The Braves season has not been what many had expected it to be, but Wednesday night's 5-3 victory, the first walk-off win of the season for Atlanta, might be the spark needed to get the season headed in the right direction.
One of the bigger issues in the first quarter of the season for the Braves has been the lack of an identity, the inability to rely on one specific aspect of their game when others let them down, but that wasn't the case against Boston.
When the Braves got into their bullpen at 3-3 against Boston on Wednesday evening, even with the offense struggling, you had to feel good about their chances to win, and then McHugh, Smith, Minter, and Jansen combined to go 3.2 no-hit innings before Orlando Arica's walk-off Homer
The Braves bullpen feature SEVEN pitchers who have an ERA below 3.00, with four of those pitchers featuring a WHIP of 0.75 or below (Will Smith, Darren O'Day, A.J. Minter, and Kenley Jansen)!!
While the Braves rotation has been far from the best in baseball, and the Braves offense hasn't gotten going yet, there are some strong arguments to be made for the bullpen being the best in baseball.
The Braves bullpen ranks 10th in ERA, 9th in hits allowed, 5th in WHIP, 6th in HR's allowed, and 3rd in strikeouts, the only team to rank top 10 in all five categories.
Just like the did in the 2021 postseason, the Braves might have to rely heavily on their bullpen to win games and get the team back to .500 before trying to chase down the NL East leading NY Mets.
