The Atlanta Braves have, barring a catastrophic collapse, guaranteed themselves a playoff spot as they are 6.5 games up in the NL Wild Card picture entering Thursday and 8.5 up on the next team (the Milwaukee Brewers) in the Wild Card picture. However, they are 4.5 games back of the New York Mets in the National League East race. They are facing the Mets today after they have already won two of three against them. If they win tonight, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos will be rewarding the team with something.
If the Braves win tonight, they will get their ice cream machine back
In 2021, the Atlanta Braves had a soft-serve ice cream machine in their clubhouse but it did not return in 2022. When the club was in Miami this past weekend, Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud approached GM Alex Anthopoulos about the ice cream machine. Since then, the Braves have defeated the Mets in two of three games.
In an interview with The Steakhouse on Audacy’s 92.9 The Game in Atlanta on Thursday, Anthopoulos revealed that the ice cream machine will return if the club wins on Thursday.
“Obviously there was a lot of talk last year about how we had the ice cream machine in the clubhouse,” Anthopoulos says at about the 2:50 mark in the audio above. “When I was in Miami, Travis d’Arnaud came up to me and he said, ‘Can we get another soft serve ice cream machine in the clubhouse?’ I said, ‘If you guys win three out of four against the Mets, the ice cream machine is back.’ So these guys were so fired up after they won the first two that tonight is obviously a big game for them.”
It will be a marquee matchup tonight as Max Fried (10-4, 2.60 ERA) will face Jacob deGrom (2-0, 1.62 ERA) in a battle of NL East aces. It could be a battle that could determine the fate of the NL East that will have a champion in about six weeks … and the ice cream machine tonight.