MIAMI — After hanging on to win 5-4 in a tense series finale Sunday against a Marlins team that’s one loss from 100 but was nonetheless plucky (if not opportunistic), the Braves could finally shift their entire focus to the biggest series of their season: three games against the New York Mets starting Tuesday in Atlanta.
The Braves, after winning the last two games of the three-game series at Miami, were 1 1/2 games behind the Mets for the third and final NL wild-card berth before the Mets played the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night.
“I was talking to Tommy Glavine the other day,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the Hall of Fame pitcher and part-time Braves broadcaster, “and he goes, ‘At least you control your own destiny.’ He’s right. I mean, we’ve got to win every day.”
Snitker was exaggerating, but not by much.
Only six games remain in the regular season, with the Braves to host the Kansas City Royals in the last series after facing New York. The Mets will finish their season with a series at Milwaukee.
Since the Braves and Mets have split their previous 10 games, the winner of the series that starts Tuesday will own the tiebreaker should the Braves and Mets finish the season with the same record.
Arizona, which has been second in the wild-card standings for weeks, also could figure in the wild-card situation vis-à-vis the Braves and Mets, since the Diamondbacks lost Sunday to Milwaukee and are now just two games ahead of the Braves as well.
But the Braves, who are off Monday, aren’t likely to spend much time working through the potential wild-card scenario as it pertains to the Diamondbacks, at least not until Atlanta is done with its critical series against the Mets.
One thing seems certain: The Braves won’t have any difficulty getting fired up for the Mets.
“For me, it feels like we’re already playing in the postseason,” Braves closer Raisel Iglesias said through an interpreter, after pitching scoreless eighth and ninth innings in 28 pitches Sunday for his 32nd save. “We showed up in Miami and we knew how important these games were, so it already has a big playoff atmosphere to it.”
BRAVES WIN. pic.twitter.com/8GDIyENvuM
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) September 22, 2024
Iglesias has made six two-inning appearances since July 8, including five such outings in his past 17 appearances in less than six weeks. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in any of his two-inning appearances.
Braves relievers thwarted the Marlins in prime scoring opportunities on Sunday when Dylan Lee retired three consecutive batters (the first two by strikeouts) after entering with runners at second and third and none out in the fifth inning. Daysbel Hernández got a strikeout and a lineout to strand three in the seventh inning when the Marlins failed to score after loading the bases with none out against Aaron Bummer, who struck out the next batter before turning the ball over to Hernández.
Rotation set for Mets, Sale to get extra rest
After much speculation about whether the Braves would have Chris Sale make two starts — Tuesday and Sunday — on regular rest in the final week, Snitker announced Sale, the presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner, would instead start Wednesday on an extra day of rest, as he and other Braves starters have done for most of the season.
The Braves will have rookie sensation Spencer Schwellenbach start Tuesday, followed by Sale, with Max Fried getting the series finale. That would put Schwellenbach in line to start the final game of the season Sunday against the Royals, though Snitker insisted they haven’t thought that far ahead. If the Braves make the postseason, Sale would be in line to start a wild-card series opener.
“I mean, the only thing we’re focused on right now is Tuesday,” Snitker said.
The plan would presumably rule out Sale pitching Sunday regardless of the situation since he’d be on short rest (three days), something no Braves starter has done all season. Besides, the reason for having him pitch Wednesday instead of Tuesday is to get him an extra day since his last start Thursday at Cincinnati, when Sale’s fastball velocity was down 2.1 mph from his season average.
“Just kind of like where we were, getting him an extra day,” Snitker said of the decision to have Sale pitch Wednesday rather than Tuesday. “I mean, they’re all (Atlanta’s three top starters) going to pitch. We were going over all morning what was the best option, and talked to the guys, and they’re all really good with it.”
Asked about whether Sale starting on regular rest had been an option, Snitker said, “Originally we thought about that. But it’s like, Schwellenbach’s throwing the ball really good, and they’re both going to pitch. So, yeah, that’s just what we came up with.”
Olson resurgence has him pushing 30-100
Matt Olson was the only major leaguer to have at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs in each of the past three seasons, and he’s close to doing it for a fourth in a row thanks to an impressive second-half surge after one of the worst first halves of his career.
Olson went 2-for-3 with two singles, a walk and his 98th RBI Sunday, after going 2-for-4 with his 29th homer and three RBIs in Saturday’s 6-2 win against the Marlins. He’s reached base more than once in each of the past nine games.
Have yourself a day, Matt Olson 👏
The @Braves are back in front. pic.twitter.com/ND01tsiEAn
— MLB (@MLB) September 21, 2024
He racked up 55 percent of his homers and 55 percent of his RBIs for the season in the past 53 games before Sunday. Olson has ramped things up another notch in the past couple of weeks, hitting .422 with five doubles, four homers, 19 RBIs, 12 walks and only seven strikeouts in 13 games.
“I took a little step back from the video and the analysis of it, and just tried to be a little more rhythm- and feel-based,” Olson said of the uptick. “Just squaring up some balls that I should be, at a better clip.”
He has a majors-leading 54 RBIs since July 27 and was tied for fourth with 16 homers in that period entering Sunday. This after he hit just .226 with 13 homers, 44 RBIs and a .694 OPS in 102 games through July 26.
“He’s been one of the best power hitters in this game for a long time,” Braves pitcher Max Fried said, “and you know it’s a matter of time, with how hard he works and what he puts into it every single day, that it was gonna come around. I’m glad that he’s swinging the bat well and seeing the ball.
“If we want to go where we want to go, he’s going to be a big part of that.”
Harris impacting both sides of the game
Michael Harris II’s recent performance has been a reminder of just how much the Braves missed the center fielder and leadoff man during his two-month stint on the injured list for a severe hamstring strain.
His fifth-inning triple drove in the tying run in the fifth inning Sunday, after Harris had his third consecutive three-hit game Saturday and also made two spectacular catches in that win. He went 2-for-5 Sunday.
It was the first run of three straight games with at least three hits by a Brave since Ronald Acuña Jr. did it in August 2023, also from the leadoff spot. Harris has hit .314 in September with seven homers and a .923 OPS in 19 games, tied for third-most NL homers for the month, one behind Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber.
In 36 games since returning from the IL in mid-August, Harris had 10 homers, 25 RBIs and an .804 OPS before Sunday.
Still, it’s the glove that draws the most praise in the Braves’ clubhouse, with teammates smiling immediately when asked about Harris’ two defensive gems Saturday — a running, leaping, over-the-shoulder catch at the warning track in right-center, and a leaping catch before crashing into an out-of-town scoreboard in the left-center wall.
Michael Harris II built different😮💨 pic.twitter.com/0nlYBeQ0Ap
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) September 21, 2024
“You’re getting to a point where you can put together a pretty long highlight film with what he’s doing (defensively),” Snitker said. “Just the timing, the feel.”
Fried, who earned his 10th win Saturday, said of Harris’ catches: “You know when the ball goes up that you’ve got a really good chance of that ball being caught. That ball that I gave up in the first, he made a really great play. Hit directly over his head, and he was able to position himself to get it.
“Things could have gotten really hairy if he hadn’t done that. And then obviously the play that he made late in left-center — you try to put into perspective how special those plays are, but we’ve been spoiled because he makes them look routine.”
(Photo of Chris Sale: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
