Through the first month-and-a-half, the similarities to 2023 are impossible to ignore.
The Atlanta Braves offense is the best in baseball, random guys are suddenly turning into stars, and the club owns the best record in the league while already threatening to run away with the NL East before the calendar even flips to June.
The two best examples of that might be Bryce Elder and Matt Olson.
Elder — seriously, take off the mask…
The 2023 All-Star spent the better part of two seasons bouncing between Gwinnett and Atlanta, getting shelled seemingly every time he put a Braves uniform on. He never once complained, but his time was undoubtedly running out. Now, he’s an All-Star again?
He entered yesterday with an ERA south of 2.00 — a number that actually rose despite six innings of two-run ball. That tells you everything you need to know about his performance through the first six weeks.
The Seattle Mariners scratched across two runs in the third on a homer from J. P. Crawford, and Atlanta answered immediately with two runs of its own thanks to a two-out double from Mauricio Dubón — another one of those unsung heroes that feels eerily reminiscent of the magic from 2023.
Then the game went silent.
Neither offense could generate anything meaningful until Olson stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth and uncorked a majestic opposite-field homer over the left-center field wall to give Atlanta the lead. Raisel Iglesias slammed the door in the ninth in his first appearance off the IL, and the Braves’ streak of not losing a series remains alive for at least another day.
At this point, all you can really do is sit back and marvel at what Atlanta has accomplished so far.
Bryce Elder has completely reinvented himself. Matt Olson has been the best player in baseball and has established himself as a legitimate MVP frontrunner. The Braves have been short-handed practically from Opening Day, and the injuries have only mounted as the wins continue piling up.
Series after series, they just keep finding ways. More than anything, though, this team feels familiar.
Every game carries that same electricity, that same expectation that something good is eventually going to happen — just like it did in 2023, when the Braves went on to tally 104 wins, clearing the rest of the division by 14 games.
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(Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire)
