Call to the pen
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Atlanta Braves 2018 season in review: The good, the bad, and what’s next

By Nate Palmer

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 07: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a grand slam home run in the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game Three of the National League Division Series at SunTrust Park on October 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 07: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a grand slam home run in the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game Three of the National League Division Series at SunTrust Park on October 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 22: Ender Inciarte #11 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates after clinching the NL East Division against the Philadelphia Phillies at SunTrust Park on September 22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /

The Atlanta Braves got back to winning baseball in 2018. Here is a look at the good and the bad of 2018, and what we might expect from 2019.

Atlanta Braves fans had to enter the calendar year of 2018 with a bit of a bad taste in their mouths. It had been since 2013 when the city of Atlanta last hosted a winning baseball team. The 2017 version of the club produced a 72-90 record which resulted in another postseason watching other teams be where they want to be.

While the on-field product was making it hard to be a fan, what happened down the stretch of 2017 likely made every Brave’s fan embarrassed. The Braves were caught and penalized by the MLB for international signing violations. That caused the team to have to forfeit 13 international prospects, three years of restrictions on the international market, and the loss of their third-round draft pick in this past year’s draft.

The violations also resulted in the resignation of president of baseball operations John Hart and the hire of Alex Anthopoulos as the Braves general manager. As the Braves seemed to be headed in the wrong direction and losing a ton of talent it allowed other teams around the league to capitalize on the Braves punishments.

Thankfully, those sanctions didn’t define what would happen with the major league club in 2018. After what was a successful 2018 as we will get to in a moment, Anthopoulos now has his first full offseason running the Braves to try and capitalize on the clubs first winning season in a while.

While a good group of the Braves roster will remain intact for 2018, there are several 2018 Braves who have hit the free agent market:

The Braves are still looking for places to upgrade their roster as they seem to be stuck in what has been an arms race in the NL East. They have made some significant moves with the re-signing of Markakis and a few other moves. As we will see through the rest of this post, there are a few other places the Braves may need to solidify to give them that final push from playoff participant to unquestioned World Series contender.

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