Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees Powered by Improved Offenses

Last season, the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees had similar offenses. You could put them in the category of bad.

Both the Braves and Yankees were in the bottom third of the league in baseball offensively. For much of the season, their anemic offenses were torture to watch for fans.

Then, Dansby Swanson was called up for the Braves and Gary Sanchez was called up for the Yankees, and things suddenly changed.

Hot Septembers by both clubs left plenty of promise for the coming season. While April is a month that sees many pitchers searching for their “mid-season form,” there is no denying their improvements.

The Yankees and Braves took somewhat similar roads to this improved success. They both went through rebuilds, although the Yankees were much more of a restructure, dumping high-priced All-Stars for fresh young talent. The Braves were completely gutted, torn down and aside from their ace in Julio Teheran and heartbeat Freddie Freeman, pretty much everyone left town.

The front office has even traded people they traded for again. Like when the John Hart reversed his terrible decision of trading for Hector Olivera and turned him into Matt Kemp. You know, three-home-run-in-one game Matt Kemp?

Kemp has really been on fire since becoming a Brave. He slashed .280/.336/.519 and hit 12 home runs and 15 doubles in just 241 plate appearance on the East Coast. Of course, that’s because he has arguably baseball’s best hitter since last All-Star break hitting in front of him.

What Freddie Freeman has done to a baseball since the All-Star break last season isn’t even fair. He slashed .323/.433/.634 over the last half of 2016 with 22 doubles and 18 home runs, driving in 57. He has picked up right where he left off, slashing .383/.485/.778 and nearly half of his hits have gone for extra bases (six doubles and eight home runs). Kemp and Freeman have combined as a lethal heart of the lineup.

When you add in Ender Inciarte — who had the most hits in the second half of last season — and even a struggling Dansby Swanson atop the lineup and absurdly hot Brandon Phillips and Tyler Flowers at the bottom of the lineup, suddenly the Braves become a tough out. Much like the Bronx Bombers, who have seemingly brought the moniker back in full effect. They’ve done it with simply two words.

All rise.

The end of last season saw the Yankees fueled by catching prodigy Gary Sanchez. Rookie records fell one by one after his call-up, with Sanchez going .299/.376/.657 with 20 home runs and 12 doubles in just 229 plate appearances, walking 11 percent of the time, remarkable for a rookie.

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Sanchez got off to a slow start before hitting the DL for almost all of April. It’s okay, though, because Aaron Judge has arrived.

Judge has made waves in the Yankees system for a few years now. Coined the next Giancarlo Stanton, Judge became known for moonshots. When he arrived on the scene last year, he and fellow rookie Tyler Austin made history of their own, going back-to-back in their first career at bats. 

2016 saw Judge’s big swing exposed on the big league level. The flaws in the minor leagues couldn’t keep up, and he looked lost at the plate. He worked hard this offseason, shortening it up and learning how to lay off the breaking stuff. Now he has tied the rookie record for most home runs in April with 10. The Yankees have won four in a row and have scored 26 runs in the past two days. They are in the top five in most statistical categories and have been getting help from mysterious places. Ronald Torreyes filled in admirably for Didi Gregorius, and Austin Romine made Sanchez’s absence hardly noticeable. Chase Headley is a new person laying off garbage pitches and Starlin Castro is who he is. A streaky player, riding a smoking-hot streak right now.

Next: Keuchel Astros ace once again

The point is the Yankees offense, like the Braves, is only getting better.

This was seen by many as a transition year for both teams. Improvements were expected,  but most saw them ready to compete by 2018. While the Braves have bullpen issues that will likely prevent them from being a true player in the loaded National League East, the Yankees now have the best record in the American League.

Now, there’s some improved offense for you.