Ronald Acuna Jr., Dansby Swanson, Atlanta Braves. (Photo by Bryan Cereijo/Getty Images)
The Atlanta Braves are up against it trying to make it five NL East division titles in a row.
Despite being the defending World Series champions, the Atlanta Braves find themselves 5.5 games back of the hated New York Mets in the NL East division standings.
With about six weeks left in the regular season, there is time for the Braves catch the Mets and surpass them. While Atlanta is comfortably an NL Wild Card team, winning the division will presumably get the Braves a first-round bye as a top-two seed and into the NLDS. Winning it all a year ago was an improbable feat, but overtaking New York in the NL East race would be so perfect.
Here are three things the Braves need to focus on to make sure they get that first-round bye.
Atlanta Braves: 3 adjustments to be made to win NL East for fifth year in a row
3. Good things happen when the World Series champions put the ball in play
Admittedly, to say a top-six team in baseball has a bunch of flaws is not accurate. Atlanta is on a shortlist of teams who can realistically win it all. Although it is way more likely the Braves come up short in October than pulling off a remarkable repeat, there are teams in far worse shape than them. However, this team needs to find a way to not strike out ad nauseam vs. great pitching.
Atlanta may dig the long ball and can wreak havoc on the base paths, but when the offense is not making regular contact, the Braves are setting up its starting rotation and bullpen to fail. Although Atlanta has plenty of pitching to keep the Braves in close ballgames, there is nothing more maddening than watching this team rack up 15 or more punchouts in a given contest vs. an ace.
At least once a series, usually during the day, this team will try to play hero ball at the plate from the opening pitch until the final strike three. It’s like watching a bad movie, and this Sunday matinee stinks. We’ve seen this straight-to-video horror flick too many times previously, so stop me if you’ve heard this one before. When they put the ball in play, good things tend to happen for them.
Analytics be damned, a superior team should always put pressure on an inferior team’s defense.