The Atlanta Braves have one of the most potent lineups in all of baseball. With an MLB-leading 118 home runs through 70 games, they’re on pace for 278, which would shatter the franchise record that they set in 2019 (249). They have seven guys in the double-digit for home runs and one through nine can make you pay. On top of the long ball, this lineup is second in team batting average at .265, fourth in RBIs, and fourth in hits.
This team can absolutely mash the baseball, but will that be enough to win this team a title if the pitching staff can't get healthy? John Fricke thinks it could be just enough.
“Can the Braves slug their way to the title? The answer is maybe yeah,” Fricke said about the Braves. “With 118 home runs, [the Braves] are on pace to set an all-time franchise record. They have seven guys already in the first 70 games who have at least ten home runs. Seven! Can they slug their way to a championship?”
Not only do they hit the ball consistently, they hit it pretty hard. With 101 balls hit at 110 miles per hour or faster, they have more than double what the second-place Angels have. They also hit the ball far, like Travis d'Arnaud did yesterday.
The lineup is potent and is good enough to counter even the best pitching staffs that the Majors have to offer.
On the flip side, the Braves’ starting rotation has taken hit after hit. Max Fried and Kyle Wright were lost early in the season to forearm and shoulder injuries and the staff is left to rely on the arms of some rather youthful options.
“They can buy Alex Anthopoulos some time, provide some relief and some room for these rookie pitchers to grow. [Plus, it could] let Max Fried and Kyle Wright get healthy. Maybe Michael Soroka can get whatever mechanical or head-space thing he's got to get worked out or Alex Anthopoulos to get a trade worked out.”
That staff has had 12 different guys start this season, yet they’ve performed relatively well in the absence of its two best pitchers.
They rank fifth in the Majors in team ERA (3.91), fifth in earned runs allowed (160), and sixth in strikeouts (378). Where they struggle is getting deep into games and preserving their now increasingly thin, albeit dominant, bullpen.
Through 70 games, the lineup and this makeshift staff have been more than enough. The Braves boast a 5.0 game lead on the Miami Marlins and Pro-Baseball Reference has them as an overwhelming favorite (33.2 percent) to represent the National League in the World Series.