Goodnews: Atlanta Braves ranks high in April

The Atlanta Braves are having a fantastic start to the new season, as predicted. They scored a strong “A” for their performance in April, according to a recent ESPN report.

The Braves had a slightly poor postseason, but they have had a great start to the 2024 season. With so many talents on a young roster, the Braves will be a formidable team for many years to come.

The Braves are among the better NL clubs, and nobody should be surprised by this now that April is behind us. They recently received a “A” grade from ESPN for their performance in the first month of the season. What they said was as follows.

“Well, let’s see: compared to last season, Matt Olson and Austin Riley haven’t really clicked, Ronald Acuna Jr. has hit one home run, Max Fried isn’t pitching the finest ball of his life, and Spencer Strider is out for the season. Furthermore, the Braves continue to lead the National League in record. They have indeed taken advantage of an easy schedule that includes 11 games against the awful Marlins, Astros, and White Sox thus far. They did, however, also sweep the Diamondbacks and win series against the Rangers, Phillies, and Guardians. The number of victories they might amass once Acuna, Olson, and Riley become hot is a little unsettling.

The Braves’ season-long loss of Spencer Strider is a major setback. Losing Strider could have an effect on their long-term success because he is one of the league’s greatest pitchers when healthy.

As previously stated, Ronald Acuna Jr. hasn’t had an MVP-caliber performance for the Braves either. The Braves are still winning a lot of games and appear to be a legitimate contender once more in spite of everything.

For the majority of the season, anticipate the Braves to perform well, despite a few injuries and setbacks.

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SEATTLE 2, ATLANTA 5

Positive or negative news!

Positive news

We won the getaway game convincingly, capping off their first two-game losing streak of the season with another solid outing from Chris Sale, four shutout innings from the bullpen, and two-hit efforts from Austin Riley (two drives in) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (two scores).

negative news

The awful Seattle pitching staff has given up two runs in the last two games, which has allowed the Braves to score a lot of runs. Additionally, right fielder Mitch Haniger has committed two errors in the last two games—one of which was a pop fly that ricocheted off his glove. Today’s game featured a pivotal four-run rally that resulted from the mishandled can of corn. Because Haniger’s error came in between groundouts by Michael Harris II and Chadwick Tromp, all four runs were “unearned.”

After the Braves’ ill-fated rally in the fourth inning, the Mariners outhit us 10–6 overall in today’s game.

What is happening?

I want to avoid overanalyzing this. In the month of baseball, the Braves hold the best record in the majors with 20-9. With 157 runs scored, we are tied for fourth place in the majors with the Brewers and Orioles; just three teams in the NL West and no team in the American League have more. We are second in baseball with a run differential of +48, only behind the unexpectedly powerful Kansas City Royals.

Not counting today’s games, half of the lineup has been struggling for the past two weeks, but we still have the second-best OPS in MLB (third-best slugging, second-best OBP). The Braves own the highest WPA/LI, the fourth-best defense (per Fangraphs), the ninth-best ERA in baseball (although the fourth-best xFIP), and so forth.

This club was predicted to be elite going into the season, and the past two weeks have proven it. The club has not faltered despite significant downturns by Matt Olson and Austin Riley, a Ronald Acuña Jr. power outage, an injury to Sean Murphy, and the loss of Spencer Strider. That’s because baseball is an unpredictable game, and this squad has proven to be resilient. The squad kept winning more games than it was losing because the pitchers came up and the reserves did a good job.

This goes beyond outcome-based analysis: I’m not claiming that the team prevailed because it is a skilled winner or anything of the sort. All I’m trying to convey is that, following Opening Day, very few players are operating at maximum capacity, therefore the most crucial thing is to just bank as many victories as you can and hang on for dear life. We have 20 wins under our belt, and if Austin and Ronald start hitting like they used to, things may get ugly.

Come on, Los Angeles!