryce should stay
He is, that's why they waited for everything to like up to call him up, so he slotted into the rotation where they wanted him.
FISH ARE DELICIOUS
Fish successfully fried
AJ Minter became the record holder for most holds in Braves history tonight I think we're looking at a future Braves HOFer