The Atlanta Braves are currently tied with the New York Mets for the final Wild Card slot in the National League. After a strong weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers in which they took two of the first three games of the four-game series, The Steakhouse thinks they understand the model for postseason success.
"You're seeing the rotation now, Schwellenbach's legit, Max Fried is legit, Chris Sale is the best pitcher in baseball, and you hope Reynaldo Lopez comes back and gives you what you need him to give you," Steak said on Monday morning. "But [we know] the formula is just that we're going to outpitch you."
The Braves, one year removed from having one of the best hitting lineups in major league history, have been dreadful at the plate in 2024. The woefully inconsistent hitting, spurred by several injuries to key players, has been harped on all season.
Despite the pedestrian play at the plate, the Braves are still right in the thick of things in the race for the playoffs. That has everything to do with the dominance of one of the best rotations in baseball. But who knows, they might be able to catch lightning in a bottle for a few weeks.
"[It's] totally different in the playoffs, the back of the baseball card can absolutely lie," he continued. "How do I know that? [Eddie] Rosario was your NLCS MVP, [Jorge] Soler was your World Series MVP... If you're in the Majors, you can get hot for two or three weeks."
To Steak, the pitching will be enough to keep them in baseball games. After that, they'll need just "one or two guys to have the postseason of a lifetime" and see the success follow suit.