Braves Hold Serve In Miami Before Showdown With Mets

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Hello everyone. One's episode eighty six of The Hamborg's Territory podcast. I am your host, Brad Roland, coming to you on a Sunday evening in September twenty second. There is one week left in the baseball season, and I'm joined as I always am, by Scott Coleman. Scott, it was a weird weekend, but a profitable one for the Braves on the whole. Hey, Brad, good to be on with you. Yeah, man, I mean especially Sunday. Sunday's game felt like a postseason game with all of the drama and stress, I mean flat out stress. I know a lot of folks might have been tuning into football or flipping back and forth or split screening or whatever they had to do. But very thankfully the Braves found a way twin on Sunday, and with a week to go in the regular season, they are very much in this thing, and God, let's hope they have one of those patented Braves find a way to win and sneak into the postseason. Here because this time, one week from right now, as we are recording, the regular season is over and that's kind of crazy to think about. Yes, we'll be doing a show a week from now. No matter what happens, Hopefully it's an upbeat show previewing the postseason. If it's not, then we'll it'll be somber and we'll talk about it as appropriate. We should say at the top of the show. We are part of the Foul Territory network of podcasts. Please check us out and subscribe to Hammer Territory anywhere you find your podcast. You can find us on Apple. You can find us on Spotify and Overcast and Amazon Music. You also get us on YouTube, where Scott and I are on video for the second ever time. As we're talking right now. It is still weird in case you were wondering, but we're there on YouTube. Also follow us on social media at Hammer Territory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Not TI talk yet, but we'll get there at some point. And look, we with it a little bit. But the Breds won the series this weekend in Miami. That they've now won four of the last five games. That's a good thing to say out loud. Even though there might be some anks on this episode, it was not perfect. They are playing well enough to win right now on the broad scheme of things. Friday's game was brutal. We'll discuss it. It was offensively challenged and some bad moments. Saturday's game was more breezy in a positive way. Sunday's game was wild. But I actually pulled this number, Scott, and it didn't occur to me until today when I was doing the prep for the podcast. We all remember that infamous loss in Colorado that we don't have to talk about because it was like week absolute.

00:02:37
Speaker 2: It was, yeah, what game are you talking about, Brad? I don't know what.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's that one we've all forgotten about now, right where they blew the big lead, et cetera, et cetera. That was exactly six weeks ago today. It was a Sunday and I did the podcast after that. It was not a lot of fun. It doesn't feel like it necessarily, But since that day, the breads are twenty four and fifteen, which is an absurd But guess what's got that's one hundred win pace. They've been playing at a hundred wind pace for six weeks and I, okay, I shouldn't assert my own thoughts here. Doesn't feel that way to you, because it doesn't to me, but they have That's just the numbers. That's just the ratios. They're playing a hundred win pace for six weeks.

00:03:16
Speaker 2: No, it does not feel that way, probably because most of the wins in that stretch. Of those twenty four wins, how many would you say were like white knuckle stress, high drama, one run, low scoring games, like eighteen of them, maybe.

00:03:33
Speaker 1: A lot of them were. There were not a lot of rocking I thought she were gonna ask me how many rocking share wins there were, and they're probably only like a handful out of that many. I could think of three or four that were legitimately blowouts, and every other game has basically been close.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and a lot of the losses like the one on Friday Night were similar white knuckle. I mean, it feels like every game for the most part has been high stress, high drama. And I think to you know, you just ask someone on the street, Hey, what's the Braves record in terms of series dating back to that Colorado series where they split? You know, I think a lot of folks but like, I don't know, maybe five hundred or so. I think it would surprise them to hear that the Braves have done a nice job overall. These final two months of the season or so winning series and over the course of one sixty two. Of course, if you win series, you will find yourself in the playoffs more times than not. I think what's really working against the Braves in this case, and I think our colleague Steven Tolbert or maybe you, Brad, one of you guys, one of you smart guys, pointed out that since the I believe All Star Break, the three teams in the National League who have the most wins are the three teams the Braves are chasing, naturally in the wildcre race, the Padres, who won again on Sunday. Padres are basically into the playoffs, the Diamondbacks, who have been unbelievably hot other than a shocking loss on Sunday afternoon to Milwaukee, and then of course the Mets have been playing really good baseball as well. So the fact that none of those teams ahead of them have cooled off or kind of left the door open maybe makes it feel worse than what it's been. But overall, despite the constant frustrations that we have with this team, they have done a good job of winning ball games and winning two out of three more times than not.

00:05:22
Speaker 1: That's an old bravessm to win series, right, It's a very logical thing. You want to go win series, and I just checked to make sure it wasn't crazy, Scott. The Braves have lost one series in six weeks. Yea, it was the Philly series. It was a bad one to lose, given that they were still kind of in the division risk at that point in time. That's now long over, but they have some splits in there too. But they have lost one series in six weeks and that is usually a very good sign for how you were playing. Just to not give a whole lot of ground back, but I'm glad you said that it was Steven. I want to say credit that was Steven stat that he's correct. I checked it about the teams that have been chasing down. But hopefully that will change in the next week, and perhaps that your hometown Diamondbacks losing today and epic fashion will be a signal that things might be going the better direction.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you know, for comparison, last year, the wild card three had eighty four wins. The Diamondbacks snuck in with eighty four wins. The Braves won their eighty fifth game today. With a week to go, so just again it feels like in a season where so many things have gone wrong for Atlanta, it's just yet another thing that. Of course, the top half of the National League is very strong, and the middle class and lower class has been pretty.

00:06:32
Speaker 3: Bad in the NL.

00:06:33
Speaker 2: And clearly there are seven baseball teams here who I would argue are legitimate postseason teams. They're all gonna win eighty eight plus ball games short of some catastrophic final week in my mind with the split playoff or the expanded playoffs, if you win eighty eight baseball games, you should find yourself in the postseason most of the time. We'll see how these last six games go for the Braves, but it is, man, it is going to be a very stressful and enormous week ahead quite obviously. Yeah, eighty eight might not be enough, which does It is crazy we you laid out that way too to time about a third wild card and the six spanded playoffs that I can't really always say I don't like, and I still stand by that no matter how it impacts the brades.

00:07:17
Speaker 1: I just don't like it. But yeah, if you took a poll around baseball and said, well, eighty eight get you into the playoffs. Everyone would say, yes, that's just the odds of there being six teams better than that is not super high in the National League. But it might be the case this year. We will see. By the way the Diamondbacks we've alluded to, they blewed eight nothing lead today. Maybe I reverse jinxes a little bit. I went on Twitter to complain about the Brewers getting boat raced by the Diamondbacks, because look, the Brewers are a division champion, they've already clinched and them they were on their way to a four game weekend sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks again, down eight nothing today and somehow came back in one. I turned it off. I wasn't even looking at it, and I came back and I was like, wait, is it the Bruiser winning. I'm confused. That was maybe helpful. Obviously a lot of focuses on the Mets, and it'll be even more so on the Mets this week as the present to play the Mets. But that actually puts the Diamondbacks back into range for the Braves because now they're only two backs. They're not only two back up. The Diamondbacks is for talking, and Atlanta has a tiebreakerage, so that is very much a It's been a possibility this whole time. It felt like the last couple of days it was like, all right, it's probably Mets or bust, and then that happened today and that was a big swing in favor of Atlanta potential on the markets.

00:08:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're right, Arizona left the door open today. It's amazing how two games is like boom game on, but three game lead with six to go feels like insurmountable. The National League West is going to be fascinating this upcoming week. The Padres and Dodgers play each other, and then the Padres and Diamondbacks play each other, and LA has not wrapped up the division yet. The Padres have been the number one wild card team for a while now, and as we just laid out, the Diamondbacks are in good shape. But hey, if Arizona lays a couple duds at home, I believe they play San Francisco and then have to play a Padres team that's been unbelievably good lately. Arizona is far from a lock, and we will see, but it does feel like almost the magic number to make the playoffs is ninety wins in the National League. That would mean the Braves have to go five and one this week. It's it's doable. They have to take care of business and we're gonna obviously talk about the week ahead a little later in the show, but to me, eighty nine ninety wins feels like what they're going to have to hit if they want to be playing into October.

00:09:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, you teed it up. Just for full transparency, we are recording this podcast as the Mets and Phillies play. It was our window to record our usual sun of night window. In the Mets Phillies game is the sunny night baseball game, so we don't know the result that we won't as you're listened to Sho will probably know the result of that game. But depending on the result there, it's Wheeler on the mount for the Phillies. Hopefully in a good sign for the Braves. The Brais will either be down by one game or two games to the Mets out of Monday, and we will preview the Braves Mets series at the end of the podcast. But obviously it's huge. We all understand that the tiebreaker edges up for grabs. All of those things are in play, but before we get to all that stuff, as well as our notes takeaways from this weekend's Wins for the Braves, a work of our friends at foul Territory.

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00:11:20
Speaker 1: All right, Scott. Before we get to the huge, huge, huge met series at the end of the show, let's discuss the weekend maybe a little bit briefly. On Friday and Saturday. Friday's game was maddening, to say the least, a four to three loss in Miami when it felt like the Brads were riding high chances to sweep all. That kind of ends in game one of a three game series. Because I will always bang my chest when Charlie is good, I will acknowledge he was not very good on Friday. He wasn't horrible. It's kind of funny. And I made this note in the doc even then, maybe trying to defend Charlie on some level, but it speaks to how good the rotation has been, where this is like being discussed. That's this terrible start when he allowed four and runs. It's like, usually that's like a pretty middling, like okay start for a back of the rotation guy. But the Braves have been so good for so long that it was like, Man, Charlie's getting killed. It's like he wasn't good. Don't get me wrong again, he wasn't good, but usually against the Marlins, like you should have a chance to win, and they did have a chance to win, they just didn't ask you.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, was it maybe the worst start Charlie's had in a couple of weeks. Yes, yes, I would argue for a team. I mean, the Marlins are really bad. No matter how competitive they look this weekend, the Marlins are a bad baseball team. They have a lame duck manager.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: You know.

00:12:33
Speaker 2: It's just one of those situations where the Braves not only being able to overcome an early four run whole from Charlie Morton, I mean, it's more on the team, in my opinion, it's more on the team that they could not pick Charlie up and find a way to score more than four than it is that Charlie maybe didn't have a great start. But yeah, I mean that Friday night loss was so deflating. They had some nice momentum from the Cincinnati series where they picked up a couple of wins, and then they just of course lay an egg Friday night, which was in some ways very very similar to many of the losses they have dealt with over the past couple of weeks.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been led with on this show. They had one of four of the last five. This is the one lost. In that stretch. They had a couple of solo home runs. Home runs are good, but solo home runs are less effective. And then they had the typical high leverage issues a couple of or there was one by Arcia, I would say his Nightly we made fun of this. I know Sean and Steven did too. Orly was always at the plate for some reason. Right now, he had a bad Highland's Place plate appearance, and I believe it's still the worst hitter in baseball this year ops wise, runners sport position for the season, like he's been just a disaster in those spots. And then they had the leadoff man on in the seventh and the eighth innings and both were immediately and I mean immediately erased by double plays. So it was like yeah, yeah, one step forward, four steps back along the way. They just did nothing well on offense other than the two solo home runs. So well on it, but that is why I lost the game. It was much more of an offensive loss than run prevention loss. Even if it didn't always feel that way in the moment. I think just it was in my crosbo this season in a lot of ways.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: Yeah it is, and I can, man, I try not to pick on Orlando Orcia too much because at the end of the day, as this roster was constructed, the Braves were not going to really need to rely on Orlando for basically anything offensively. Yeah, right, play defense, catch the ball, provide a little bit of something in the bottom of the order. And that's in the same scenario where you have a healthy Unacunya Junior and a healthy Austin Riley and you had Ozzy Alby's for most of the year, and god, what's happened to the catchers, especially Sean Murphy for the Braves. But man, somehow, some way, in every single rally, it feels like Orlando comes up. And you mentioned he's been the worst hitter in all of Major League Baseball in high leverage spots. I mean, I think his WRC plus is like twenty in those situations, which is like bordering on what like a good hitting pitcher would have as like a stat line for the whole season back.

00:15:07
Speaker 1: In the day.

00:15:08
Speaker 2: I mean, just brutal timing there, and I guess as frustrating as Friday Night was, at least the Braves found a way to win on Saturday and Sunday to keep themselves alive in the race.

00:15:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, the way you put up that's perfect. Team in arc is supposed to be the guy who bats ninth and does what he does and it's not his fault. He's been magnified, but he also has not a good year. Both can be true at the same time. Let's go to Saturday, a much more fun game to discuss. The run prevention was stronger in that game. Max Freed was pretty good. Max Freed not incredible Max Free, but pretty good. Max three two runs, only one earned. The unearned run came with old Palazzi Albi's who I know. I'm the auzy guy, always have been. His defense is not good. We all understand that it was bad. And then even the earn run, I would say, came with a assist and I use that term with a smile on my face from Marius Hilaire. We've talked about that endlessly, so we'd have to add on to how bad his defense has been. But even the two runs, like the one quote unquot earn run was kind of an fringe earned run. So Max did his job and more, and then the offense was still hit and miss. It's kind of funny they it didn't feel comfortable despite fourteen hits in the game, but it was just enough by the end.

00:16:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, thank goodness, it was enough. Yeah. I thought Max did a nice job. Since coming back from the elbow injury, he has not been like Capital letters Max Freed, where he'll go on these runs where you talk about like five starts and Max has given up three earned runs across five starts or something. He has not been quite that good since he came back from the weird elbow nerve issue maybe two months ago now. But he was plenty good enough and thankfully, even with all of the usual shenanigans with runners in scoring position and runners left on base ten runners left on base, two for eight with runners in scoring position, thank god it did not come back to bite them once again. A nice couple of big home runs. Matt Olsen, GEO or Schella has been awesome over the last week.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: If we don't do.

00:17:04
Speaker 2: Like an MVP and LVP of the Week on this show, but if we did I'd probably vote for Geo Orscheller or maybe at Matt Olsen, but we expect Matt to be great and Geo really defensively, he's been solid his entire time, but up until this past week, he really had not given the team much of anything offensively. I think we talked about it a week actually ago that Geo has a sixty WRC plus as of a week ago with the team, So the fact that he had a couple of home runs in Miami and I believe had a big game in Cincinnati a few days ago as well. Geo has done a really nice job at third base, and there was some real question over what Atlanta was going to do now that Ozzie Alby's is back, and at least through three games, it's been Ozzie at second, it's been Geo Orshella at third, and Wit Mayfield has been on the bench. Which I don't want to speak for you, but that was kind of what I was leaning, and I guess what I would have done as well, should I be filling out the lineup card.

00:18:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, we kind of looked to shown and see if talking about this more in depth, but I'm with you, this would have been what I defaulted to just for the the solid defense nature. I think Arshelle was a better defender than what would be at third base, and I think mary Field's a better hitter than Urchella. He probably would't have been this week given what Archella did, to be fair, but I've joked about it, but we're more reminder when mary Fild has a broken foot, so like it's they've they've talked about him like he's roll on a counya and he's a fringe guyt of broken foot. So I'm fine with what they did here. And yeah, I kind of made a joke about it on Twitter. But like maybe Geo heard the rumblings that he was maybe gonna loseen playing time and said, not so fast. I'm gonna go have six hits and two home runs in the weekend series, So yeah, he's gonna I mean, I don't think he was in danger of losing playing time anyway. I know Witt took some infield at third base in front of some media members this weekend, but sorry during the week but it seems like Geo probably earned this whole week at third base based on this weekend, like him hitting like that. I can't imagine they're gonna change that anytime soon, you know. Matt Olson, we talked about it, but just to put some numbers on it, I think he had four home runs in a five game period last month. This is a calendar month. Eight home runs and here's the one for me. More walks than strikeouts for med Olson for a month and an ops over eleven hundred. He has been awesome like last year, not even I mean I used prime med Olson as like, not even last year's like above prime Medallson. It was not what we expected to happen. Really ever, how good he was a year ago, he's been that Madelson for a month and now last year Medlson like better than his projection. Obviously for the season he's still below that, but getting up as funny. Somebody tweet this at me. I think it maybe both of us. It was like, hey, you look up at Medalson's gonna have thirty Horme runs this year. It's like, yeah, mad Olson, even in a bad season, is pretty good.

00:19:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's really turned it on. And I think you mentioned that over that stretch Matt has more walks than strikeouts. Now that's something from last year that has really fallen off this season. His walks are way down in twenty twenty four, his strikeouts are up. I mean, he's always been a strikeout guy and he's going to continue to be a strikeout guy, but the fact that that has really swung the other way seems like Matt has worked some really good at bats as well. And yeah, I mean talk about a guy who has stepped up when the team really needed him. He also had a massive hit on Sunday afternoon to just kind of save the Braves from another disastrous situation with a runner and scoring position and no outs. Matt has more than done his job in the month of September, and when the Braves need their stars to step up, I think Olsen has certainly answered the call. And it's not rocket science or breaking news that this lineup is so much better when Matt Olsen is hitting the way he has hit over the past couple weeks.

00:20:47
Speaker 1: We should dive in here to the game on Sunday because there's a lot of gets. So the game on Sunday, it won't quite be a playoff will break down from us about Sunday's game, but it could be if we wanted to stretch it out and talk about everything that happened on Sunday. It would be a forty minute show on its own.

00:21:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, seriously, I mean we if we went in, there was probably something to talk about inning by inning every single inning, which is longtime listeners from the Battery Power days. No, we do that for playoff games. And yeah, Sunday's game was as stressful of a regular season baseball game as you're basically going to play.

00:21:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, look they want it, that's the headline. Ozzy always hits a home run early against a rity. It was absolutely smoked. You love to see that, and look the way that Ozzie's defends. There were some chirps first couple of days about all right, if this is gonna be Ozzie, why is he playing? And I get it because, like, if he's not hitting, it is a problem. But in theory, he should hit. And to me, he looks fine at the play. He doesn't look hurt, and he's always been at a right headed masher. Now facing riots is different, but I don't really worry about the bat. It's just that it's fundamentally true that he's he has to hit because the defense is not where it is yeah.

00:21:58
Speaker 2: I mean we already saw it on a think maybe Saturday night where there was a double play potentially and Ozzy short bounced to throw to first base. And I don't really know what's happened with Ozzy defensively. He went from being really good to like really bad overnight.

00:22:15
Speaker 1: I'm not sure part of us that he can't throw anymore at all, like at all, like all the jokes that we've been doing for years about him playing shortstop back in the day, he can't throw from second anymore. It's rough.

00:22:27
Speaker 2: Well, and then you watch someone like wit Marifield, who is a very competent defender at second base, very very good on those double play turns, and then you go to Ozzie Alby's and it's like, man, okay, but again, man, the beggars can't necessarily be choosers with the way the season is gone. And you know, it was not a great weekend offensively for Ozzie. I think he had two hits, including the home run, which was a great sign got the Braves off to a nice start in the first inning. But you're absolutely right they're going to need him to it because while wit Mirrifield really has not given the team a bunch offensively over the past couple of weeks, and of course has the foot injury. Witt has done a great job defensively at second base, and that's important because if there's anything that can turn a game sideways quickly, it is bad infield defense or outfield defense in the case of one outfielder who shall not be named.

00:23:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's funny because they if this team has had more offense, there would be probably a louder discussion about what they would do with Ozzie. But also realistically, we live on planet Earth, Scott, and if Ozzie Alby's is healthy enough to play, he's not going to not play. Whether people agree with that decision or not, that's just what it's going to be. He's in that he's not the only guy in this level they had, like their super duper stars Ronnie and Austin and Olsen I think are the three. I think maybe Ozzie's in the next tier down of like pedigree concerned maybe along with like Paris, what Murphy's supposed to be, even though he hasn't been this year, like that kind of second tier stars where Ozzie kind of lives you're not gonna take the guy on the line up. I'm sorry, it's just not gonna happen. So hopefully it's enough and it won't be an issue. But when I always flag that, we also have to mention they won this game, so it's easier to talk about with the smile on our faces, the missed opportunities that they either had or almost had in this game. Uh, in the first inning, after the home run by Azzie, they loaded the basis with one out and Loren, who's been awesome, We've praised him with due, he's been due the praise. Double play at a bad time to end the threat. You're still winning, but it's all right. Probably should have had another one there. And then the fifth inning, our SIA singles shout star Orlando Harris drives me with an armad triple, which is essentially it's not only does it bruce a run, but now you have the guy in the third base, a fast guy on third base, and Michael Harris with no outs and right on cue tapper, Tapper, and then Mett also has to bail them out with two outs too. You shouldn't have to do that. Of course, situational hitting has been our a topic for the entire season. It was just five months now at this point. Yeah, it's it was just kind of funny that even in a win, there's plenty to like highlight of, Like, man, this probably should have been a lot easier, especially against the Marlins. We could do a whole bit on this. The Marlins projected start well, the pitcher, the guy who pitched today for the Marlin as a starter, had one of the worst profiles you'll ever see for a pitcher. Like, yeah, that's a guy that you're supposed to absolutely tee off on. And the Bravees just did not take advantage of that, and it didn't bite them quote unquote in the end. But they probably should have scored eight runs of this game. This looks a game it's like, all right, go blow him up, and they just did do it.

00:25:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, And again it's penta theme that even when they face these bad pitchers who they should just launch off of, more times than not they have struggled. It's been frustrating, you know. With Loriano, god like, basically the only thing he could not do because he runs pretty well, is it's hit the ball right to the third basement. And it was just perfectly timed where the third basement stepped on the bag and threw it across the diamond. Me hell, I could have probably made that throw ten years ago.

00:26:03
Speaker 1: Not now right, it's no God, No, you're washed up, your wash up now.

00:26:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would have just located my elbow. But yeah, it was frustrating in the moment. And then you mentioned the triple from Harris and it was like, all right, here we go again. Thankfully Madelson picked up the team and and you know, despite the Braves putting up a couple of runs in the middle innings, all of a sudden, Dylan Lee, who we love and got the Braves out of a huge mess the ending before, gave up like nine hundred feet of back to back home runs. And I was watching in real time, and I just kind of put my head down into my hands, like, dear God, here we go. They had a two run lead to Miami that disappeared in what a matter of like forty seconds in real time. I mean, it felt like the beginning of the end.

00:26:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really tough. Like I I cantically missed the first one, the first home run. I was watching something else, making notes, watching football. I had my book. My TV's going at the same time, and I looked up, Oh, all right, must have been a home run, because it's suddenly four to three and I the next pitch was the second one, and I'm like, well, didn't see that coming because Lee had been so good in the previous inning and did a Houdini act really to get out of the previous inning. And that just you know, you could be good and bad in a in a in a small amount of time. When you're an early pitcher in Major League Baseball, you know in between that we should only say out, well Urchella Homeward. We praised him earlier, but that was important, like really important. Uh, it didn't seem to be like I was all right, that's that's that's insurance, and it actually ended up not being insurance. They did score and never trail again after that. Should we mention the handling of the seventh inning because it was objectively weird in my opinion. I know there was a lot of discussion about like the bullpen handling in the seventh For one thing, Aaron Bummer, who is better than people think he is, I'll say that, uh, loader of the basis with no outs when I say that that sounds really bad, right. What it was was a single, then a bunt single, and then a fielder's choice that became a guy on base. So like he wasn't getting rocked. He gave up a bunt single, two bunts in a single, essentially to lower the basis.

00:28:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he should have made a play on at least one of those. One of those was his fault, to be fair, Like he's a reliever. I mean, you gotta get what you get with release pitchers trying to play defense. That's not what they're there for, Like they very rarely have to do that. And it didn't go well.

00:28:32
Speaker 1: I mean, but.

00:28:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, Miami loads the bases with no outs with the benefit of a ground ball single and two bunts.

00:28:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I in my there we.

00:28:44
Speaker 2: Go, Yeah, in my doomsday, I think I tweeted this is it, this is how the season ends. We mean, this would have been a very very different toned podcast if it would have spiraled there on a harmless single and then back to back bunts. You know, to the credit of Bummer, he got a strikeout for the first out of the inning, and in a situation where basically any ball put in play would have allowed at least one run to score short of they I guess comeback or right at the mound might have might have prevented it, but otherwise any ball put in play would have tied it, if not worse. And then Dave beell Hernandez, who I mean, I didn't necessarily realize that Joe Jimenez wasn't available, And well.

00:29:29
Speaker 1: That's the moment. That's the moment I realized it. Well, actually that's not true. There were two moments I realized, like, well, some of the words going on here, because number one, Daves Mornandez, well, I know fans like him. He was he's the last guy in the bullpen as far as like they didn't call it till September, like it was people forgot this. He was like, in the minds of a lot of fans, was like, why has this gotten on the major league roster? And the team has treated him like their eighth ninth reliever all year long. So he's coming in in a massive leverage spot with bassis loaded and one out and I'm assuming the theory is he's a strikeout pitcher because he is that that's that makes sense. But also you could argue and I think Steve might have done this in public. Aaron Bummer is like the prime double play pitcher that you would ever want in the world, Like he gets ground balls like all the time. So going from Aaron Bummer to days be again probably your I mean for us, it's probably not the last guy, but in the minds of Bryan stick Or you might be their last guy. It was really weird. I said, all right, why is it not Jimenez If they're gonna if they're gonna take up Bumber, it should probably be Jmendez, who's been incredible all year long, and well, and we'll come back this But then a Glass comes into the eighth for the first time all season. He opens the eighth inning, and that's when I'm like, oh, Jimenez is unavailable, because there's no chance he would have not done that. So that probably led to a lot of what happened there. But man, they were walking the tight rope. Day's Bell shots hat tip I've take. If you see how YouTube I have tipped my Hat's Day's Bell got a strikeout and another out got out of the inning. That was the last major threat that the Marlins had, And man, that was a no one was breathing Metatyranning.

00:31:06
Speaker 2: I'm sure, yeah, I mean seriously, a it is probably not hyperbole to say that at least for today, Daves Bell Hernandez saved the season.

00:31:18
Speaker 1: That yeah, I mean, yeah, that's that's not unfair because I mean, okay, let's do the doomsday scenario right. Days Bill comes in, he gives up a grand slam, let's just say, which is very possible, or he walks in a run like that. The one knock on Day's bell, even back to the miners, is that he has very little command. He's a high walk guy. You've come in that situation when you're not really used to doing that, Like you're not a thirty year old veteran, Like he's a younger guy, not a time experience. It becomes can't find a play and walks in a run or walks in two runs in a row. Number one, you probably lose the game. Number two. Every bit of discussion for the next they have an off the on Monday next thirty six forty two hours is about why in the world you brought in your last reliever in that situation. So Snick gets hammered for it. Days well gets hammered for it, obviously, and then obviously the real fallout is the loss of the game in the standing. So yeah, if you want to go through like the leverage index. I didn't check stat cast or any of that stuff, like the WPA. I'm sure he was quite high, just because he came in and like got just there was no more sprayer there. Anything happens, you throw a wild pitch, the game is tied, any of that, and he got it. Yeah, I mean even a fly ball ty Yeah, the game.

00:32:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean again, massive, massive pitching from Day's Bell and even Aaron Bummer, who I guess it was his fault. The bases were loaded, although some times yeah right, it wasn't like he gave up three line drives the outfield and it's like, what are you doing, dude, But Bummer gets a strikeout, which was huge to at least get something out of it, and then a strikeout from Day's Bell for number two, and then his Sanchez rocketed of baseball to right field. Thankfully, Eli White, who would just come in for defense, was standing there and was able to catch it about a foot above the ground. And in some ways it just kind of felt like that was a moment that could have defined the Brave season, and maybe it does.

00:33:18
Speaker 1: I mean, who knows.

00:33:18
Speaker 2: If the Braves go on to make the playoffs and have a great week ahead and make a deep run, maybe we look back on that very wild and ultimately fortuitous seventh inning as one that changed the trajectory of the season. But yes, a big, big, big tip of the cap Today's bell for working out of it. And then again, I mean, Rice cel Iglesias, that is a bad dude.

00:33:42
Speaker 1: He just he's great. I think that we've properly appreciated him, at least on our podcast. I think, if anything, and Menace has been underrated all year long because the Glasis has been so good, if that makes sense. I think Amnas has been a top ten reliever in baseball this year, and he wouldn't get that nod for a lot of people because he's been in the eighthanning and not the ninth. But he's been awesome. Yeah I said it before, but the first and I would probably predict only time this season he comes in to start the a f inning because the only reason he did that was because of Jimenas Amena's not being available. Is why what happen, maybe happens in the playoffs, maybe it happens on Sunday next week if they have to have a game and they're not by whatever it is. But like, there's a reason he didn't come in for. He'll occasionally come in the eighth to get four outs, sure, not to get six outs. It was the first time that I checked the three times, first time this year that he came in the eight. He's got six outs in extra endings a couple of times. Yeah, they've been Yeah, he's been great, but they they generally do not have him go out there to begin the eighth. And he did it, and he did what he does, close the door, and everyone got to exhale. And I wrote this in the notes, but to preserve what I described as a stupid win, because it was stupid. The whole game was kind of stupid, Scott, And I mean that in the most loving sense possible. It was a stupid baseball game. It was a lot going on. That was a short version. It was still ten and it's scrit again. Actually yeah, and I.

00:35:03
Speaker 2: Mean, hey, Grant Holmes did a good enough job.

00:35:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, did his job. I'm glad that that because we're about to be too online on this. On the show, I saw a lot of like really negative comments about Grant Holmes today, and I get it. He wasn't perfect, but it's a spot starter. Guys like you have to adjust your expectations. If Chris Sale had pitched the way that Grant Holmes did, or if Max Free did I get being a little bit angsty about that. Grand Holmes is supposed to be a reliever. He's your he's obviously doing a spot start. Did he stay in a bat or too long? In my opinion, I couldn't leave his day in After he walked away off Man in the fifth, I'm like, all right, that's dip for grand Holmes. Nope, another one double oh snid always does that. But yeah, he did his job. I mean, it's it's different from Charlie, who I mentioned earlier, Like wasn't as Basketball said you was Grant Holmes. Like, if you could just accept what Grant Holmes gave you today, I might have just said yes. Against the Marlins and this matchup, you probably just say yes. He he ate almost five innings, he got the game. It's totally fine for a guy who's supposed to be reliever for you, and by the way, it was not even supposed to be reliever for you coming into the year. He was like their twelfth guy.

00:36:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, Holmes, he started, he made what four spot starts when they didn't have Freed and Lopez, and then went back to the bullpen and then all of a sudden had his number called again. So he you know, the versatility of grand Holmes is not a small thing. And sure was he, you know, his unbelievable, absolute best self on Sunday. No, but what it ended up being one run, two runs against Miami. You have to take that, especially when, as you said off the top, the Braves were facing a pitcher who has been one of the worst starting pitchers in the second half in all of Major League Baseball. It should have been and could have been, like an eight to nothing lead early on if the Braves would have just taken advantage of their opportunities. And again, thankfully, this team found a way to somehow win this game today despite a true rollercoaster really from the first standing on and here we are six games left, one or two back of the Mets. It's gonna be a very very stressful week ahead. But I guess you know, at the end of the day, the Braves do control their own destiny, and I guess that's all you can really ask for this time of year.

00:37:18
Speaker 1: If the Braves win every game this week, they'll be in the playoffs. It's right, because they played the Mets. If they didn't play the Mets head to head, that wouldn't necessarily be true. But because they play the Mets, they actually can if they go out and granted we cannot project six and oh, that'd be irresponsible to do. Is it possible? Yes, But if they went out with six and six and oh this week, they would be in. And we know that already. So we won't go super duper crazy deep on this because we're going to cover the series as it happens the whole way through. Right, But they play the Mets starting on Tuesday, after an off dawn Monday. It's at Truest Park. It is very clearly the biggest series of the season. We all understand that at this point in time, there's a little bit of a curve ball though they came down today. Yesterday, our mutual friend and former guests on this podcast, Justice Toscano, the AJC reported that the Braanders were not going to announce their rotation until Monday, and I made a joke on Twitter like, think about the podcasters braz why where you're not gonna tell us?

00:38:14
Speaker 2: That's right?

00:38:15
Speaker 1: And then they they surprise announced it today the to the beat guys. So it wasn't just justin. I think the ob had it to Bowman whatever. But the Braves are not going to do what I know Steven's been talking about for like three weeks now.

00:38:27
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:38:27
Speaker 1: And we mentioned the last time on that we talked, they had the chance to go to Chris Sale on Tuesday and on regular rest and then line presumably I'm gonna just keep him in line there to have him available as a starter for Game one six two on Sunday. I e throwing your best picture twice and last pick of the season. They're choosing not to do that. They're going with special Schwellenbach on Tuesday, Sale on Wednesday, and then free and on Friday, which means Schwellenbach would be the guy on Sunday if they have the must win start. I will do no other adding here we have there's plenty of contexts we'll get into, Scott, but what is your reaction to this, then we'll dive into all of the moving parts here.

00:39:08
Speaker 2: So, Man, I had a lot of thoughts, as I think a lot of people did, and I think there was a lot of I think a lot of valid points were made this afternoon with the Braves' decision. On one hand, the idea of not allowing yourself at least the opportunity to have the National League cy Young winner make two of your final five or two of your final six games, the idea of not having him start those two games is a little scary, with good reason, because we know how good Chris Sale has been and the possibility of the Braves missing the playoffs by one game, especially if it comes down to game one sixty two and you opted, voluntarily opted to not have the cy Young winner start that final game of the season, is a little scary. I know. Mark Bowman joked or or jested that it's similar vibes to Mike Soroka only making one start in the twenty nineteen and LDS when the Braves clearly just big brained it and decided they did not want to pitch their best pitcher until Game three. Let's hope it's a different outcome this time. Yeah, but but but at the same time, I think it's pretty clear based on how Chris Sale pitched in his most recent start on Thursday in Cincinnati and some of the comments he made and the dip in velocity that Sale is probably starting to run out of gas a little bit. And I am sure the Braves have talked about this internally a ton. But if they feel that giving Chris Sale an extra day of rest on Wednesday against the Mets is more beneficial than having him go on Tuesday on regular rest with the possibility that you need him on Sunday is a It's an interesting proposition and an interesting gamble. And then the last thing, Brad, before I throw it to you is the fact that it's Spencer Schwellenbach probably alleviates some of my real concern Like, I know you're Charlie Morton's biggest fan if it was Charlie. If it was Charlie Morton making these two starts on Tuesday and presumably Sunday in the final game of the year, I think I would be significantly more upset that the Braves aren't starting Sale on Tuesday and Sunday. The fact that Schwellenbach, who has been so so so good over the last few months, is the guy who will pitch twice over the next week. I feel more comfortable with it, and I think we just have to now cross our fingers and pray that it ends up being the right decision.

00:41:49
Speaker 1: You wait it out perfectly. I don't have too much to add. I think that it's really it does emphasize the Mets series a little bit more because you are putting you're just putting more emhstasis on that game that Chris Sales going to pitch on Wednesday. You're prioritizing that a little bit. And look, there is an element to this that we just cannot possibly know. I will always try to point that out to listeners, like there's just stuff behind the scenes that we just can never know on the outside. As you could be as plugged in as you possibly want to be, we don't know how Chris Sale is feeling physically. And the Braves do compare to us, and if they think that he will not be his best self on Tuesday, that is the irrationale for doing this. That's it. It's kind of that simple in some ways. Like and I think we said that the other day when he came out of the game on Thursday. I don't know if it was offline between our group chat or whatever. It was like, all right, the big question is can he go on Tuesday like and be himself? And they're not definitively saying no to that, but it is a data point that says, hey, we think that he might need a day and that's not ideal. I mean, Bowman beat me to publicly saying the Soroka thing. I texted people that today, Like that's a I'm thought over that. Now it's been five years. They won the World Series three years ago. I'm still mad about Soroca five years later. So just to say that out loud, like if you're a new Braves fan, he was the best pitcher that season. He pitched game three of a five game series and then never pitched again. It was insane. Anyway, Uh, this isn't Matt, I get it. There is other things going on here. And look, he pointed out to me even today, I'll give you the credit, like he has not thrown this many innings since twenty seventeen. He's thirty five years old. Now, thought m Chris Sale like he's been incredible this year. He better wins.

00:43:24
Speaker 2: I young.

00:43:24
Speaker 1: I think it's not even close. Personally, I think he should win it, and if he's not unanimous, I'll be kind of upset that. I'm not sure he's gonna be, but he should win it. With that said, I get that if there's any doubt at all that he'll be himself on Tuesday, either on his side or the team side, or the medical side or whatever. Give him the day. You're right about Schwellenbach. I will only add Schwellmach is also faced in the same thing as Sale. It's different. He's a young guy, but he's he's in an uncharted territory with his own innings and his own workload too, So that's a little bit scary. I know, I know how good Spencer has been. I'm not saying anything otherwise, but to have a rookie who's never done this before, maybe maybe going on Sunday and must win it is a little bit scary to me too. I'm not saying I run out, Charlie. I'm not saying that, but it's a little scary. And we'll see, hopefully the brave stick here business against the Mets and they don't have to win on Sunday. That's the dream. I'm not saying it's likely to happen because they're down by two games.

00:44:17
Speaker 2: That's just the math.

00:44:18
Speaker 1: They probably are gonna have to win on Sunday or at least care about Sunday's game. Yeah, but it's a simple It's a simple that to me, it's like, all right, they must not think that Sale is going to be his best self on Tuesday. And if that's the case, I get it.

00:44:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is absolutely a gamble, and I would love to know. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Snicker's office or in Alexanthopolis's office or wherever they have this conversation. Yeah, because I guarantee you there were people on both sides. And the one thing that you and I and nobody else know other than maybe three people on earth, is how does Chris Sale feel?

00:44:57
Speaker 1: Because Chris Sale is you got you know, Scott, but just for let's Chris Sale is a bulldog and it's known as the bulldog and always wants the ball and all those things. That's what makes me think, Like, I bet you, I'm not saying he was consulted because Chris Sale is still a player. But if there's a guy on the roster, they might have asked, it's Chris Sale, you know what I mean. He's kind of their leader inside. I know, he just got here. He's kind of one of their leaders, if not be leader on the team. He's an old guy. He's all those things. Like it would not shock me if someone brought him into the conversation and was like, all right, Chris, this is what we're thinking about. How do you feel about Tuesday? And if he wasn't like and if he wasn't like one hundred percent like, give me the ball on Tuesday, alarm bells. If through the Braves, you know, I don't know.

00:45:36
Speaker 2: And let's not put the cart before the horse here. But but but let's say the Braves have an amazing week. They go five and one, they go six to zero, whatever it is, they go four and two, but still find themselves in the playoffs. If you start Chris Sale on Sunday in Game one sixty two, he would not be available for the wild card around for the entire of pitching him on short rest, and he might do it. You're right, I mean, the dude is a maniac. I mean, I think he was pitching, Like I think he pitched like five out of the seven games in the World Series with Boston a few years ago, even though some of it was in relief. He is a maniac in all of the good ways possible. But first you have to get into the playoffs. That's number one. There is a slight, I guess, upside to this plan, maybe not even slight, a gigantic upside to this plan that if the Braves find a way to make the playoffs this upcoming week, you would have a healthy, rested, ready to rock Chris Sale for game one of a best of three, And if he pitched on Sunday, then obviously you very likely would not have him other than maybe a Game three scenario, and god knows if that situation would even present itself.

00:46:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully we're previewing that a week from now and Sale is line up for game one, then we can just roll through that. It would be great. We'll see on the metside quickly. The only guy they named that I can find is sever Reno is going to pitch on Tuesday in the opener of the series. According to their website. Not a huge surprise there. He's been really good this year in a bounce back year. I don't know what the Mets like are line up to. I know it's timam McGill's pitch right now for the Mets that he won't pitch. I don't know what they're gonna do with their with their rotation doesn't really matter to me. No, they don't. It's not like the Philly is where you're looking at their rotation you're like, please don't let me have to pay Zac Wheeler. Like they don't have Zack Wheeler on the Mets. Yeah, they just don't. So sever Reno's good. They have some good arms, but it is a situation where the Brads are going to be at an inferior place with their pitching. In fact, you can argue they have they have the best start at every game. So it's interesting.

00:47:39
Speaker 2: I'm looking at as you said, the Mets, as of this very moment, have not announced. It looks like Jose Quintana is likely to pitch one of those games. He would actually be on normal rest on Tuesday, but they're opting for Severino, who is their horse, their number one. I would guess Kintana pitches on Wednesday, and he is a left, which is.

00:48:00
Speaker 1: Notable, and maybe maybe Beniah on Thursday because he would be on normal and he's been a respective to year and its bun of numbers, but that's been awesome.

00:48:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, David Peterson has also been quite good, another option, although he got smoked by Philadelphia a couple of nights ago. So we'll see what New York does with the off day belt in on Monday, but regardless, it is going to be a gigantic series. Let us hope it feels so weird to be sincerely rooting for the Phillies, but here we are, and of course, by the time people listen, we will know if the Braves were one or two games back in the wild Card. But regardless, if anyone is looking for something to do on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night and live in the general Atlanta area, please fill up the park, make it rowdy, give the Braves any kind of advantage they can get because three, I mean maybe the three biggest, the three biggest regular season games the Braves have played at home since two years ago when they were in a similar situation to the Mets and they swept New York and that prompted them to a at the time, a fifth straight division title and let us hope. I mean, man, a sweep would be so sweet. If the Braids, it's yeah, it's crazy because it's the exact same time frame as that series. It's it was the second to last week, the second and last series of the year. It's the exact same spot in the schedule, same ballpark. They have to win the series like they did. Then Yeah, I mean, just to say it out loud, lose the series and you're dead. You're not dead, but you're all You're all but dead.

00:49:37
Speaker 1: Like it's pretty much mathematical, like, if you lose the series, yeah, you're dead. Actually you are dead. I'm doing the math right now. In my head, they'd be three back. I guess No, you're dead to the Diamondbacks, basically falling apart completely. You're dead against the Mets. Yeah, because if you lose, if you lose the series, let's say the Braids went out of three games, you lose the tiebreaker and you're down three games with three to play, which means you can't pass the Mets' reality. You would be a situation where you didn't have to sweep the Royals and get a lot of help from the Diamondbacks so much to say, Scott, the Brats have to win the series. If they win the series two to one, they'll either be tied or they be down by one. We don't know that yet. But then you have the tiebreaker and you are alive no matter what happens, you are alive going to the weekend. If you win the series. Yeah, if you sweep the series, you are now beating the Mets in the standings and nothing is assured at that point, but you are in total control with the tiebreaker and a lead. So it's that simple. Lose the series, dire straits two to one win, you're in good shape, but not dominant shape. Sweep and you are not home free, but you are in great shape. If you sweep, it's not a huge surprise. That's slate in the season. That's that's where we are. But it really is truely by the way, just to say, obviously, if they get swept, it's all over, we all understand that. Just saying I just want to say not I want to give all four scenarios. You get swept, it's all over. Lose the series, it's probably over. When the series, Super series et cetera. There's quite a large spectrum in the last and the next. I guess it's four days we're talking, but it's a three day period where the entire season will flip.

00:51:07
Speaker 2: Yes, and then you know, once these three games wrap up, you know, an interesting final weekend for both clubs. The Braves welcome the Kansas City Royals, who look like they were going to walk backwards into the postseason. But the Royals have really struggled lately. I still think they're going to make it.

00:51:25
Speaker 1: But uh, they were seven games in a row as we're talking.

00:51:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, talk about a bad time. And I think Kansas City also lost seven games like a month ago in a row. They did.

00:51:36
Speaker 1: Look at that, they're like something I want to say, They're like, yeah, they're six maybe seven. Yeah, they're like seven and seventeen or something like that in the last twenty four Like it's really really really been bad for them for a while, and they were.

00:51:50
Speaker 2: A team, yeah, I mean to be you know, the Royals have been a great story. The Twins have also similarly fallen off in the al so I I think Kansas City is going to get in. And I think though, because of the way they have struggled. There's a real chance the Royals are still playing for something next weekend, almost certainly. Yeah, and then similarly, the Mets have to go to Milwaukee to play the Brewers. Now the Brewers are clinched and it's but at the same time, it's pretty likely that Milwaukee is going to be the three seed. It would be difficult for them to catch up with La or Philadelphia. Yeah, so Milwaukee doesn't necessarily have a ton to play for, but that's obviously a good team. I mean, it's not New York is going to go play the White Sox for three games. It's like, well, that's three wins. It's just worth noting that after the three games between Atlanta and New York, both teams play teams who are presumably going to be in the postseason. And we will see what the motivations are come Friday afternoon.

00:52:53
Speaker 1: We will and we'll have a lot of content this week. I can promise you that we'll have full covers of the Mets series, full coverage of the Royal series, hopefully that those games will matter in a good way for the Braves, and then you know, win loser draw. This podcast does not go away when the season ends. So if the season ends on Sunday, that will suck. We will not enjoy that, but we'll talk about it and then we'll keep it going through the wall season like we always would on the show. That's probably it for us today, Scott. We've gone longer than we were going to go, because that's what happens all the time with us when we talk, but especially when it's big stuff like this. Feel free to add anything you'd like to, and if not, tell folks where they can find all of your musings. If they're not watching on YouTube, it can see your Twitter page on the screen.

00:53:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. Hey, huge week ahead, seriously, as big of a week for the Atlanta Braves in the regular season that they have played, I mean in years really two years yep, and just overall during this stretch of six straight divisions and now seven seasons, probably count on one hand the number of stretches as important as the one the Braves are about to embark on at home. I sincerely hope Truest is rocking. It should be both fun and also terrifying all at the same time. And as Brad said, we will have a ton of shows on the feed this week, a big thank you to everybody for tuning in. Please, if you do not already, please subscribe on podcast platform of choice. And as we've said a couple of times now maybe you're watching us on YouTube. We're doing a couple more video pods as well, so please subscribe to the channel that helps us out immensely. And as Brad always says, tell a friend, tell an enemy, a Braves fan in your life. If the Brave's sweet, maybe tell a Mets fan to check us out. I'm sure they would be dying to tune in. Should the Brave sweet New York. Yeah, maybe we'll do a crossbover with the Mets guys. We do have a Mets show on the Thought Tartar Networks that we can cross over with them, hopefully not in a negative way for the Brapes.

00:54:44
Speaker 1: But stay tuned. Scott just plugged all the places but Apple and Spotify and Amazon Music and overcast pick a place to pick two places auto download. Tell your friends we thank you for listening to the podcast. As always, we're back again at the very latest by the middle of this week. But stay tuned. It's been a busy one for us. Please one for the braves you all next time.