Braves: Greet the Mets, Beat the Mets, step right up and SWEEP the Mets

Braves continue domination of NL East division rivals and bottom feeders

Soroka dominant in first start from the DL

Behind the triumphant return of rookie right-hander Mike Soroka from the DL and two RBI from NL All-Star vote leader Freddie Freeman, the Atlanta Braves continued their domination over the New York Mets by winning game two of the two game series 2-0.

After 12 matchups with their NL East rival, the Braves improved to an astounding record of 9-3.  The sweep continued their trend of beating up on their NL East opponents.  More specifically, they have dominated those sitting comfortably at the bottom of the standings.  This bodes well for the Braves’ playoff chances this year.

New Braves making and impact in 2018

The 2018 version of the Braves have been a tremendous surprise so far this season.  With the resurgence of veterans like Nick Markakis, the unexpected production of bench pieces like Preston Tucker and Ryan Flaherty, and the influx of young talent like Ronald Acuna, the Braves have exceeded everyone’s expectations as they have shifted gears into the summer portion of their schedule.  After two and a half months, they sit atop the division standings.

If history shows us anything, however, it’s that the Atlanta Braves might be here to stay.

Struggles of a rebuilding team

The 2017 Braves provided a roller coaster of ups and downs for the city of Atlanta.  As the fans experienced their first full year with Dansby Swanson manning shortstop, they were also introduced to top prospects Ozzie Albies, Sean Newcomb, Luiz Gohara, Max Fried, and AJ Minter.

The front office’s effort in rebuilding the organization began to bear fruit.   The ultimate goal, however was, and is always, winning baseball games.

Last year saw the Braves increase their win total from 67 and 68 games in the previous two seasons to 72 wins in 2017.  Their success against National League East rival and annual first place team, the Washington Nationals, played a large role in their improved record.

In 2015 and 2016, the Braves went a combined 9-29 against the Nats.  In 2017, they went 9-10.  These results were not stellar by any means, but it did serve as a sign of things hopefully to come.

Which leads to the most frustrating part of 2017.  With their 72-90 record, the Braves managed to finish 3rd in the National League East ahead of rivals Philadelphia (66-96) and New York (70-92).

What could have been

On the surface, that was a solid step towards bringing a winning club back to Atlanta.  What’s not is the fact that Atlanta finished with records of 6-13 and 7-12 against the Phillies and the Mets, respectively.

Had the Braves taken care of business against the teams that were clearly worse than they were, we may have been talking about a potential Wild Card spot for the up-and-coming Atlanta baseball club.

Consider this….flip the Braves results against New York and Philly and keep everything else the same.  Atlanta would have finished 84-78 in 2017.  The Colorado Rockies secured the 2nd Wild Card spot in the National League with a final record of 87-75.  Simply beating the teams they should have in their division would have had the Braves playing meaningful baseball into September.

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Flipping the script

Fast forward back to 2018 where the Braves have (to this point) reversed those trends and coincidentally have found themselves back at the top of the division that they dominated for 11 years.  The first three years of their record run occurred in the NL West.

So far, in 2018, the Braves are 9-3 against New York, 7-5 against Philadelphia, and 6-4 against Washington.  Against bottom dweller Miami, they are sporting a 5-2 record to date. That’s a solid 13-9 against their chief competition at the top of the standings.  They sport a 14-5 against those teams fighting for a top pick in next year’s draft.

Next: Braves top 10 prospects for 2018

Again, if history has taught us anything, it’s that the Braves need to not only beat the teams in their division, but in doing so they must dominate the bad teams as well.  So far, in 2018, they are doing just that, and I expect them to finish closer to 90 wins than the 70 that they were vying for during the dark days of the rebuilding process.