The Braves have won seven of their last nine games, despite scoring more than four runs just one time. It’s clear over that stretch, and pretty much the entire season, that the arms are going to have to carry this club.
The Braves pitching staff is arguably the best in baseball, even though the unit has seen Max Fried, Reynaldo Lopez, A.J. Minter, and Pierce Johnson miss significant time.
If Atlanta is to hold onto their Wild Card spot and make any noise in the postseason, the pitching staff is going to have to be nearly flawless. ESPN identified the obvious roster strength ahead of October.
But they have to get into the playoffs first, and that means continued great work from Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez and Max Fried. Sale is currently leading the NL in wins, ERA and strikeouts, which would make him the first NL pitcher to win the pitching Triple Crown since Clayton Kershaw in 2011. Lopez returned this week from missing three weeks because of forearm inflammation and struck out 10 in five innings to beat the Phillies and lower his ERA to 2.05. Fried isn’t having his best season but was still an All-Star, limits home runs and obviously has plenty of big-game experience. You can say the same about 40-year-old Charlie Morton — and that foursome is backed up by an excellent bullpen.
There are very few rotations, if any at all, that can go toe-to-toe with Atlanta’s 1-4 of Max Fried, Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach. That doesn’t even include the luxury of having a player as experieinced as Charlie Morton rounding out the rotation and youngsters waiting in the wings of Triple-A like A.J. Smith-Shawver and Ian Anderson.
The Braves formula for success is obvious. Keep the games low scoring, and hope one of Atlanta’s hitters can somehow put one over the fence. There isn’t much of a margin for error, but there should is hope if the club can get into the dance.
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Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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