Instant Takeaways From Another Early Playoff Exit for Braves

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:00:24
Speaker 2: My name is Sean Coleman.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you had an excellent Thursday getting ready for a good weekend. And if you are a Braves fan, yes, it's unfortunate. Twenty four hours ago the Braves season ended for the twenty and twenty four season. And yes, why I think that many and I'll include myself in that may have found a bit sad this morning that the season was over. As always, my podcast partner Stephen Tolbert is with me. Stephen, I can say this, Yes, a bit sad, a bit bittersweet, but I'm gonna be honest with you.

00:00:59
Speaker 2: I think I see a few people say it.

00:01:00
Speaker 1: It just it was and I think I saw you say it just a little bit ago on Twitter.

00:01:05
Speaker 2: It was time. It was just time for this season to be done.

00:01:08
Speaker 3: Uh.

00:01:09
Speaker 1: We we had accomplished what felt like was gonna be our ceiling this year.

00:01:13
Speaker 2: And and while we may.

00:01:14
Speaker 1: Not have gone out in the most you know, best of fashion, overall, it seems like, hey, not too disappointed with how the season ended.

00:01:22
Speaker 2: It was the right time for its end.

00:01:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, what's up, Sean?

00:01:32
Speaker 3: It was a frustrating end for sure, you know, not having your pitchers available for the postseason.

00:01:38
Speaker 4: The hurricane happened, Chris Sale got hurt.

00:01:41
Speaker 3: You had the you know, bad game on Sunday against k C, which would have made your life a lot easier if you won. You had the doubleheader with the Mets with the blown lead in the first game, and then the two games in San Diego were you know, the first one was I don't think the first one was all that competitive. I think the second it's very when competitive. The Braves probably should have won.

00:02:02
Speaker 4: The second one.

00:02:03
Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm it's a weird it's a weird feeling anytime the season ends, because obviously we you know, what we do here and doing the podcast and writing for Her Battery Power. We're pretty heavily invested in this stuff, and so we spend a lot of time, a ton of time actually all you know, all season in the spring training, you know, all throughout the season covering the team, and when it ends, there is a weird feeling, and it's it's a combination of sadness but also in this case, a bit of relief. Honestly, I mean, I'm sitting here watching the Mets and the Brewers play a playoff game, and you know, I don't have any emotional attachment really to it, and it's just more enjoyable, quite honestly. I mean, watching the Braves this year became quite a chore, if I'm being honest, more of a chore than I remember in any season, and largely because of the offensive frustrations, where it just felt like we watched the same game every night and it just came down to whether or not the pitching could could hold the other team, you know, three runs or less, and if they could, then the Brace had a good chance of winning. If they couldn't, then the Brace had a really good chance of losing. And it just became a chore, quite honestly. And you know, it's funny. I was thinking about this. I didn't fully understand how much how much they're like really fun. Part of the team is tied to Ronald Acuna Jujunior and Spencer Streider until this year, like those two guys haven't Watching those two guys play baseball is some of the most fun I've ever had watching baseball. And when you take those guys out of the lineup, there's just the joy factor of watching the team goes down more than you would think with just two players out of you know, twenty six. But yeah, it was just time. It was time for the season. And the way they were playing, the Padres are just playing miles and miles better than them, and roll teams are better than them, and.

00:03:58
Speaker 4: You know, I was, I was ready for the season to be done.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: Now, I think that that's something that that definitely is worth, you know, diving a bit more into is that it just the fun of watching the Braves with the excitement of anticipating, oh, if we win this game, if we win the next game, what could that open up?

00:04:17
Speaker 2: What could the possibilities be there?

00:04:20
Speaker 1: You want to have that when you're in the playoffs, right, you want to think about this ceiling. You want to think about all the possibilities that are out there, and with each win, how much closer the ultimate prize is to be in reality. I can I remember back in twenty twenty one, it was so exciting to see how well we were playing, especially those first two games against the Dodgers, that really to me kind of opened up like this could really happen. But I never got that feeling with this team, right, I never truly had that feeling with this team because of the injuries that occurred and how frequently they occurred to our best players, how many games, time after time, we saw this team not only have bad luck in one game but have a bad approach in the other. And what I'm getting at is that the injuries, the bad luck, the overall bad performance, it just piled up and piled up and piled up to where, to be honest with you, it was hard to watch this team with excitement and joy because you're constantly thinking, Okay, what negative thing is going to happen next? How is about of you know, bad luck going to top what previously happened. I don't want to sit here and be too negative, but that's kind of the feeling that I had. And when I say that it felt like it was the right time for the season to end, I'm not saying the team felt like that, but that's kind of how I feel many and Braves Country felt watching this team, and it's unfortunate that's the way the season has to end. But it also really kind of sums up this team either met it ceiling with all it went through, or even exceeded it, but at the end of the day, it just was not a fun product to watch, not really anything because of the team had done in the negative sense, but just with all the stuff that they couldn't control piling up on them to get in their way of you know, reaching where they wanted to go.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny. I was watching, you know, obviously we were all watching the playoff games, and I was just watching, like how much energy and excitement was in that crowd in San Diego and they have a really fun team to watch.

00:06:22
Speaker 4: And I was just thinking, even.

00:06:23
Speaker 3: When the Braves were going well this year, I never really you know, you never really felt that level of like pure like excitement the way you know San Diego they were just having a blast in that stadium in the last couple of games, and you know, it just it didn't feel that way for the Braves this year. And one hundred percent, I mean, it's definitely most contributed to the injuries, right, not having your best.

00:06:48
Speaker 4: Player, arguably your two best arguably your three.

00:06:51
Speaker 3: Best players when you talk about you know, Akunya Strider and Riley Sale was probably in that category now. But yeah, it was a weird season. It was unlike any season I can remember, because the Braves objectively did well, like to win eighty nine games with the talent that they had left on the team to make the playoffs. Like they had a positive run differential, you know, easily positive run differential. Like they were objectively a good team, but they were a very frustrating team to watch, and again because so much of it was like the same game over and over. You knew if the other team scored more than three runs that the game was probably over. You just had to sit there and watch the offense flail away, you know, for nine mornings before it was confirmed, and you know, it was just a frustrating year to watch, quite honestly, And I do I do think some things need to change.

00:07:48
Speaker 4: I don't think and.

00:07:50
Speaker 3: We'll get into this little bit more in a minute, but I don't think it's just the injuries that caused this season to happen. That's what I don't want to I don't want to hear that all offseason. Then it's just like it was just the injuries. I do think there's some things that need to change, especially on the offensive side, with the approach. You know, the postseason stuff is getting concerning again, which we'll get into later, but the injuries are a huge part of it. But I do think there's some nuances there that I hope gets picked up throughout the offseason, and of course we'll try to talk about it as much as we can, but yeah, it was just time for this season to end.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: So Stephen, Scott and Brad did, as they always do, did an excellent job breaking down Game two, and we won't go you know, in depth with it, you know, like they did, because of course, you know, they you know, gave their their analysis of the game and in general, you know, kind of where things stand now that the season is ended. But another perspective that I want to look at when it comes to the short but I think it's somewhat significant in the case of a few players postseason that we just went through. I want to kind of take some performances from you know, this playoff series and time to the season as a whole and what it means for that specific player moving forward.

00:09:10
Speaker 2: Now.

00:09:11
Speaker 1: The first that stands out to me is Max Breed. You know, me and h you talked about it on Tuesday. We were highly confident going into Game two. Maybe not highly but somewhat confident going into game two. At the very least our confidence in the Braves potentially winning Game two was Max Freed being on the map. He had a whole lot of reasons to be motivated to do well. He had come off one of the best starts we've seen from him in recent memory. You know, in his previous start for the Braves, it seemed like that he was in a good position to deliver. But unfortunately, and as we've seen before when it comes to him in the playoffs, some bad luck and then some bad spots with his pitches at the worst possible time got him. But in the second inding, you know what, five infield hits or four infield hits in the fielder's choice that led to the double giving up to Manny Machado as well as the near home run triple that was given up to Jackson Merrill. Max Freed definitely didn't live up to you know, what you expect from him last night. But it was also another postseason start, Stephen, where we saw some weird stuff going on. The infield hits, Max getting hit by the line drive Fernando Tatis Junior.

00:10:17
Speaker 2: This is not the.

00:10:17
Speaker 1: First time last year, you know, the blister that he was dealing with he tries to ramp up and he struggles overall. When you look at Max Freed in the playoffs, his numbers suggest that he has struggled in the postseason, and he has, but he also played a huge role in our World Series run. The point that I'm getting at is is that when it comes to Max Freed, I know that some will point to his postseason struggles and be like, this is a reason why we probably really won't miss him in these big moments. But I also point to say that if you really dig deep into his postseason starts, there's been some weird scenarios. What are your thoughts with another start where Max Freed struggled, but in general, your thoughts about how he performed in the postseason.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: As a brave.

00:11:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, it's it's it's difficult because you are judged. A lot of players are judged on the postseason, and it's not fair because it's such a tiny sample of games, and anything can happen in this tiny sample of games. And you know, you could play a thousand games in the regular season, and you could play you know, twenty games in your career in the postseason, and what you're do in those twenty games is what people are gonna remember you for.

00:11:33
Speaker 4: I am not like that. I don't think that.

00:11:37
Speaker 3: I don't really care. I mean, I do care what guys do in the postseason relative to that season, but looking at their entire career, I'm it doesn't affect how I think about them as much as it does other people. Max was a really good pitcher for the Braves. You know, I am going to talk about him more in the past tense because I do think he's probably done. I don't know of a single person that thinks he's coming back. And even when he talked, you know, in the last few days, he talked like a guy that wasn't coming back and knew that he wasn't coming back. So, you know, I think Max's career with the Braves has been unbelievable. He won a World Series in twenty one, he pitched the clinching game. He'll always have that. Braves fans will always have that. He did have some bad postseason games since then, so you know that matters, And that's that's part of this conversation, and I imagesting how it affects his free agency, how it affects his you know, his dollar amount that he gets. I don't think it'll affect it a ton quite honestly, He's still gonna get paid a lot of money.

00:12:40
Speaker 4: But yeah, it.

00:12:43
Speaker 3: Max did not have a good night, and he's had a couple of those throughout his career, and that matters. It does matter, and I understand why fans think that way. I understand why people are critical of him in the postseason, especially the last three years. He did have some unfortunate things happened in those games that are not entirely his fault. So yeah, it is what it is. He's probably done for the Braves, and I very appreciative of what he did in his time in Atlanta, and I don't want I don't want all the good to just be undone because it didn't end great. I think people hopefully as time passes and we get a little further away from his time with Atlanta, people appreciate him a little more. Then they're probably going to in the next couple of years.

00:13:30
Speaker 1: And I'll elaborate on this as we go into the postseason. But I have no trouble saying this as of right now, because.

00:13:36
Speaker 2: I truly do believe it.

00:13:38
Speaker 1: I think the top five pictures in Braves franchise history, you know, in terms of you know at least you.

00:13:43
Speaker 2: Know the past one hundred years or whatever.

00:13:45
Speaker 1: I think the top five pictures in Braves franchise history are Maddox, Smoltz, Glavin, necro as well as Spawn. I think that many would agree with that statement. But if you wanted to make the case for Max potentially being you know, the sixth or seven person on that list, especially with that World Series title, I think that you can make that claim. Again, that may be a bit of a hot take. We can elaborate on that at a later dates, but that's my opinion of Max Freed. He's been incredible more often than not as a Brave, and when we needed him the most to reach a level that we had tried so hard to reach for a quarter century, he stepped up and delivered and help.

00:14:20
Speaker 2: Us get that twenty one World Series title.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: So I agree, I think that he has pitched his last game.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: With the Braves. I do wish him the best of luck.

00:14:28
Speaker 1: Again, we'll talk about him plenty as the off season goes along, but I definitely think that the overall opinion of Max Freed should be that he was one of the best arms in Braves franchise history. But speaking of players who very much are a part of our present and our future, another play kind of shifting gears here a little bit.

00:14:47
Speaker 2: A player that really stood.

00:14:48
Speaker 1: Out, not only in September, really helping this Braves lineup at times look like what it could be when it's going good. And someone that finally had a good post season was Michael Harris.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: The second. If you go back to twenty.

00:15:03
Speaker 1: And twenty two, the way he ended his rookie year to win his rookie year, to win Rookie of the Year over Spencer Strider, he was incredible, but in that twenty two playoffs he was irrelevant. He was very bad in the twenty two playoffs, struggled through twenty twenty three, struggled again in the twenty three playoffs, struggled for much of this year. But Steven I don't know if he could have ended his season in a better way at the top of the order in a very very critical spot in the leadoffs spot he delivered time and time again and also stepped up in big moments in the playoffs. If this could be him stepping up to be a big time player in big moments that could be a huge, huge boost to our offense gaining more consistency once again in twenty twenty five and beyond. It was really good to see him deliver in big moments, both in the regular and postseason to end this year.

00:15:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was.

00:15:57
Speaker 3: I mean, he had those two awful postseasons against the fifth Again, I don't put a ton of value in postseason performance relative to talent level. It's just it's just so random. More importantly to me was the month of September that he had quite honestly, you know, he has so much talent. I mean, you and I talked about this at the beginning of the year, like how much talent this guy has and how unbelievable he can be if he if he can reach that potential. I still have concerns about his plate discipline numbers. They're they're still pretty scary. But he did do a lot better in September and in the obviously in the series against San Diego with taking bad pitches and swinging at good pitches. And if Michael Harris takes bad pitches then he swings at good pitches, he can be he can win an MVP one day. Like, that's how talented this kid is, and that's how critical that one skill is in terms of developing for him. Where if he doesn't allow pitchers to get him out with you knowl lighters in the dirt and change ups in the dirt, and he forces pitchers to throw pitches over the plate.

00:17:04
Speaker 4: To get him out, he will be awesome.

00:17:07
Speaker 3: And he's got all the talent in the world. He's got a beautiful left handed swing. His left handed swing, of course, is critical for the Braves because they don't have a lot of left handers. It's basically him and Olsen these days. And you know, when he's going well, the offense is very different. And he's got all the talent in the world. And I was I was really happy for him to have the September that he had to have the posts and they had to get that monkey off his back. I'm sure he got sick of hearing people talk about his two you know, terrible postseasons, and I'm various. See what happens in twenty twenty five. I think he can be I mean, honestly, you know, we don't know what version of a Kunya we're going to get after you know, two torn Acls. You know, it's very possible that Michael Harris is now the bravest, most dynamic player, and you know, he could really come into his own. You know, he's about to enter what is probably the prime of his career. You know, the sky's a limit for this kid. If he can lay off the junk in the dirt, swing into good pitches and let that talent show through, the sky's a limit for him.

00:18:11
Speaker 1: And of course, another player who stood out in yesterday's game, and this has been a consistent theme of this player in a Braves uniform, was Jorge Seilaire. He had the big home run, you know, to make the score five to two. He made he did everything that he needed to do in that first at bat in the top of the ninth inning, just hit it right to Jackson Merrill one hundred and ten, you know, off the bat, and I don't know many people remember, but on Monday he also had a couple of big hits as well, and Hore Slayer. I know that a lot's been talked about when it comes to how he performed in the field, and that there were several examples of why he should not be in the field for the Braves. But I also don't think enough's been brought up about just how good he was at the plate. You know, a three sixty on base percentage, two fifty five ISO. I believe that eight sixty ops, eight to fifty ops, a one thirty eight WRC plus jorgees Solaire added value offensively. He was a good get at the trade deadline for this Braves team that needed to boost offensively.

00:19:13
Speaker 2: He provided that.

00:19:14
Speaker 1: So Steve, what I'm getting at is I think orgees Celaire, and especially when it comes to trying to figure out what version of Ronald Raccunye Jr. We're going to get coming off his injury, and you know, we expect that we're going to pick up Marcelo Zuna's option for next year. I don't really want to get into what's going to happen for twenty twenty five, but what I will say is this orgees Solayer, in my opinion, definitely brings.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: Value for the Braves moving forward.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: They need players who can provide good overall approaches at the plate, that can hit for power, that can get on base and can deliver in the postseason. And it's hard to find any Braves who offer a better combination of that than Jorge Silaire. He proved it once again this postseason.

00:19:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the Braves love for he Selaire, and regardless of how individual fans think of him, the Braves love him. They they have said that they have tried to acquire him multiple times over the years. They've acquired him twice and tried multiple times outside of the two times they actually did.

00:20:14
Speaker 4: So.

00:20:14
Speaker 3: They clearly love his bat and he does have a good eye at to play to you, he will take walks.

00:20:19
Speaker 4: He obviously has a ton of power.

00:20:23
Speaker 3: You know, it just comes down to the fit at some point. I mean, they have a Kunyan right I don't think there's any chance he could play left field. He's just so big and slow in the left field in Truest Park is huge. Leftield is actually harder to play than Truest than right field is. So I don't know what they're gonna I really don't know what they're gonna do. I don't really know if you can have two d hs on the team, that really hamstrings you in terms of any other you know, kind of versatility or mobility in your roster. So it'll be that's one of the keys of the off season, of course, is what's gonna happen with that situation. Yeah, you know, I'm fairly certain they're going to pick up Marcelos in his option, Soeleira's under contract for two more years. You got Ronnie coming back, So that's a that's a whole mess that's going to be sorted out. But just the player, you're right, I mean, his bat is very valuable to the Braves. The only thing that would be better, honestly, is if he was left handed versus right handed. He is another right handed bat and a right handed heavy lineup. But the Braves needed more offense when they went and got him, and they were willing to sacrifice a ton of defense in the right field to do it. So that's how much they think about his offense. And you know, he played pretty well for the Braves. I think he was you know, I think they were probably hoping for maybe one level more than they they got from him in terms of the whole you know, two months he was with the team, But you know, I think he was pretty close to being what they hoped he would be, at least offensively. I think the defense was probably worse than they thought it would be and that's going to play a factor into what they do this offseason. But yeah, the Braves do need I mean, they need guys who can take walks. And I'm gonna say that probably a thousand times between now and you know, when the roster's done being built for the twenty twenty five season, that the Braves need guys who could take walks. The Braves need guys who can stare at bad pitches and literally keep the bat on their shoulder because they just don't have enough of that in this lineup and just too many times they have guys just whiling away at terrible pitches and get you know, get themselves out of rallies and and help pitchers out. And they just need more guys. And Ronnie is a big part of that, getting Ronnie back. You know, Ronnie always runs like a thirteen fourteen percent walk rad. He's an elite, you know, elite plate discipline guy in that in that manner.

00:22:43
Speaker 4: Riley's pretty good.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: But they need, they need more more players in the lineup they can take walks, and you know, so Larry can do that. So it is gonna be very see what they do with him. Obviously over the next three months.

00:22:58
Speaker 1: One other thing that I ad I think that you know, also needs to have a spotlight put on it from the past two games.

00:23:04
Speaker 2: And even Monday.

00:23:05
Speaker 1: You know, one thing that I feel like that you know, I've been a bit critical of when it comes to the Brave is that they've not really you know, we just saw the Padres, you know, their bullpen. I know that, you know, some of the pieces were traded for, but there are also some of their pieces.

00:23:18
Speaker 2: That they have developed.

00:23:19
Speaker 1: The Padres seem like they have developed some pretty good relievers over the years. The breaks not so much in terms of developing their own relievers. Aj mentor Dylan Lee. Yes, they've done well when it comes to left handers. But you go back to Tuesday night, game one of the Wildcrord series, Aaron Bummer looked really good, and Steven, I don't know of anyone who has been a bigger source of support for Aaron Bummer than yourself, you know, with the fact that it just seems like Brian Snigger hasn't trusted me all trusted him all year long. Many have wanted Dazbel Hernandez to get, you know, a really good look in the Majors and he looked good in Game two. I know that our back end of our bullpen is pretty much set for next year, but I do think there are going to be a few spots to feel good. Holmes has shown what he can do as a versaal option out of the pen. He may be Jesse chaves replacement, but the point that I'm excited about is that when it comes to our bullpen.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, the back end of our.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: Bullpen may be spoken for next year, especially if winter comes back, but we've got some depth now, and if there could be more trust put on Bummer as well as Hernandez and Homes for instance, maybe using them more in high leverage situations can ensure that our bullpen stays as fresh as possible for the postseason. It was really good to see some of our you know, bullpen depth that we've developed in recent years really step up. I know he acquired Bummer, but really step up and deliver over the past couple of days.

00:24:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I am curious to see what Dais Bell does next year. I'm very curious to see what role that Aaron Bummer has. You know, the Braves have to pick up his arbitration number, and it's not going to be cheap. So you know, well, a guy like Bummer, it's tough to pay that amount of money if you're not going to use him on high leverage. And the Braves should use him high leverage, but they absolutely did not use him in high leverage in twenty twenty four, So you know, Alex's decisional whether or not to keep him around at that number, and I don't have.

00:25:10
Speaker 4: The number right in front of me.

00:25:11
Speaker 3: I know the arbitration numbers got released a couple of days ago, but it's I'm guessing it's around eight or nine million. Having a guy in your roster who makes that much money who's not a high leverage reliever is a tough place to be. So you know, they're they're probably going to have to talk to Snit about he like, hey, this dude's really good. Maybe use him in bigger situations than just clean up, you know, cleaning up other guy's messes, which is what basically what he did all of twenty twenty four. And Day's Bill's you know, Day's Bill still has to work on his command. But yeah, the back end of the bullpen, I mean, the ball, the whole bullpen all year had was unbelievable, honestly. I mean, you know, it's funny, Sean. I've I've read a lot of recaps of the season so far. In the in the last twenty four hours, everybody's writing their like end of season recaps, and it's talking about all the things that went wrong for the team, and I don't think enough it's been made about all the things that went right in twenty twenty four, like all the good fortune the Braves had in twenty twenty four. You know, Chris Saale being at the top of that list, being a cy young guy for the first time in like six years. You know, Renaldo Lopez turning into a starter from being a reliever in the last four years and being unbelievable in that role.

00:26:24
Speaker 4: No one saw that coming.

00:26:25
Speaker 3: Spencer Swallenbach coming out of nowhere.

00:26:28
Speaker 4: But also the you know.

00:26:30
Speaker 3: Rossio Iglesias and Jojanmannez having the seasons they had where they were both top ten, you know, top ten relievers in baseball, and that was kind of out of nowhere. I mean, I thought those guys could be good, but like no one expected them to be that good.

00:26:44
Speaker 4: And that was a.

00:26:47
Speaker 3: Big part of this season. And it's not necessarily a part of the season. You can guarantee that's gonna happen again next year. Bullpens are just so volatile, so you know, I do think they need to lean on Aaron bummermore. I am curious to see what they do around these guys. You know, Pierce Johnson will be back. I think he signed a two year deal last offseason, so he'll be back. The bullpen is gonna be interesting.

00:27:09
Speaker 4: It should be good.

00:27:09
Speaker 3: You know, Alex usually builds a pretty good bullpen, so I have faith that it'll be good. But I'm guessing the names will be different, and I am I'm hoping they use Aaron Balmer a little more than they did in twenty twenty four.

00:27:22
Speaker 1: Well, Stephen, when they acquired him, they they definitely wanted to make sure they had him for multiple years. Looking up to the contract numbers, it actually is pretty decent. They have team options for him for the next two years at around seven seven and a quarter million.

00:27:36
Speaker 4: For Okay, so it's seven and a quarter yeah.

00:27:39
Speaker 1: But but it's not only for twenty twenty five twenty twenty six as well. I believe I believe I looked that up correctly, so, but I agree, especially if you're going to be without a g mentor you just got a trust him. You've got to trust him because he shows stuff that that that is very hard to hit at times. I know that, you know, he's had a bit of a history of you know, hey, his his actual number are much worse than his expected numbers. But at some point you got to trust him, and they did in Game one, and I think that he.

00:28:05
Speaker 2: Showed his worth.

00:28:07
Speaker 1: But of course, the biggest thing of all that stands out if we're going to take what occurred this postseason and we're going to broaden it out to say, Okay, what does this mean for the near term future as we look to shape up the offseason. Steven, you said it yourself. You pointed this out ten games over the past three years, and we've scored twenty five runs. And I'll honestly say this, I feel like that last night's offensive performance was arguably the best that we've seen. That may have been the best offensive game that the Braves have had in the postseason since they won the twenty twenty one World Series, maybe Game two of the twenty three playoffs. But they hit multiple homers, they put good contact on the ball multiple other times that just didn't work out. But me having to defend last night, this game is being one of the best offensive games they've had over the past three postseasons. That is what sticks out to me is a stroke. I get small sample size, and I get that it's a crapshoot, but I do think that something that certainly is there for a takeaway. And it's especially I feel more valid after we saw the same things pop up during the regular season this year that have consistently popped up in the postseason. Is that you pointed it out. Approaches need to change when it comes to our offensive game plan because if they don't and we're not hitting home runs, we are going to likely continue to struggle when we face quality pitching in the postseason. That's happened three straight postseasons in a row. But whatever value you want in a tend game sample size, but it is a bit concerning and I think needs to be a bigger part of how we shape our off season. Yeah.

00:29:56
Speaker 3: I mean, that's how you get judged. Like it's not fair, but that's how you get judged. And the truth of the matter is the last three postseasons, the Braves have gotten not just beaten, but dominated. In all three of this series they've played two against the Phillies and obviously this one against San Diego. They scored twenty five runs total in those ten games, you know, two point five runs a game. Maybe more concerning is, you know, over those ten games is ninety innings, and of the ninety innings they played in those three series, they only led in four.

00:30:26
Speaker 4: Of those innings.

00:30:28
Speaker 3: So that's how that's how much they've been dominated in the last three years in postseason play. And listen, when you're a team, don't that's trying to win a World Series and this is the this is the the results you're putting up in the first round of your playoff series. You know, multiple years in a row, the GM, the manager, like, at some point those guys start feeling the heat for that, Like that's just the nature of the beast. Like is it is it terribly fair? No, because again it's it's ten it's a ten game sample, and baseball at ten game sample is nothing. But these are the most important games of the year. And you can't just you can't just get dog locked the way the Braves have the last three years and continue that into the future and eventually feel the heat from it. And I thought Scott and Brad. Scott and Brad had a really good show last night. You know, they did about a full hour about talking about the game and the season, and I thought they brought up a good point, like if twenty twenty one hadn't happened, And you know, because the Braves got knocked out of the first round in eighteen, they got knocked out in the first round in nineteen, I don't count twenty twenty. That was a I mean, that was the COVID year. Playoff games were in neutral sites, there were no fans. I don't count twenty twenty. If you take all the full seasons, which has been six full seasons, the Braves have been knocked out of the first round in five of them and won the World Series in the other. And if twenty twenty hadn't twenty twenty one hadn't happened, the conversation about Alex and the Braves and snit would be very different right now. If they had just continued this run of just getting just skull dragged in the first round of the playoffs, you know, the murmurs would be quite a bit louder, but twenty twenty one buys you some time. But I do think if we're at the same spot next year, like if we're having the same conversation next year, and again I think Scott said this last night. If if the twenty twenty five postseason goes like twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, and twenty twenty four has gone, We're gonna have a different conversation about like and Thopless snicker, like, you can't just keep getting destroyed in the first round of the playoffs and not have it ever come back on you, you know, as the people in charge of the franchise, so you know those you know, the injuries are gonna save them from a lot of that. This offseason, most people are just gonna wrap it up in the injuries and kind of just you know, throw it out as is not much you can do about it. But if it happens again next year and it's four years in a row of this, the conversation is going to be very different.

00:33:09
Speaker 1: And that's where I think acknowledgment in the present is important. I can't speak for anybody else, but I am a huge, huge believer in Alexanthopolis if it's twelve months from now and we're having this same conversation, I'm still not going to be an advocate for parting ways with Alexanthopolis. I'm a huge believer in what he does and how he does it, and I feel that he is going to make the necessary changes because we've seen him do it time and time again. But I say that to say this when I talk about acknowledgment last year, in the next forty eight hours, we're likely going to see Alexanthopolilis's exit interview into the year statements, whatever you want to call it. Last year at this time when he had that, he brought up a good lot of logical points for the reasons why the Braves had gotten thoroughly beaten by the Phillies two straight years, but why there shouldn't be much change to the overall makeup of the team. Alex talked about how he trusted his core with how well they had played during the regular season, how he couldn't really put too much emphasis on a four game sample size, so on and so forth, and those points still exists as being logical a year later. Injuries definitely played a big part in the Braves' overall stealing as well. But the big difference between what Alex Andthopolis said then and what he said now, We've had a whole regular season of the same issues that plagued the Braves in the twenty two and twenty three playoffs. It gotten their way from being where they truly wanted to be all season one. So it has become a bigger concern for this team, and I want to see that acknowledge, Like, I'm not going to sit here and you know, just completely change my mind opinion of Alex and thoppless if he mainly talks about injuries or small sample size or whatever when he's asked about, you know, another year playoff struggles, but I want to see, you know, what he has to say about the fact that the riding is on the wall, that the Braves offensive approach, it definitely has room for improvement. And so that's what I'm really hoping to see Alex look at. And last year he acknowledged that pitching needed to be improved. He went out made the moves that he made in the off season and the results were better than anybody expected. Not necessarily saying that's going to happen for this offense. Also don't think there's going to be a lot of changes, But in terms of the approach for this team, I think that needs to be a focus, and I hope that he acknowledges that in his comments in the next day or so.

00:35:48
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:35:48
Speaker 3: I mean, look, I've said a bunch on the show. The injuries are are probably the biggest factor in what happened this season, but they are certainly not the only thing. And I have gotten annoyed with people that have kind of whitewashed it under the headline of well, they just had a bunch of injuries and just leave it at that. I think that I think that's just an incomplete I think that's an incomplete view of what happened in twenty twenty four. The injuries are a big part of it, but the Braves offensive approach has been has been exposed a bit. And when you build the entire thing out of hitting home runs like they have, and Chipper talked a little bit about this in the podcast that he did, you got to hit so many homers like the Braves still had were like top five and homers this year, but their offense wasn't nearly the same because they didn't have the on base percentage to go with it, so it was a lot of solo home runs and even being top five in homers this year, they still hit like a hundred or so less homers than they did last year, which is of course a ton of runs to remove from any lineup and still be as good. So the offensive approach is definitely something I want to hear him talk about. I want to hear what he has to say about that. You know, pitchers getting hurt right before the postseason, that's just I mean, it's honestly, it's bad luck. Like I don't know, I don't know what can be done about that.

00:37:20
Speaker 4: Honestly. I mean the Braves.

00:37:23
Speaker 3: I thought the Braves did about everything you could do.

00:37:26
Speaker 4: In terms of resting guy.

00:37:28
Speaker 3: I mean the Brave I honestly, I thought the Braves went too far and resting guys in the regular season at times.

00:37:34
Speaker 4: You know, instead of banking.

00:37:36
Speaker 3: Wins early in the year, they they they punted a lot of games to try to get these guys to October, and in the end, you know, they didn't get any of the dividends that they were hoping they would get, and still punted games in April May and June, and I'm guessing if they had it to do over again, they would have probably banked a few more of those wins early in the season, and you know, knowing that they weren't going to get these guys healthy to October either way. But the offensive approach is something that has to improve, and some of that is talent. They got to get a real shortstop, you know they need. You know, the Jared Kelnick thing really did not work this year. I'm very curious to see what they do in left field with him, if he's the starter again or if they try to do something else, because that was it that that did not go well. I mean, Ramon Loreano essentially just took his job from him in like June or July and never gave it back, and so I'm curious to see what they do there. I want them to get a little bit more left handed help. I've said that in multiple times, but the offensive approach is definitely the number one thing I'm I'm curious to hear about when Alex talks, probably tomorrow or the next day, because I don't I don't think that can just be swept.

00:38:45
Speaker 4: Under the rugs.

00:38:46
Speaker 3: Well, we had injuries, because even when guys played, they were substantially worse than than they normally are. And you know, is Kevin Sitz are gonna be back? Are they gonna look to do things a little bit differently? Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I'm okay hearing mostly about the injuries. I'm not okay hearing entirely about the injuries. I do want some accountability for you know, I think they mismanaged the rotation a little bit early in the season by giving all these guys all that rest and not getting any of the dividends from it later on. And I do think they need to talk about the offensive approach and in ways that maybe gonna look, you know, to do that differently.

00:39:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:39:26
Speaker 1: And if you're going into the start of this offseason and you look at the Braves in the playoffs, and you you know, you see, for instance, the fact that it seemed like so many times during the regular season, and and you know, we saw it happen multiple times in the playoffs. You know, we had Ramon Loreano and Gio Ursula up in big moments, and you think to yourself, well, listen, next year, it's gonna be Ronald Acuna Junior and and Alex Rillyan for those guys, and you're gonna have much better options in there in those big moments he had. There's some truth to that, but it's also worth pointing out that Ronald Acunya Junior was not playing anywhere near his.

00:40:06
Speaker 2: MVP level to start this season.

00:40:08
Speaker 1: I don't mean that as I mean it as a you know, stay in fact, you can take it as criticism if you want, but I don't mean that as saying, you know that what Ronald 'cunya Junior did in twenty twenty three was aflok. I don't mean that at all. Austin Riley was striking out at a nearly forty percent clip with runners in scoring position. He struggl mightily with runners in scoring position. So when we talk about the offensive approach changing, that doesn't mean multiple big trades where we trade guys who we extended for you know, nearly a decade two years ago, trading them off. It's just getting a different approach at the plate to be able to deliver in big moments. Because again, the Braves tied the record for most home runs hit in a season in twenty twenty three, that likely is not a sustainable rate. Of hitting home runs, and home runs are very important to hit in the postseason, but you also have to be a reliable hitting unit in situation. Your situational hitting has to be good if the home runs are not there, and that has clearly become a major flaw for this raised team to get where they want to get. And I think to me, and that's why I would like for Alex and Thoppless to acknowledge it. I think that's the biggest takeaway from this season and should really be at the core of shaping the offseason approach. Stephen, do you have anything to add as we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:41:42
Speaker 3: No, I mean, it was a good season. It was it was you know, it was a frustrating season. But I do I do think it is important to keep perspective that there are plenty of franchises out there out there that would love for this to be you know, would love eighty nine wins in a playoff Berth to be their like hyper frustrating season. Right, So some of this is Champagne problems, right, where like the Braves are just always.

00:42:10
Speaker 4: Good and.

00:42:13
Speaker 3: You know, we do lose perspective as fans sometimes about how bad some other teams are, like the Colorado Rockies would kill to have the season the Braves just had. And you know, for Braves fans, it feels like a pretty disappointing year. So it is important to keep perspective. And I said this the other night that eighty nine wins is not easy. Making the playoffs is not easy. Those things need to be celebrated. But you know, for the Braves, who have plainly stated that their goal is to win the World Series every year, you know, to get to get demolished in the playoffs three straight years to go home after the first series. They've won two out of their last ten playoff games. You know, they clearly have some areas of the team that need to be better. They clearly have some approach issues that need to get better. You know, they're gonna have to replace Max Freed almost certainly, they're probably gonna have to replace Charlie Morton. They got two d hs on the team currently, they don't have a shortstop on the team. In my opinion, this is a big offseason, like there's a lot, there's a lot to do. You know, last year the offseason, there wasn't a lot to do quite honestly. I mean they needed another pitcher. They got Chris Sayle, They you know, they re signed Joe Jimenez and Pierce Johnson, and they traded for Kelnick. That's pretty much all they really needed to do last year. That is not the case this year. There is there's there are some things to figure out, and you know, after the season they've had and some of the issues that have popped up that look like they're real issues. I'm very curious to see how Alex attacks this offseason and in a number of different areas, and it's gonna be it's gonna be very interesting to see where they go and if they if they have any sort of organizational shift in the type of hitters they go after. I would love to see them speed on the team. I would love to say, see them get more left handed on the team. I think they're too right handed and I think they're too slow, and I would love to see those areas improved.

00:44:09
Speaker 4: But we'll see.

00:44:09
Speaker 3: It's a long offseason. We're gonna have plenty of time to talk about it. We do appreciate the all the downloads, all the listens, you know, the comments, the rates to reviews, all that has been terrific and it was a fun season. It's a frustrating season, but it was still a fun season. And yeah, this podcast doesn't stop. It'll be here for all winter and then we move into twenty twenty five, and.

00:44:32
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, Steven, I'm really looking forward to to to you know, over the next you know, a few weeks talking about some of the highlights this season, talking about just how special of a season Chris sel had, especially at his age. Same with Marcelo Zuna, same with Rice Selly Glacias, talking about how rare it is to see Spencer Schwellenbach emerge or a player like Spencer Swellow Block emerge and have the success that he has, what that means, how big of a development that is for our future. I'm looking forward to talking about that. That's one I'm not gonna say it's better than continuing to win in the playoffs, but at least for content purposes for the podcast, it's going to be a bit fun to dive into a bit of the highlights of the season, the positives from the season, because again we've got plenty of time to talk about the negatives, which we've talked about extensively.

00:45:20
Speaker 2: Throughout the season.

00:45:21
Speaker 1: It's going to be fun to be able to spotlight some of the more positive things about the season and then get into really how the Braves can improve their chances to make the most of what's going to be a critical twenty twenty five season. My name is Sean Covin. You can find me a you can find me. I almost gave Stevens that Twitter name. You can find me at Stat's Sac on Twitter, slash x. You can find Steven at B's be Underscore Outliers on Twitter, slash x, Hammer Territory across all forms of social media. We are very proud to be part of the family of podcasts with Foul Territory. Always great content from them in the several team podcasts that they have. Check every one of them out. Please subscribe for every listen to podcasts. That's where we'll be for free, also on YouTube until next time. I know that the season is over, but the off season is beginning and with this Brave squad that means another pursuit of the World Series title in twenty twenty five.

00:46:13
Speaker 2: Is officially begun.

00:46:14
Speaker 1: Until next time, Go Braves, We'll talk to you again.

00:46:16
Speaker 2: Soon here.

00:46:17
Speaker 1: On The Hammer Territory podcast,