Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker has become a divisive topic among many fans of the team during his tenure, but this year magnified his most valuable quality.
The ability to take his team through the twists & turns of a season riddled with many unknowns and speed bumps with the utmost amount of calmness has the Braves celebrating their third NL East Division Title in as many years.
While history as yet to write the major part of the Atlanta's 2020 story, the guys at the Batter Up! Podcast believe the Braves could be approaching their finest hour.
"I think this is Brian Snitker's best managing job because of all this," Joe Patrick said. "It wasn't a normal season, his general presence was such a stabilizer for this team to use all the talents they have at their disposal and make it count in the standings."
Will Palaszczuk added, "It's the calm & resilient demeanor that had been previously vilified by a lot of Braves fans that ended up being their saving grace. It's hard to find a group that performed more admirably during the regular season against such a stacked deck like the Atlanta Braves performed."
Caleb Johnson points to one of the key switches during the season which has bolstered the MVP candidacy of first baseman Freddie Freeman. "Moving Freddie to the two-hole, he did it in a 'young person's way' with a text," Johnson said. "The way he handled all the situations the way they did, and bt the time you get to the end of the year they win the division by five games. I would like to take the moment and appreciate the season before we head into the playoffs which could go a plethora of different ways.
Entering Wednesday's play, Freeman leads the league with a .347 batting average and is second to Washington's Juan Soto with a 1.106 OPS. The lineup move has benefitted teammate Marcell Ozuna as well, as he leads the other two Triple Crown categories with 17 home runs & 53 RBI.
The Braves are locked in to finish in either second or third place in the MLB postseason seedings, which guarantees a best-of-three series at Truist Park for the NL Wild Card round. A series win would send them to the Houston postseason bubble for the NLDS & Arlington for the rest of postseason if they advance that far.
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